Hello again

Something I have never been entirely sure of in Ms. Beranbaum’s recipes (despite typically being succesfully—though not always) is what is meant by medium mixing speed.  As everyone knows, many of the recipes call for beating sugar, flour, fat, eggs and some liquid on medium for a minute and a half, then adding more liquid in two stages beating for thirty seconds at medium speed after each addition.

What exactly is medium speed?

One of the questions I have on the occasions when I’m not successful ( which usually involves the cake shrinking excessively—not sinking or dipping in the middle—when cooled) is whether I am overbeating or underbeating the batter.

I have a kitchen aid proline standing mixer that goes from one at the lowest speed to 10 at the highest.  The setting from three to 4 is already pretty fast and I usually set it at 4 when something calls for medium. 

Does anyone have any thoughts on how vigorously the batter is supposed to be beaten in this two step method of mixing cake batter?

Thanks

Hi HDS! There is a note in RHC under Equipment (in the back) that includes specifics on Mixing Speeds.  For Medium, it specifies numbers 4 to 6; Rose says she uses a 4 on the KitchenAid and a 6 on the Cuisinart.  So I think your using the 4 for medium is correct!  For other KitchenAid conversions, it is Low=2, Medium-low=3, Medium-high=8, and for High, 10.

Just a note…if your cakes are shrinking excessively… your oven may be too hot.  Not sure…but just a guess.

Bill - 13 July 2010 07:22 AM

Just a note…if your cakes are shrinking excessively… your oven may be too hot.  Not sure…but just a guess.

I’m with Bill.

Thanks for the advice.  And I do think my oven is too hot though exactly how hot I’m having a hard time calculating for a number of reasons that I may go into later.  But thanks again