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Crossing the Atlantic by Cookbook
Cookbooks, particularly baking books, that cross the Atlantic have the well-earned reputation of being troublemakers. Differences in flour have long been suspected of being the culprit. When MacMillan of London bought the rights to publish my book The Cake Bible in the U.K., I was determined to get to the bottom of this culinary Tower of Babel. A British friend began sending me kilograms of the two basic flours available to British consumers: self-raising and plain, and I started baking. Much to my alarm, the cakes produced with the British flour were unrecognizable from their original models. It was hard to believe that innocent seeming flour could be responsible for such a dramatic difference. The logical way to conquer the problem seemed clear: to retest and redevelop the recipes to work as well as the originals, but with British ingredients. The only place to do this was in the UK with native equipment and native ingredients.
Kyle Cathie, my brilliant British editor with pioneering spirit, made it possible for me to spend two weeks in a charming airy flat retesting recipes. She purchased a heavy duty mixer, food processor, 12 dozen eggs and arranged a shopping tour to Sainsbury, a large British supermarket. I was delighted to discover that England is a baker's paradise: double cream with pure uncooked flavor, wondrous clotted cream which is divine simply spread on cake in place of buttercream, glorious golden refiners syrup, flavorful marzipan and nuts of every type and gradation imaginable.
The problem was indeed the flour. Bleached cake flour is indispensable for butter cakes. But the only bleached flour available was the "self-raising" variety which contained leavening. When a cake uses an acid ingredient such as sour cream, it needs to be tempered with baking soda. But when the flour already contains the maximum amount of baking powder, adding baking soda would make the combined leavening too high, causing the cake to collapse. Fortunately, the plain unbleached flour is just fine for all the sponge type of cakes.
The solution was first to assess how much baking powder was contained in the cake flour and then to create a blend of self-raising and plain flour in order to lower the overall leavening but still have the benefit of the cake flour. This necessitated other changes as well, such as replacing all yolk cakes with whole eggs and decreasing butter to strengthen the cakes' structure. With sour cream cakes, extra sugar was needed for aeration. Each and every cake had to be adjusted separately, sometimes as many as three times before it was exactly right. It was a night and day job, without much sleep, but well worth the effort because I can now be confident that when a British person is baking one of my cakes, it will have essentially the same flavor and texture as mine.
While in England, Kyle told me that the book could not be called The Cake Bible if it did not contain the beloved British gingerbread, a moist, spicy cake with an intriguing blend of buttery, lemony, wheaty treacley flavors.
I developed the recipe while still on British soil but am happy to report that it works equally well in America, especially if you use the golden refiners syrup. It is easy to make, not even requiring a mixer, and is a wonderful addition to the book. Regrettably, I didn't know to include it in the American version, so here it is now!
Beloved English Gingerbread Cake
Serves: 10 to 12
8 tablespoons (4 ounces) unsalted butter
1¼ liquid cups golden refiner's syrup or corn syrup*
¼ cup dark brown sugar
1 heaping tablespoon marmalade
2 large eggs
2/3 cup milk
1 cup (4 ozs.) sifted cake flour (lightly spooned into cup and leveled off)
1 cup -1 tablespoon (4 ozs.) whole wheat flour (lightly spooned into cup and leveled off)
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
a pinch salt
lemon syrup:
2 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons sugar
One 8-inch square cake pan, preferably metal*, greased, bottom lined with parchment or waxed paper, then greased and floured.
Note: some metal pans slope inward and are less than 8-inches at the bottom. In this case it is better to use a 9-inch square pan or fill the pan ½ full and bake the excess batter as cup cakes.
In a small, heavy saucepan, on medium low heat, stir together the butter, golden syrup, sugar and marmalade until melted and uniform. Set aside until just barely warm, then whisk in the eggs and milk.
In a large bowl, whisk together all the remaining dry ingredients. Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring with a large spoon or rubber spatula just until the batter is smooth.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin, no more than ½ full. Bake for 50-60 minute or until a tester inserted near the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the center. The cake should start to shrink from the sides of the pan only after removal from the oven.
