4 Levels of Layer Cake: Amateur to Food Scientist | Epicurious

Hi, I'm la and I'm a level one chef. Hi, I'm Daniel and I'm a level two chef. Hi, I'm bill. I've been a professional baker for over 10 years. Today I'm going to make a vegan

cake

. There's a lot of rum, a lot of coconut, but no dairy. I recently discovered the amazing world of plant-based nutrition, so I'm making a Japanese Matcha Crepe Layer Cake. Basically, it's a

cake

made entirely of crepes that looks wonderful and I can definitely post on Instagram when you're done. I love

layer

cakes because the more

layer

s, the more frosting you get.

You know today I'm making a cake to eat and get dirty. This is actually a recipe I created for my old restaurant Mimi's. steiner in brooklyn are layers of lemon, poppy seeds, meringue, custard, buttercream and fresh strawberry jam, first things first, the dough before I make anything, I love to cover my molds, I spray the mold and sprinkle it with flour, that way it makes it easier for the cake. At the end, first we are going to make meringue, we are going to start by separating the eggs. I know many people have many ways to separate eggs, but I think the easiest is to just put the egg in your hand and let the white fall between your fingers, so for the meringue I'm going to start on low speed and then speed it up. gradually as it becomes more and more foamy.

Okay, so the eggs are in. I'm going to add the milk now. but then I have a little bit of flour and I definitely have some on the table that's going to go in there and I'm going to add my sugar so I'm using a lot of sugar if you're watching your sugar you can modify it. You want to do this super slow, let the sugar dissolve and that's another reason why I'm using super fine sugar is because it will dissolve a little faster, that's the last bit of sugar at this point, you can add your salt, it was not.

Like a student in science class, but I remember that baking powder and salt are necessary if you want things to take off, I have coconut oil, plant-based butter and plant-based yogurt, I add my vanilla. I add my white vinegar and the matcha, it's super subtle and actually gives it a really great color, so now that I'm done with my meringue, the way you can tell if it's ready is you can take just a little bit between your yolks of the fingers and rub it in if you can feel the sugar, you should keep beating a little bit more, but right now it's nice and smooth, so I'm going to continue, so I'm going to blend this for about two minutes.

I love the masses. It can be put directly into a blender, it's very easy today I'm using oats. I think it's great that we have all these new plant-based options years ago, it wasn't that easy, but now there's practically no excuse, I'm going to sprinkle. My cornstarch over the top of the meringue and then gently fold it over. You don't want to overwork the meringue to keep it nice and fluffy. I don't want to mix it too much because then it will probably taste like a chewy chunk. bubble gum and I don't want that so I'm looking for a smooth consistency just make sure there's nothing that's going to give me any weird chunks so now it's time to pour the batter we're going to bake it on top of the cake. so we want it to fit inside the cake pan so I'm going to use the cake pan as a guide and then I'm going to turn the paper over so it doesn't bake on the marker and then I'm just going to divide it evenly. between the two trays I will show you my real strategic plan for how I pour the dough.

That's a joke because I don't have a strategic plan for how you pour the batter. It's okay to just look at it. I have baked cakes where it was not. even and you know what after I put the frosting on it no one knew anyway so there you go now I'm going to take my offset spatula and do this in as close a circle as possible the thing about an Eaton mess is that it's a mess, so it's okay if it's rustic and not a perfect circle, you'll want it to be about an inch and a half to two inches smaller than your cake circle because it will expand as it bakes and you want to be able to place it inside the cake pan, we'll put them in the oven at 250 for about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes until it's crispy on the outside and a little chewy on the inside. the dough is ready, this will go in the refrigerator for about an hour while I sit and wait and then we will continue to bake, now it's time to bake and by bake I mean make so many crepes your arms will fall off.

I have my batter in my two pans and the oven at 350. So while the meringue is baking, let's focus on making the batter for the actual cake. I'm going to add my room temperature butter and my sugar with my lemon zest to get as much of that lemon zest out of the oils as I can, so this cake is very labor intensive, it basically requires 25 crepes that I'm about to make and the only reason I know how to make crepes is because of the professional cook vs. home cook episode I did with Frank, where I made galettes.

Literally the whole process will just be switching between shortbread dough, shortbread dough, shortbread dough, shortbread dough, shortbread dough until all the dough is gone and then you will have a bunch of crepes that will turn into a cake. , the first one never turns out pretty but we'll see frank, I'm sorry, romero, I'm sorry, I don't even know what to do. tell me about that, the next one will be better, don't worry, we're going to scratch this and move on, okay, so we look nice, fluffy and pale here with the butter and sugar, I'm going to add my eggs. about one at a time I'm just going to whisk my dry goods together I've got my salted poppy seed baking powder and then we're going to add it all in together we're just going to let it incorporate and then we're going to go ahead and add the rest of the milk so the crepe number two, happy thoughts, cooking them for a shorter period of time actually keeps the green color, which is nice, so there are no weird brown spots or anything, so the cake looks more visually appealing to your Instagram post, bam my cake batter.

