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7 mistakes that keep you from making cakes
The culinary specialist and baker reveals their professional secrets to perfect Easter baking.
Every good housewife dreams of perfect festive homemade cakes – airy, bright, beautiful. As in childhood, as at my grandmother’s: after all, then everything was very tasty. But Easter cakes are capricious pastries, it is quite difficult even for an experienced cook to make them. Therefore, you need to approach the process thoughtfully in order to avoid common mistakes. And how to do this, we asked an expert.
What not to do when making Easter cakes: 7 simple rules
Rush… The cooking process requires attention, absent-mindedness can let you down. And your positive attitude is the key to success.
To invent a bicycle… Follow the recipe and cooking steps carefully if you want a good result.
Replace the products specified in the recipe with others with similar characteristics. For example, instead of butter, you should not put margarine or spread, and change the premium flour for some other one.
Remember, if you make changes to the recipe, the outcome can be unpredictable.
Too mix all the recipe ingredients in advance. Observe the staging! The order in which the food is added to the dough is very important.
Take not the freshest food, especially old yeast. Always fresh.
Whisk in hard butter… You risk breaking your mixer and you will definitely not get a homogeneous fluffy mass. Rule: add only soft butter to the yeast dough, all ingredients must be at the same temperature. But not liquid, so the “put in the microwave” method will not work. Better to get the oil out of the refrigerator beforehand.
Fill the baking dish 100% – this should never be done. We always leave room for the yeast dough to rise, filling the molds only 2/3 of the total volume.
Put cakes in an unheated oven, this will cause the baked goods to burn. Moreover, it will not rise well.
Open the oven during cooking. Butter baked goods, like biscuits, do not like drafts. If you open the door, your fluffy cake may settle – and this cannot be fixed.
Any cooking process should be a joy. Think about what you want to add to your baked goods? Your warmth, care, good mood, a piece of inspiration and, of course, love. With these ingredients, you will have the most delicious Easter cakes!
Easter pumpkin cake with soft curd
Ingredients
(for 7 Easter cakes, each weighing 170 g)
Pumpkin puree – 135 grams
Fast acting yeast, dry – 6 grams
Granulated sugar (dough) – 1 teaspoon
Butter 82,5% (soft) – 114 grams
Granulated sugar (for whipping) – 142 grams
Soft cottage cheese (5%) – 170 grams
Egg C1 – 2 pieces
Flour / s – 390 grams
Salt (finely ground) – 4 grams
Vanillin – 1 sachet
Candied and dried fruits (any to your taste) – 120 grams
For decoration:
Prunes – 20 grams
Dried apricots – 20 grams
Preparation
We put the dough
Add a teaspoon of sugar to warm pumpkin puree, mix. Add fast-acting yeast, mix. Leave in a warm place for 20-30 minutes.
Next, weigh granulated sugar, soft butter, soft cottage cheese and eggs into a bowl for beating.
All components should be at room temperature. It is important!
Beat in a homogeneous fluffy mass until the granulated sugar is completely dissolved.
Combine the ready-made dough and the whipped mass.
Sift flour, add vanillin and salt, mix. Wash candied fruits in advance and dry them on a clean towel.
Gradually, in 2-3 stages, add flour to the liquid base, then candied fruits. Knead the dough until smooth (it should be slightly sticky).
Cover the bowl with the dough with a damp towel and place in the oven. At a temperature of 40-50 degrees, let the dough ripen for 30 minutes.
Putting the dough into a mold
Place a portion of the dough in a baking dish. The recipe is designed for 7 cakes, the weight of the workpiece is 170 g, the size of the paper form is 7 by 6 cm. It is important to fill out the form 2/3 of the total volume.
We put the cakes in the oven (first preheated to a temperature of 40-50 degrees) for further ripening of the dough for 30 minutes.
Bakery products
You need to bake the Easter cake in a preheated oven at a temperature of 170 degrees for 60-70 minutes.
The finished cake should have a deep brown crust.
Decoration
When the cakes are completely cool, start decorating. Can be garnished with powdered sugar, fondant or protein cream. The scope of your imagination is not limited. We advise you to pay attention to the decoration of prunes and dried apricots.