To make syrup: In a small pan, stir together the 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 tablespoons softened butter and the 3 tablespoons sugar. Heat stirring, until the butter is melted and the sugar dissolved. Brush half the syrup on to the top of the cake. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes.
Loosen the sides with a small metal spatula and invert onto a greased wire rack. Brush the bottom with the remaining syrup. To prevent splitting, reinvert so that the top is up.
For extra moistness, cover the cake with plastic wrap while still hot and allow it to cool. Wrap airtight for 24 hours before eating.
FINISHED HEIGHT: about 2 inches
STORE: 2 days room temperature, 5 days refrigerated, 2 months frozen.
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hey all, thanks for all your wonderful comments. I'm half British and half American so have used all different types of measuring devices, flour, other ingredients, you name it. All the recipes from my mother's side of the family come from America and all from my father's are from England, and depending on where I've been and what ingredients I have to hand my recipes have been made different ways, and I've had loads of practice at converting ingredients. It's amazing when you discover how different things are that you would never have imagined could be, like chocolate or syrup or even butter. Now I have a new challenge as I'm living in Germany and the flour here is quite different from what I've experienced before. Flour here is graded in numbers, apparently this is by ash content, from what I can find on the internet. So a basic soft flour is numbered 405. What I use mostly for bread is 550. Rye bread uses a white flour to mix with the rye which is numbered 1050. I've also been able to find durum wheat flour here very easily, which is lovely. But I've been slowly working out what flours work with what recipes as I've been here. Does anyone else have any experience with German flours? I'm going mostly on guess and error so if anyone actually knows how these are comparable to other British or American flours, I'd love to hear about it!
Reply to this Posted by: Helen | May 15, 2008 1:20 AM #
thanks Bina, I'm due a trip to London.
:)
Reply to this Posted by: Helen | May 3, 2008 8:43 AM #
For those of you living in Central London, American cake flour is available at Partridge's Delicatessen near Sloane Square as are many other American baking products i.e. unsweetened chocolate, baking powder etc. It is about a five minute walk from the tube station.
Reply to this Posted by: Bina | May 3, 2008 4:46 AM #
Good to meet you Helen :).
Reply to this Posted by: Patrincia | April 22, 2008 5:28 PM #
Just out of interest, how hard is 'too hard' for unbleached all-purpose (for use in UK recipes)? Plain flour in the UK has a 10-11% protein content.
Reply to this Posted by: Kate | April 22, 2008 11:55 AM #
Dear Patrincia, I'm usually lurking, but I had to say that I'm always trying US cakes in britain, with average results, and my husband is continually telling me that I should do British cakes with british ingredients. It could be true ;)
Reply to this Posted by: Helen | April 22, 2008 11:52 AM #
Cicely - I'd suggest an even more simple solution - use US flour with US recipes :).
Reply to this Posted by: Patrincia | April 22, 2008 11:15 AM #
You can also buy SR flour in the US, and by my calculation it's about the same proportions (my Supercook baking powder says 4 tsp BP to 8 oz flour btw! US is 1.5 tsp to 1 cup flour). I think ordinary Gold Medal type would be best for a sponge cake. It's bleached but is close in protein content.
Pastry flour is both soft and unbleached, so might give the closest results. It's not easy to find though, you might have to order it from King Arthur or go to Whole Foods.
Reply to this Posted by: Alexis | April 22, 2008 10:54 AM #
Hi all, unbleached american flour is too hard. I would try with the mixes between cake flour and corn starch, though probably cake flour by itself will work well. If you have an old can of UK baking powder, it will give you the quants to add to 'plain' (that's all purpose in the US) flour to get a sponge. You may have to experiment a little, if you are using american baking powder. Apparently you use 1 tsp baking powder per 5 oz (1 US cup) flour.
Good luck
Reply to this Posted by: Helen | April 22, 2008 9:56 AM #
I agree with Kate, if you are using your usual UK recipes, unbleached AP flour with added
baking powder is the way to go. On the other hand you could try Rose's recipes with the flour she specifies in her book and see what kind of results you get!
Please let us know how you get on, it will be interesting!
