{"id":8183,"date":"2011-11-18T07:33:32","date_gmt":"2011-11-18T13:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecakeblog.com\/?p=8183"},"modified":"2016-01-06T13:42:57","modified_gmt":"2016-01-06T18:42:57","slug":"eggsactly-perfect-baking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecakeblog.com\/2011\/11\/eggsactly-perfect-baking.html","title":{"rendered":"EGGSactly Perfect Baking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>4&#8230; 3&#8230; 2&#8230; 1&#8230; 0?? <\/em><em>To help us prep for the upcoming holiday baking season, <a title=\"Cake Paper Party\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cakepaperparty.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Summer Stone<\/a> is here to share some insight on how eggs affect our cakes&#8230; <\/em><\/p>\n<p>How many eggs exactly does it take to make a great cake? In a traditional 9-inch, two-layer American butter cake, four eggs seem to be the typical number found in most recipes, but other butter cake recipes call for anywhere from 2 to 6 eggs. So what number of eggs is really best?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"left\" title=\"Eggs-actly Perfect Holiday Baking\" src=\"https:\/\/thecakeblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/eggs_holiday_baking.jpg\" alt=\"Eggs-actly Perfect Holiday Baking\" width=\"546\" height=\"544\" \/><\/p>\n<p>First, let\u2019s take a look at the role that eggs play in the characteristics of a cake. The inherent complexity of an egg, lends itself to a diverse number of roles in the cake\u2019s final product. Here are the major duties eggs perform:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Structure &#8211; Eggs are a major structure provider and give a cake firmness, lightness and stability.<\/li>\n<li>Aeration &#8211; Beaten eggs help to incorporate air into a cake batter and therefore aid in leavening.<\/li>\n<li>Emulsification &#8211; Emulsifiers in eggs bring fats and liquids together into a smooth batter, allowing for a moist cake that does not seem greasy.<\/li>\n<li>Flavor &#8211; Eggs play a significant role in the final taste profile of a cake.<\/li>\n<li>Color &#8211; The golden hue of egg yolks adds soft yellow pigmentation to both batter and cake.<\/li>\n<li>Moisture &#8211; Eggs are 75 percent liquid which can thin a batter a great deal.<\/li>\n<li>Fat Provision &#8211; Egg yolks are a good source of fat which can contribute to moistness and tenderness to the cake.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Knowing all of the facts about the functions of eggs in cake, it seems like it would be easy to determine how adding or subtracting a couple of eggs from a recipe would affect the final cake product; but unfortunately it is difficult to say which roles are the most significant and how other ingredients, with cross-over jobs, react when eggs are added or taken away. To get a real feel for what will happen we have to move beyond theory and into the oven.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s take a look at what actually happens when you disrupt the egg balance in a cake recipe. I baked 5 eight-inch cake layers, each with a different number of eggs added, in order to get a feel for how egg volume variation contributes to changes in the overall cake. Each cake layer received 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 eggs (approximately equivalent to a cake recipe with 0, 3, 6, 9 or 12 eggs). Differences were noticeable immediately after the batters were mixed. The eggless batter was extremely thick in consistency and very pale in color while the 4-egg cake was more golden and thinner in consistency.<\/p>\n<p>Once baked, taste was also a factor in the differences between the egg-varying cake layers. The layer with no eggs had a noticeable raw flour taste and was excessively sweet. The cake layer with four eggs was markedly eggy tasting like a baked custard or bread pudding. All three of the moderately-egged layers were pleasant tasting.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"left\" title=\"Eggs-actly Perfect Holiday Baking\" src=\"https:\/\/thecakeblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/eggsactly.jpg\" alt=\"Eggs-actly Perfect Holiday Baking\" width=\"546\" height=\"822\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The most significant variance between the layers was their structure. The no-egg layer was short, dense and compact and had so little structural integrity I could barely remove a piece from the cake without if falling apart. The one-egg layer was still rather dense and compact but held together when cut. The two-egg cake layer was greater height and lighter texture with even more structural strength. The three-egg layer was even taller and lighter than the two-egg cake, but the egg structure was reaching the limits of its usefulness and the cake began to take on a slightly spongy texture. The four-egg layer was short, dense and rubbery (if you have ever had a g\u00e9noise or chiffon cake fall you will know exactly what I am talking about).<\/p>\n<p>Overall, changing the number of eggs in your cake recipe can alter the properties of your cake. Too few eggs will yield a cake that is overly compact and doesn\u2019t hold together will. Too many eggs can leave you with a spongy or rubbery mess. But egg volumes can be manipulated to lighten the texture of a cake or add strength to a cake that needs to be carved. <strong>Try varying the number of eggs in your favorite recipe to determine \u201ceggsactly\u201d what works for you.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>4&#8230; 3&#8230; 2&#8230; 1&#8230; 0??  How many eggs exactly does it take to make a great cake? To help us prep for the upcoming holiday baking season, Summer Stone is here to share some insight on how eggs affect our cakes.  <a href=\"https:\/\/thecakeblog.com\/2011\/11\/eggsactly-perfect-baking.html\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":8188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[216,47,262],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8183","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baking-tips","8":"category-recipes","9":"category-summer-stone","10":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecakeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecakeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecakeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecakeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecakeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8183"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/thecakeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8198,"href":"https:\/\/thecakeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8183\/revisions\/8198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecakeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecakeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecakeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecakeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}