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ABCs Of Baking: Terminology Every Baking Lover Should Know

3rd January, 2011 - Posted by health news - No Comments

Angel Food Cake: As the name suggests, this cake is exceptionally light as well as fluffy. The batter is made using just flour and sugar with well beaten egg-whites.

Butter cream: It is a combination of sugar, eggs as well as butter which is whipped till light as well as fluffy and used to fill up and frost cakes.

Caramel: It is used for glazing, making praline paste as well as giving decorative touches to many desserts, caramel is generally sugar cooked to about 320-350 degrees.

Cookie Varieties: As versatile as they are scrumptious, cookies are classified by the way they are formed. Molded cookies are generally cut by using a cookie cutter or shaped manually; drop cookies are dropped from a spoon directly onto the baking sheet; piped cookies are shaped with a cookie gun or a pastry bad as well as bar cookies are baked in sheets before cutting into bars or squares.

Custard Sauce (Crème Anglaise): Also known as pouring custard, this is a mixture of milk, sugar and egg yolks which is simmered till the yolks coagulate enough to thicken the custard. It is usually served as an complement to particular cakes as well as puddings as well as fruit desserts.

Dacquoise: Comprising of butter cream layered between baked nut meringues, this is a classic French cake.

Docking: This is the process of piercing pastry dough with a fork allowing the steam to escape. It prevents the dough from becoming misshapen because of internal bubbling.

Flaky Pastry: This standard American dough for pies is made by rubbing a mix of butter and shortening into flour, which is moistened using water to make the dough. Rubbing the fat in more finely results in a dough which is more mealy and less flaky.

Gateau: Gateau is French for cake

Glaze: Used to give desserts an even, shiny finish, glazes are manufactured from many different ingredients depending on whether they are being used for cakes, tarts or fruit pastries.

Ladyfingers: Small sponge cakes, normally 3 ½” extended, lady fingers are mainly used for making Charlotte’s.

Lemon Curd: A rich, tart spreading cream, lemon curd is generally a cooked combination of lemon juice along with egg yolks, butter as well as sugar.

Meringue: It is a combination of egg-whites as well as sugar beaten till it forms stiff, shiny peaks.

Pastry Dough: Made with butter as well as shortening, it is the standard American dough for pies.

Pet-its Fours Secs: These are the thin as well as delicate cookies sandwiched along with praline paste or preserves.

Petit Fours Frais: These are the miniature pastries that are filled with butter-cream or pastry cream.

Petits Fours Glacés: These are the petite iced cakes, daintily decorated as well as sandwiched along with ganache, butter cake or preserves.

Royal Icing: A classic English icing, that is prepared with a combination of egg-whites as well as confectioner’s sugar. It solidifies while it dries as well as is often used to create filigree patterns and also to ice conventional English wedding cakes.

Tarts: Shallow, with straight sides, tarts are generally baked in flan forms or in pans along with removable bottom as well as usually have only a bottom crust.

Torte: It’s the Eastern European name for cake.