Reply to this Posted by: Jeannette | April 22, 2008 3:28 AM #
I agree with Kate, if you are using your usual UK recipes, unbleached AP flour with added
baking powder is the way to go. On the other hand you could try Rose's recipes with the flour she specifies in her book and see what kind of results you get!
Please let us know how you get on, it will be interesting!
Reply to this Posted by: Jeannette | April 22, 2008 3:27 AM #
... although if you want to use 'English' recipes, it sounds as though unbleached all-purpose might be the closest thing to our plain flour. You'd need to add baking powder to turn it into SR flour.
Reply to this Posted by: Kate | April 22, 2008 2:52 AM #
Cicely, what an interesting question, which normally we have addressed reversely (from the USA to the UK instead).
I would try All Purpose Bleached first. Then a mix of Cake Flour plus Corn Starch. And ultimately 100% Wondra flour.
Cake Bible has excellent recipes for Genoise and for Biscuit.
Reply to this Posted by: Hector | April 21, 2008 7:03 PM #
Hello Rose, Could you tell me please what kind of flour I should use here in the United States, to make a light sponge cake? My baking was always so good in England, but as the flour is different here, nothing turns out well.
Reply to this Posted by: Cicely Willis | April 21, 2008 6:36 PM #
Susan, cornstarch and cornflour are one and the same thing.
Reply to this Posted by: Rozanne | March 25, 2008 11:13 AM #
Dear Rose,
Thank you so much for your wonderful cookbooks! I have never in my life found any recipes explained so clearly and producing such incredible results.
I'm sorry if this question has already been addressed here, but I live in the UK and was wondering if there is any difference between what is referred to as "cornflour" here and the cornstarch you use in your recipes? Are they the same, or do I need to adjust the amount I add?
Also, is arrowroot a substitute for cornstarch, or only to be used in cetain circumstances?
Thank you very much for your help!
Susan.
Reply to this Posted by: susan | March 25, 2008 6:40 AM #
eliz. i can just imagine how desperate you must have felt and am so glad that i and kate and all the wonderful bloggers will give you the help you need!
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | February 27, 2008 3:06 PM #
Elizabeth - do a search on this blog for "Kate flour". She's located in the UK and has discovered a great way to get excellent baking results.
Reply to this Posted by: Patrincia | February 27, 2008 1:10 PM #
Hello Rose! I just found this website and am so happy to feel validated for my baking traumas. I used to be a pretty good baker in the US and all of the sudden, since we moved to the UK, all of my cakes, pancakes, pies, etc have been a disaster!!! As recently as two days ago, I tried to make pancakes for the kids and OMG, what a mess. I tried again, and same thing happened (they came out as crepes). I have tried different flours with the same results. I am now returning to the US for a "supply weekend" to get flour, sugar, baking soda and powder. I have been on numerous forums to get answers for my baking failures to no avail. I was thinking that it was the baking powder I was using the whole time. I will look for the ilalian flour you mentioned. I am so happy I could cry!!! ps. I have your cake bible here (made my own wedding cake from it). It is so dirty, pages are stuck together, binding has fallen apart, etc, but I still use it religiously. You are the best!
Reply to this Posted by: Elizabeth | February 27, 2008 12:51 PM #
Hi, Rose. Love your books! I am experimenting with making classic butter pound cakes. I'm trying to achieve the same moisture and texture as commercially produced pound cakes that are sold at cafe's, (i.e. Au bon pain) which are moist but not wet, very light and tender, with a good crumb but unmistakably still a pound cake. I took up reading the ingredients list on commercially produced pound cakes and found that some list vital wheat gluten. Have you ever used vital wheat gluten in a butter pound cake before; what was the result? And exactly how much gluten should one use? Also, I noticed that some ingredient lists include both milk and whey. Is there any added benefit from adding whey to a recipe? And how much whey would you use? Any suggestions you make would be greatly appreciated on my quest to produce a "clone" cake from my kitchen. Thanks!
Reply to this Posted by: Sherry | January 22, 2008 2:58 PM #
the only thing i can think of is that they would be adding the boiling water to activate the baking soda so that it would not act as a leavener but just as a ph elevator to balance the acidity of the molasses.
thanks re the angel food cake!
