A brownie is a small confection, usually with a sweet filling and intricately decorated. There are many varieties of these seductive babies, some even have their own history associated with famous personalities or events. And, of course, each cake has its own characteristics of preparation.
What are the cakes
Pastries are an exclusively Russian concept. In other countries, these confectionery products are classified as cakes, desserts, baked goods, without being singled out as a separate category. Indeed, apart from size, different cakes may have little in common. An elegant, flirty little basket is not at all like a glossy cannele, and a sand strip does not in any way resemble an airy bun with whipped cream. Inside the cake there may be a sweet cream - butter, custard, protein, cottage cheese, Kurdish or berry jam, or there may not be anything, as, for example, in the beloved by many "potatoes". It is not necessary to decorate a dessert to call it a cake, for example, a bouchet has enough chocolate icing to be perfect.
To somehow systematize this variety, confectioners came up with the idea of combining cakes according to the most obvious sign - the dough from which they are baked.
Biscuit dough cakes
Biscuit dough cakes are most often sliced. For them, a square or round biscuit is baked, coated with cream or jam, sometimes rolled up, and then cut into pieces and decorated. An exception is the Boucher cake. The dough for him is deposited on a baking sheet with round cakes. To prevent it from spreading, a significant change is made to the biscuit recipe - the amount of proteins increases by almost one and a half times.
So, for one glass of flour for the dough, you will need about 7 yolks and at least 10 proteins, as well as 6 tablespoons of fine granulated sugar. The sponge cake is prepared in a cold way. The secret here is that whites whipped in the cold are added to the yolks, ground with ¾ sugar until the volume increases by 2-3 times. How to whisk in the cold? Just put a pre-chilled glass or metal bowl of a smaller volume in a bowl filled with crushed ice, snow, ice water - and beat until the volume increases at least 4 times, add granulated sugar at the very end. Now it remains to mix the yolks with a third of the whipped proteins, add flour, mix again, then add the remaining proteins and knead the airy dough with neat, as if folding movements. Biscuits for cakes are baked at a temperature of 200 ° C for about 15 minutes, cooled, the halves are soaked in aromatic syrup and sandwiched with butter cream, and then covered with chocolate fondant.
By the way, you should know that despite the French name, "Boucher" - Soviet pastries, they were invented in the famous Leningrad confectionery "Sever". In France, bouchée is any tiny snack for one bite. Especially popular are bouchets a la rainier - royal bouchets, presenting themselves with volovan stuffed with various delicacies under white sauce.
Shortcrust pastry cakes
What are shortcrust pastry cakes? They can be roughly divided into two varieties - stripes and baskets. Stripes are "double" with custard, protein, butter cream or jam as an interlayer, covered with fondant. Such products are often called the "School" cake, as in Soviet times they were most often sold in school cafeterias. The baskets are often made with double or triple filling, placing a delicate cream on top of fruit jam, and on it - fresh berries, glazed jelly or dried fruits, candied fruits, nuts. l many a basket is the most beautiful cake in the world.
A special kind of "stripes" is the Krakow cake. The peculiarity of its manufacture is that a mass of whipped egg whites and ground almonds with sugar is applied to a slightly baked layer of shortcrust pastry, preheated over low heat to a viscous state. This mass is allowed to cool slightly, and then the cakes are baked until tender.
Choux pastry cakes
Custard dough is used to make such beloved cakes as shu, eclair, profiteroles. Shu buns filled with whipped cream are some of the most fluffy cakes ever made. Profiteroles can be used to make a great croquembush cake. And the variety of eclairs can satisfy any sweet tooth. Eclairs are filled with butter, protein, confectionery cream, covered with various glaze and decorated with nut crumbs, fresh berries, candied flowers.
It is important to place choux pastry cakes on a properly prepared baking sheet. It should be lubricated with a very thin layer of oil. If you overdo it, the bottoms of the cakes will be soft and torn, and if not lubricated enough, they will stick.
Puff pastry cakes
The most famous puff pastry is milfey. In Russia, he is often confused with "Napoleon". And it is not surprising, because they are, at least, "cousins". At the heart of both cakes is a delicate dough that crumbles into hundreds of thinnest layers.
The fundamental difference is that Napoleon is always allowed to soak in cream, and they try to serve the milfey as soon as possible, so that the combination of thin crunchy crust and velvety cream, emphasized by fresh berry juice, will forever enchant lovers of gourmet desserts.
Airy or whipped cakes
Airy cakes are made from egg whites whipped with sugar. This "dough" is also called meringue or meringue. Meringue can be French, Italian or Swiss. French - the most popular, is obtained by carefully beating the whites with granulated sugar. Italian or soft is prepared with boiling sugar syrup, and Swiss is whipped in a water bath. The meringues are baked and fastened in pairs with cream.
The most famous whipped cake is Pavlova. The peculiarity of the preparation of the dessert, named after the famous ballerina, is that the core of the crispy glossy meringue is soft, similar to marshmallows. Place whipped cream and juicy berries on this center.
Almond cakes
The difference between these cakes and all the others is the dough made using almond flour or crumbs. First of all, these are the almond cakes themselves - fragrant, crispy on the outside and slightly viscous on the inside. However, in addition to them, almond ones also include perky multi-colored fashionable pasta, and similar to cupcakes, but still being the cakes of the financier.
This category is sometimes also referred to as nut cakes, as in some recipes, almonds can be substituted for hazelnuts or other suitable nuts.
Tiny cakes
The very name of the category suggests that these products are made from crumbs - biscuit or puff pastry - soaked in cream. When talking about such desserts, the first thing that comes to mind is the Potato cake. Its classic version is made of crushed light tender biscuit with Charlotte cream, soaked in rum or cognac, it is covered with the finest dust of natural cocoa powder and decorated with white creamy "eyes".
The filling is often placed inside the tiny cakes - dried apricots, dried cherries, prunes, cubes of dense jam, outside they are rolled in ground nuts, coconut or chocolate chips, covered with a thick glaze.
Mixed type
But some cakes cannot be attributed to one category, they are ready to "perform" in two or even three at once. For example, the "Mushroom" cakes are shortcrust pastry, garnished with precipitated butter cream and topped with a bisque bush. "Sandy-nut" cake is collected from shortbread and almond dough, meringue and shortbread dough are combined in the Baltic dessert "Brita".
