On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1059

pressure and boiling point have several
effects on a cake in the oven. The batter
starts to lose moisture at lower
temperatures, and dries out more rapidly.
The air bubbles and leavening expand
faster at temperatures below the setting
temperature,andtheproteinandstarchset
andstabilizethatstructureslowly,because
the batter temperature doesn’t get as hot.
Soacakebakedinthemountainstendsto
endupdry,coarse,andflat.
A cake recipe developed at sea level must
be adjusted in order for it to work at
severalthousandfeet.Thelossofmoisture
canbecompensatedforbytheadditionof
extra liquid. The overexpansion of the gas
cells can be reduced by reducing the
amount of leavening. And the structurestabilizing elements can be set earlier by
reducing the levels of sugar and fat and
increasingtheeggsand/orflour.Increasing
the oven temperature also speeds the


proteincoagulationandstarchgelationthat
setthestructure.
Cooling and Storing Cakes Most cakes
require a cooling period before they’re
removed from their pans or otherwise
handled. Their structures are quite delicate
when still hot, but become firm as the starch
molecules begin to settle back into close,

orderly associations with each other. Pound
and butter cakes are fairly robust, their
structure coming mainly from gelated starch,
andcanberemovedfromtheirpansafterjust
10–20minutes.Thesweetereggaeratedcakes
are held up largely by the coagulated egg
proteins, which form a more gas-tight film
around the gas cells than starch does, and
therefore shrink as the gas within cools and
contracts.Theresultcanbeacollapsedcake.
To avoid this, angel, sponge, and chiffon
cakes are cooked in tube pans that can be
inverted and suspended over a bottle to cool.