Reply to this Posted by: Anonymous | January 21, 2008 9:19 PM #
Can you tell me why so many gingerbread recipes call for boiling water? Some of them seem non-sensical -- instructions to cream butter & sugar together but then pouring the combined boiling water & ginger into that, which, of course, simply melts both the butter & the sugar. What is the HOT water meant to do? (I see that your recipe assembles those ingredients more logically then calls for cooling the hot mixture.)
I'll be giving the recipe you posted a try soon! Gotta make a trip to see if I can find the golden syrup locally.
BTW -- Your chocolate angel food cake from 'the Bible' is wildly popular anytime I make it. THX!
Reply to this Posted by: Beverly | January 20, 2008 12:29 PM #
Here's a link with some useful information about Baker's ammonia:
http://www.foodproductdesign.com/articles/0904CC.html
As far as spoilage, I suspect the sugar and honey act as preservatives in your recipe.
Reply to this Posted by: Barbara A. | January 15, 2008 5:48 PM #
I live in Israel and have found that by and large most of my cake recipes from the States come out the same, but a few cakes that I used to make very successfully when I lived in there just don't come out well here no matter what I do.
It never occurred to me that it might be the flour. In Israel "cake flour" is self-rising flour and unbleached flour seems to be available only to the trade in 25 kg. sacks. But I do get wonderful whole wheat flour that is grown and milled (stone ground) just a few minutes' drive from me.
Reply to this Posted by: Sue Epstein | January 14, 2008 5:11 AM #
Rose, I've written before on your blog about Baker's ammonia or as it is also called Hartshorn or Hart's horn salts. I believe it is used in these recipes because the leavening action does not activate till it is heated. In cookies the ammonia is quickly dissipated
(but you will smell it while it is baking)
and there is no left over taste. It is used in cookies such as ones that are air dried for a while. It also gives the authentic snap to the cookies. Hope this helps to explain Betsy.
Reply to this Posted by: Melinda Pickworth | December 2, 2007 2:36 PM #
if you're concerned you should try making the cookies shortly after mixing the dough and compare to see if they are as good. i wrote in my xmas cookie book that this is the odlest cookie dating back to 2000 BC and that often the dough mixture is prepared as much as a year ahead! evidentally all the honey, sugar, and spice serve as preservatives and even as leavening.
i don't use baker's ammonia in them or any other leavening for that matter (perhaps you can find my book in the library--rose's christmas cookeis and compare it to your recipe). this is an old-time leavening and you want it to dissipate on baking--it would taste horrible if it didn't!
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | November 30, 2007 3:20 PM #
Hi Rose,
It's now that time of year to make my mother-in-law's recipe for lebkuchen for Christmas. She is gone now and was never able to give me an answer that makes sense re why her recipe is made as it is. I worry that a mixture with eggs is left to sit our for 3 days before baking. I wonder what the significance is of using baker's ammonia instead of a more traditional leavening ingredient. And I wonder whether the best leavening use of the baker's ammonia is to get it into the oven immediately before it all dissipates and not leave it for 3 days since it's a somewhat volatile agent.
Martha's German Lebkuchen Recipe
3/4 cup honey; 1 1/4 cup sugar; 1 cup chopped nuts; 1/4 cup fine chopped citron (I make my own); 1/4 cup orange juice with all of the grated zest added as well" 2 Tbls water; 2 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour; 1 tsp clove; 2 tsp cardamom; 2 tsp cinnamon; 1 tsp baking soda; 1 tsp baking ammonia; 2 beaten eggs;
Once mixed, store in the eventual baking pan, tightly covered for 3 days, then bake at 325° for 35-40 min; remove and stroke a glaze over it made from powdr sugar, hot water and vanilla. Make this on the weekend after Thanksgiving and let it sit untouched, wrapped tightly until Christmas; then cut up into squares and serve.
I've made it many times and it always tased OK; consistency is dense like a brownie, but has never tasted "off", and this is how she made it for decades for my husband and the rest of her family.
Rose, I would be so grateful if you could comment on my concerns above.
Thank you!