That's it, I have two nine inch cake pans and two parchment rounds. I'm going to divide this evenly between my two cake pans, so I've got these cakes, they're ready to go. I'm going to do my quick little chopstick. test to make sure they look great it's crepe 25 this is the last one we're so close when you finally get to layer 25 it's like in the shawshank redemption when they finally make it out and then just like crying in the rain it's like that except that you're over a hot pan looking at green crepes and this is the last one you're making, so I've got the meringue baked, it's totally cold, I'm just going to take this carefully and place it in the batter.

I'm going to put them in the oven, so I grab some coconut rum. Greetings to my Caribbean people. I usually say pour an ounce, but you know who really counts and brushes it directly onto the cake to make sure everyone gets a nice bite of delicious cake. and tasty coconut rum, the crepes are ready, 25 gorgeous green crepes that even Shrek would be proud of, they look delicious, they smell great and now it's time for the filling, so I'll let it cool completely and move on. and start making the frosting so that the filling of this cake is divided into two parts.

I have fresh strawberry jam and buttercream. We're going to start with the strawberry jam so it's cool and the pectin requires a half a teaspoon of calcium powder per half a cup of water, whisk it up a little bit and I'll set it aside while I make the strawberries. I have my heavy whipping cream. I'm going to slowly sprinkle some powdered sugar. I'm beating this until I see some stiff peaks. I want some volume, so I'm just going to transport these strawberries, chop them into large chunks and then give them a light puree, so I added my pectin. my sugar, I'm just going to beat these two teaspoons of water with calcium.

I'm going to cook this on low heat for about 15 minutes, until it comes to a full boil before I add the sugar, so let's start with the shortening and a little bit of vegetable margarine and then with our trusty mixer we'll start whisking until it's nice and creamy, looks great, this makes all the work much easier than crepes, so our fruit has really started to break down completely. to add the sugar and pectin mixture here and I'm going to stir vigorously so that no pectin clumps form, so now we're just going to bring this back to a full boil and then the pectin should be here's our jam, you can see that already It's starting to gel.

I'm going to put this in the refrigerator, so for the second half of the cake filling it will be buttercream. I have half a kilo of soft butter. just start whisking, loosen, I've got two pounds of powdered sugar, add the soy milk. I'm going to add the vanilla extract now too, we're just going to split the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds so that While this is whisking, I'm going to add my salt, so now I'm going to add my egg yolks to the butter so that everything It comes together and looks pretty good, you can see it's so fluffy, that's a good thing.

The filling is ready, it's time to assemble, so we have all our components, we have the buttercream, we have the chilled jam, we have fresh strawberries and we have our two layers of cake, so I'm just. I'm going to add a little bit of salt and a little bit of lemon juice. I'm going to cut up the fresh strawberries and fold them into this cooled jam. I'll start with crepe number one that lies flat in the middle here so my cakes cool. I'll show you my strategy to get it out of the frying pan. Top secret strategy.

I literally just turn it over like this and pray down. Leave it there, so now I'm just going to add a little bit of this buttercream on top. There is no set amount, it's just what looks good. Assembly is super easy, it's literally just layering crepes with whipped cream instead of coating butter, coating butter, it's going to be crepe cream, crepe cream, crepe cream, which is hard to say, I'm just going to pour a little whipping. cream in the middle here and then use an offset spatula to go around and smooth this out. I want to make sure it's evenly distributed throughout so everyone gets a generous bite.

I don't like cheap cake now that I make this. I'm going to make a well for my jam, so I'm going to leave a little wall around the outside created by the buttercream, so now I'm going to add a little bit of my strawberry jam into this well that I just created. Make sure you get nice chunks of fresh strawberry. This is almost like a meditation exercise because it requires a lot of patience, as well as time, effort and care, and you have to be meticulous because if you're not, it could slip out. It looks very sloppy, so I love shredded coconut.

This just reminds me of the Caribbean. It reminds me of vacations. I like to put everything in the middle so you can eat it evenly. I lost count about four crepes ago. I don't know what number I'm on, I don't know what day it is, I should probably call my family at some point, they're probably wondering where I am, so for the second layer it's going to be a little more delicate because we can really no longer turn the cake stand, so put the plate on top again, take it out and then I'm going to gently place it right on top of my cake.

Voila, take a good look at yourself, so let's move on. I'm going to repeat the step with the buttercream and jam on top and I like to leave it rustic, delicious, full and fluffy. This is a disaster so it should be a disaster even if I make a mistake with the frosting and it's not perfect there will be so much coconut in this cake that you won't be able to tell the difference and maybe there will be so much rum in it that you won't know the difference either okay , the ending is in look, I see it, it looks really good, so I'm saving this one for the top, this is it, it's a great moment, there are tears welling up inside my eyeballs, perfect, this is the Instagram cake , this is the cake you want to show to your friends and family. and you say what did you do this weekend and you ask what did I do this weekend?

