What's wrong with that???

Well it won't be long before you will need to sit your faults exam and you should be getting pretty good at evaluating products by now. Besides giving yourself a pat on the back for the things you do well in class you need to reflect on what you didn't do well.... in other words ask yourself "what's wrong with that?"

When we talked in class we said that all cake faults could be put into 1 of 3 catergories:

1. Human Error. Examples of this are when we make a mistake when we weigh up or process the ingredients.
2. Calculation Error. The recipe ratio is not in balance, the ingredients are not in the correct amounts to produce a cake with out faults.
3. Ingredient Error or Flaw. The recipe uses the incorrect ingredient or there is a problem with the ingredient, for example we use bakers flour instead of hi ratio flour. Or another example would be we use Baking powder that is no longer as active because it has not been stored properly.

Understanding formula balance is important in the production of a cake without faults. Ingredients work in relation to each other, for example if we look at the four basic ingredients in a cake batter, fat, sugar, flour and eggs we would be able to break these up into several groups based on their function in the cake.

• Flour and eggs provide strength and structure to a cake because they contain proteins which coagulate when heat is applied.
• Eggs and fat are ingredients which help open the texture of a cake because they have the ability to hold or trap air with in the cake batter.
• Sugar helps to open the texture of a cake because it assists the aeration of the fat and eggs.
• Melted fat closes the texture of the cake and reduces lightness because it is a liquid.

Are you starting to understand how things work in together? Ask yourself the question if "I increase or decrease a particular ingredient what could I expect to happen" Try and predict the outcome......