Comments on: Chocolate Marble Cake http://leitesculinaria.com/2857/recipes-chocolate-marble-cake.html#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed Recipes, Food, and Cooking Blog Wed, 23 May 2012 20:16:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: NM http://leitesculinaria.com/2857/recipes-chocolate-marble-cake.html#comment-45266 NM Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:21:57 +0000 http://leitesculinaria.com/wordpress/?p=2857#comment-45266 Cool -- I will give it a try and report back! Cool — I will give it a try and report back!

]]> By: Cindi Kruth, LC Recipe Tester http://leitesculinaria.com/2857/recipes-chocolate-marble-cake.html#comment-45248 Cindi Kruth, LC Recipe Tester Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:57:40 +0000 http://leitesculinaria.com/wordpress/?p=2857#comment-45248 Looks to me like a pound cake, the classic proportions of which did not include chemical leavening. Modern recipes often do include a little baking powder or, with sour cream cakes, baking soda. The absence of those chemicals, however, doesn't mean no leavening agent. Here, as in the original recipe which draws on one pound each of butter, eggs, flour, and sugar recipe, the leavening agent is air. Beating the eggs with sugar until "light" incorporates air which expands with the heat of the oven to leaven the cake. Usually the butter is also creamed with sugar to incorporate more air. In fact, this recipe is a little unusual in that respect since it beats the eggs first. One caution: The most common mistake I see with this kind of recipe is underbeating the eggs and sugar or under-creaming the butter and sugar. Usually it takes more beating than beginners think. Underbeating will result in a dense cake. (Overbeating can make it dry, but that's less often what happens to home bakers.) I'd suggest to beat at medium to medium-high speed for maybe 4 minutes until the mixture is really truly pale and thick, not simply a bit lighter. Cindi Looks to me like a pound cake, the classic proportions of which did not include chemical leavening. Modern recipes often do include a little baking powder or, with sour cream cakes, baking soda. The absence of those chemicals, however, doesn’t mean no leavening agent. Here, as in the original recipe which draws on one pound each of butter, eggs, flour, and sugar recipe, the leavening agent is air. Beating the eggs with sugar until “light” incorporates air which expands with the heat of the oven to leaven the cake. Usually the butter is also creamed with sugar to incorporate more air. In fact, this recipe is a little unusual in that respect since it beats the eggs first.

One caution: The most common mistake I see with this kind of recipe is underbeating the eggs and sugar or under-creaming the butter and sugar. Usually it takes more beating than beginners think. Underbeating will result in a dense cake. (Overbeating can make it dry, but that’s less often what happens to home bakers.) I’d suggest to beat at medium to medium-high speed for maybe 4 minutes until the mixture is really truly pale and thick, not simply a bit lighter.

Cindi

]]> By: Elie Nassar, LC Recipe Tester http://leitesculinaria.com/2857/recipes-chocolate-marble-cake.html#comment-45246 Elie Nassar, LC Recipe Tester Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:05:27 +0000 http://leitesculinaria.com/wordpress/?p=2857#comment-45246 The recipe is relying on air bubbles created during the following step for leavening: "Beat the eggs and sugar...until pale yellow." When the cake bakes, the heat causes those bubbles to expand and give the cake a spongy texture. This is not unlike a classic Genoise method in which butter is beaten with sugar and no leavening agent is used. That being said, adding a teaspoon or two of baking powder is not going to hurt. The recipe is relying on air bubbles created during the following step for leavening: “Beat the eggs and sugar…until pale yellow.” When the cake bakes, the heat causes those bubbles to expand and give the cake a spongy texture. This is not unlike a classic Genoise method in which butter is beaten with sugar and no leavening agent is used. That being said, adding a teaspoon or two of baking powder is not going to hurt.

]]> By: NM http://leitesculinaria.com/2857/recipes-chocolate-marble-cake.html#comment-45118 NM Fri, 07 Oct 2011 09:06:42 +0000 http://leitesculinaria.com/wordpress/?p=2857#comment-45118 No leavening? No leavening?

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