I made a 25 player cake with matcha crepes what did you do this weekend now that my cake is frosted? to decorate it with grated coconut and maraschino cherries this is what it looks like love is very sweet it's a little messy the only way to decorate a matcha cake is more matcha i feel like i need a few more fresh strawberries on top so i go to cut some, toss them in the jam and then place them on top looking really good and here's my vegan coconut rum layer cake and this is my layer cake and this is my Eaton's layer cake it's time to try it. get the perfect bite with all the components, okay here we go, very good, I think overall this is light, it's fluffy and delicious, it's so pretty that you feel bad eating it and then you do it and you don't feel bad anymore bad more.

This vegan. Coconut cake is fantastic, especially for people who are curious about plants and want to use plants. You can really have a good time baking without eggs or dairy, it's moist, it's delicious, you can taste the coconut rum, it's like a holiday dish. here theMeringue is so crispy and salty and the cake you have has that nice lemon flavor. It's great, I'm very happy with it. Layer cakes can be simple or sophisticated, but always indulgent, let's see how each of our three chefs made theirs. a Caribbean inspired vegan layer cake that was simple but delicious. beautiful, love it, he used a plant-based butter that was made from a process called interesterification.

Intraesterification is the rearrangement of fatty acids into a triglyceride, which is the primary form of dietary fat. This process changes the specific characteristics of the fats, resulting in a plant-based oil that is firmer with a higher melting point. Ellie omitted the eggs and relied on her plant-based ingredients like oat milk, which has beta-glucans. , a type of polysaccharide that helps emulsify other ingredients. Your oat milk was added at the end to moisten and dissolve your ingredients now that it looks good your cake was light and pink because you added baking powder this created little air pockets from the production of carbon dioxide through a chemical yeast process, this is fast compared to the slower production of carbon dioxide by live yeast.

As you can find when making bread, it is a science, but it is not always a perfect science. daniel made a japanese inspired japanese cake that was not baked but rather made on a griddle with a thinner, pourable crepe batter. She seasoned her crepe batter with matcha. Green grass flavored powder made from matcha tea leaves has various grades and price ranges Ceremonial grade is the highest and most expensive grade Culinary grade, although still expensive, is much more suitable for baking crepes, they should be without Yeast and thin, the height and volume of this layer cake comes from its 25 layers of thin crepes stacked and topped with whipped cream, not from the yeast of its dough, yes, this looks amazing.

Bill made a complex layer cake that included two layers of meringue. Meringue is a solid foam of beaten egg whites. Bill was added. acidic vinegar to your naturally slightly alkaline egg whites to bring them closer to their isoelectric point. This is when the egg white proteins reach a neutral pH and are best able to incorporate the maximum amount of air. He also had a high sugar to egg white ratio during the sugar bake. It dehydrates and becomes crispy, resulting in a dry, crispy meringue. During baking the cake batter expands as its temperature increases and carbon dioxide and water vapor are produced.

The final structure of the dough solidifies as the egg proteins coagulate, the starches gel, and the gluten stretches as carbon dioxide and water vapor eventually escape as the surface of the layer becomes drier. It caramelizes and browns more. Daniel did not bake anything, but instead used a buttered griddle to make his crepes, flipping them once they began to crisp on the edges and bubble in the center, this was due to the water escaping. the shape of steam as the temperature of the dough rises bubbles good sign ellie made a fat and sugar emulsion glaze with a combination of margarine and shortening also used icing sugar icing sugar is much softer on the tongue than crystalline table sugar this is because it is finely pulverized to a very small crystal size now that looks good daniel made a simple sweetened whipped cream using heavy cream when the cream is whipped the milk proteins line up to form very thin films Thin air pockets around the separate pockets are supported by the cold semi-solid fat and are resistant to bursting and collapsing under the cohesive forces of water molecules, which is why cold cream whips better than room temperature cream. .

Strawberry jam was made from crushed berries combined with calcium pectin and sugar. Calcium strengthens the cross-links between pectin molecules, making it firmer and thicker. jam, he also made a modified buttercream with aerated butter by whipping and then added powdered sugar and a pasteurized egg because the egg was pasteurized, which made it safe to consume. Eggs are pasteurized by heating them in their shells in water to about 140 degrees Fahrenheit. warm enough to reduce the pathogen load while allowing the functionality of the egg to remain intact. Eggs can also be pasteurized using ozone, which is a configuration of oxygen that has the effect of disrupting bacterial cell walls, thus killing them the next time you're in the mood.

For a delicious layer cake you have many options and you don't even need to use an oven. We hope you follow some of these great tips from our three talented chefs.