Betsy
Reply to this Posted by: Betsy | November 30, 2007 2:49 PM #
o.k. so my birthday isn't til april (i just discovered that it's the same day as the wedding anniversary of jeffrey steingarten--arguably america's top food writer)but i consider this a life time birthday present. kate you are a great investigative scientist--brava. EVERYONE go right to this posting. wait--i'll post it as a general posting so those not on this thread will see it.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | November 6, 2007 9:10 AM #
Happy Birthday, Rose! I made a cake for you ...
http://amerrierworld.wordpress.com/2007/11/06/water-water-everywhere/
Reply to this Posted by: Kate | November 6, 2007 9:02 AM #
deeply appreciated.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | November 5, 2007 3:34 PM #
I'd like to re-do the yellow butter cake with the plain flour (heat-treated). Microwaving did seem to make a difference with the chocolate cake, even although it wasn't as light as when I made it using the pasta flour (microwaved). I didn't expect the yellow butter cake to be quite so soggy - I 'd just like to make sure before writing off the plain flour completely.
Then, I'll try the McDougall's pasta flour, too :-)
Reply to this Posted by: Kate | November 5, 2007 3:31 PM #
thanks--disappointing but good to know. i guess we won't be able to arrive at a universal solution as flour varies around the world but if all someone had was the plain flour would it even be worth microwaving or is the difference not significant?
it certainly would be good to know if the mcdougall's pasta flour works--i suspect it will.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | November 5, 2007 12:11 PM #
This morning, I microwaved some McDougall's plain flour (10.4% protein), part-substituted this with cornflour and made the All-American Chocolate Butter Cake. My 5-yr old daughter loves it, but I was a wee bit suspicious about its texture - it seemed to me to be verging once again on the dense side of moist. It certainly wasn't as light as the chocolate cake I made with the microwaved pasta flour.
I didn't feel that I had anything definitive to report however, so this afternoon I gave a further batch of McDougall's plain flour the 'kate-flour' treatment. I used this to make the Sour Cream Yellow butter Cake. Nope - definitely soggy, I'm afraid.
I'm wondering if McDougall's use too much hard wheat in their plain flour for the microwave treatment to be successful. It certainly seems as though the soft wheat of the pasta flour is necessary.
I could try using McDougall's version of Dove's pasta flour (the McDougall's 00 grade flour is much more commonly available across UK supermarkets than the Doves Farm pasta flour).
Reply to this Posted by: Kate | November 5, 2007 11:52 AM #
that such a poetic and beautiful thing to say"re "feeding them." you have the right spirit to be a great bread baker.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | November 4, 2007 7:31 PM #
Oooops, in all my excitement I forgot to mention how delicious the bread was. My daughter wanted to eat it as soon as it came out of the oven b/c she said it smelled so good.
Reply to this Posted by: Rozanne | November 4, 2007 6:01 PM #
Whaaaaat 2009? I almost fell off my chair reading that. I guess we have no choice. The only consolation is that the book will be PERFECT and so informative as usual. Rose I just wanted to say a BIG thank you for the Ricotta bread recipe. For the second time in my life I baked bread. The first time was when I took a course in basic baking (which was a waste of time and money, the school used bread flour to make cakes. Need I say more???)I was so intimidated to bake bread. However having read the reviews and of course the fact that it is one of your recipes, I decided to give it a try. I don't have any formal education in baking but I do bake a lot and it is something that is so relaxing (for me) and satisfying. However, when I baked the bread I cannot tell you the sense of satisfaction I experienced. I cook for my husband and kids every single day, but when I baked the bread that day I REALLY felt like I was "feeding" them. I'm sorry this posting is so lengthy, but I was so happy I had to thank you. I know nothing about bread making but at least I have access to your knowledge and expertise and that's the best place to start.
By the way great job Kate with your findings. I'm sure Rose will sleep better now, knowing that more people can enjoy cake.
Rozanne
Reply to this Posted by: Rozanne | November 4, 2007 5:58 PM #
i just posted a response on your blog.
yes mcdougall's plain flour is what i used when revising the book.
i'm still filled with joy by how much better cakes will now be around the world where bleaching is outlawed using your mw treatment. it's for sure going into my new book.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | November 4, 2007 10:3