I had made the recipe as directed, but had substituted pastry flour for the cake flour. The reason I had done this was my Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts had said this about cake flour, "Cake flour is a low-protein, soft wheat flour that is heavily chlorinated or bleached to inhibit its ability to form gluten with liquids. It bonds more readily with fats and absorbs liquids faster than other flours, making for especially light, delicate cakes. At Moosewood, we don't use cake flour because we believe the fewer chemicals in our food and environment, the better." I certainly didn't want chemical filled cake, so I had been substituting pastry flour where ever a cake recipe called for cake flour.
I suspected something wasn't right when the cakes weren't done when the timer went. My oven is relatively new, and must be pretty true to temperature, because almost all cakes are done precisely when recipes suggest they will be. But this recipe said the cake was done when the top sprang back. And it took 6 extra minutes (on top of a brief 30 minute bake time) to get a springy center. So, I was worried the cakes might be over cooked.
Then, when I took them out of the pan, they easily crumbled along the edges. I knew that wasn't a good sign. But with cake there's no way to pre-taste, so I forged ahead.
It turned out that my friend's elder daughter had her 9th birthday the next day, so after a yummy pizza and salad dinner, we put candles in the cake, sang happy birthday and sliced up what looked like a beautiful cake. As it turned out the cake was very dry and crumbly. The mascarpone frosting was delicious, and almost made the cake edible. Almost. Lots of cake was left on plates. My friend was very kind and complimented the cake, and I didn't want to apologize for it, so I tried not to. But I was realizing what had happened. First of all, you can't substitute pastry flour for cake flour. Second of all, my pastry flour is "whole grain." Maybe all pastry flour is whole grain, but I'm wondering if it is like the whole wheat version of pastry flour, and therefore appropriate for carrot cake, but not for what was supposed to be a fine crumb chocolate cake.
I realized that I had also used this whole grain pastry flour in the crumbly zucchini cake I had made. Maybe the whole grain aspect of the flour was making things crumbly?
When I returned to the Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts and re-read their entry on cake flour, it said, "To approximate cake flour, replace 2 tablespoons of bleached all-purpose flour with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch per each cup of bleached all-purpose flour." Oh. I headed to Whole Foods, thinking that I'd be able to find a more natural version of cake flour. Standing in front of an impossibly vast wall of flour options, it was my son who spotted the lone box (on the bottom shelf) of unbleached cake flour blend by King Arthur Flour. It says, "Unbleached flour for cake and pastry recipes. Enjoy moist, tender cakes without added chemicals." The ingredients? Unbleached flour and unmodified cornstarch.
Okay, so what did I learn? 1) With my oven, something is wrong if it's not done when the recipe says it should be. 2) Cake flour and pastry flour aren't interchangeable. 3) Moosewood isn't lying when they say flour + cornstarch can be used as cake flour. 4) I need to further investigate what kinds of pastry flour exist, because what I'm using is probably not the right thing. 5) If you read the recipes closely, and the cookbook notes thoroughly, you can probably avoid a mistake like mine. But then you won't have gained the knowledge from messing it up and figuring it out.
I threw the rest of the cake away. I've never done that before. But when you've got more cake coming next week, there's no reason to eat bad cake.
I'm looking forward to trying this recipe again, with the flour + cornstarch substitution. I bet it's wonderful.
[No pictures of this cake. There was no time before I served it, and after I'd tasted it, I wasn't so eager to document it.]
Red Velvet Cake with Mascarpone Cream Cheese Frosting
2½ cups sifted cake flour
½ cup (2 ounces) lightly packed premium
unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa [must be “Dutch-processed” or say “treated
with alkaline” or “alkalized” to work]
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
¾ cup canola oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon red food coloring, either gel
or liquid (gel color is more intense)
¾ cup (6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room
temperature
1¾ cups sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
2 egg yolks, at room temperature
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
Mascarpone
Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
8 ounces mascarpone, cold
½ cup heavy cream, cold
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1.
Center an oven rack and preheat the oven to 350
degrees. Grease, line with parchment,
and dust with flour two 9-inch cake pans.
2.
In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa,
baking powder, and salt, then whisk the ingredients by hand to ensure they are
well mixed.
3.
In another small bowl, combine the oil, vanilla
and food coloring.
4.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle
attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until
fluffy, about 5 minutes. As you make the
batter, stop the mixer frequently and scrape the paddle and sides of the bowl
with a rubber spatula. With your mixer
on low speed, drizzle the oil mixture into the batter until well combined. Turn the mixer gradually up to medium-high
speed (avoid splashing the red batter) and beat until fluffy again. Blend in the eggs and egg yolks one at a
time, adding the next one as soon as the previous one has disappeared into the
batter. With the mixer on low speed, add
the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk in two parts,
beginning and ending with the flour.
After each addition, mix until just barely blended and stop and scrape
the bowl. Stop the mixer before the last
of the flour has been incorporated and complete the blending by hand with a
rubber spatula to ensure you do not overbeat the batter.
5.
Divide the batter evenly into the prepared pans
(there will be approximately 1 pound 10 ounces per pan) and smooth the
tops. Rap the pans firmly on the counter
to release any air bubbles. Place the pans
in the middle of the oven and bake until the centers of the cake spring back
when lightly touched, 28 to 30 minutes.
Cool on a rack for 30 minutes before removing from the pans. Take extra care when removing the cakes from
the pans, as they are fragile and could crack.
Leave the parchment paper on until you assemble the cake. Continue to cool the cakes on a rack, top
side up, until they reach room temperature.
6.
For the frosting: Using a stand mixer fitted
with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese until it is uniform in
texture. Add the mascarpone, cream, and
sugar. Beat on low speed until combined,
scraping the sides of the bowl well to ensure all the ingredients are
incorporated. Kick the mixer up to high
speed and blend the frosting for about 1 minute or until it looks creamy and
thick. Turn down to low speed, add the vanilla, and mix just until blended.
7.
This frosting keeps in the refrigerator for up
to 5 days. If the frosting is
refrigerated before you use it, it will need to be softened slightly by
blending with a rubber spatula until smooth.
8.
To assemble the cake, place one of the layers,
top side up, on a serving plate. Using a
metal spatula, spread half of the frosting over the top of the cake, spreading
it slightly over the edge of the cake.
Place the next layer of cake (top side up again) on top of the frosted
layer. Spread the remainder of the frosting
over the top of the cake.
9.
The cake is great the day it is made but can be
kept for up to 2 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator (keep it
refrigerated due to the frosting). Allow
as least 1 hour for the cake to come to room temperature before serving.
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