Earlier this week Kim Ode and I were working on our Grooms Cake collection.
I think we were baking a batch of Mickey Mantle cakes.......(Johnny Walker-Drambuie-Honey and secret spices)
We poured about 3 1/2 pounds of batter into several 3-strap Vieanna bread pans and tossed them into a Revent oven.
The caked "Popped" much like quick breads do, however....the breaks came at the side of the cakes, not on the tops like a quick bread.
After 50 minutes, the cakes were baked through and Kim and I set them on bread racks to cool.
The odor of the Drambuie drowned out all the other bread fragrances that filled an afternoon bakery which was loaded to the hilt with morning projects.
Hennessy has played devils advocate during some of these baking sessions.
But most recently she remarked.......
"Why don't you call these Grooms Loaves instead of cakes?"
Klecko stood motionless while returning an Archie Bunker glare and explanation.....
"I call them Grooms Cakes because......THEY ARE CAKES!"
Now Hennessy counters with Sue McGleno logic, I don't know if those 2 have joined the same bowling team, but some of their reasoning charactoristics are matching is such a befuddling manner.
Hennessy quips.....
"If it is a cake, why is it in the shape of a loaf? Why does it have the same crumbwall as a yeasted bread? Why is the inner more loaf than cake?"
As much as I am grateful to have people respectfully challenging me, I responded.....
"I have seen cakes in all kinds of shapes. Sure there are circular cakes, but there is also rectangles, and cakes shaped like monkeys and kittys. Shape never qualifys whether an item is a bread or a cake."
Then I wanted to travel down a path of logic that said if it has yeast...it is bread, but if the energy source is B-Powder or B-Soda it is cake.
But then I remembered quick breads.
They are powered by soda and powder....not by yeast, and yet they remain in the "bread" camp, and they too are batter...like a cake mixture.
Either way, I will call my Grooms Cakes - cake, if for no other reason, because tradition gives me liscense to do so.
But w/o going to Google for your resource people, think about this for a second......
What makes up the definiton of bread, and cake?
What are the qualifictions of these items to fit with their specific mediums.
Is there a definitive answer?
These 2 items can't really be linked together can they, after all....we are talking bread......and cake.
That is it, this is the final question on your Master Baker quiz, and your answer will result in 1/2 of your final score for this semester.
Take your time, and answer thoughtfully please.
Professor Klecko
Bread is served with a meal and cakes are served after a meal.
ReplyDeleteLike David's answer, but in different words: bread is sustenance, cake is celebration.
ReplyDeletei can't think of a better answer than david's. even though it's also true that either one can be eaten independent of a meal. but didn't the word "cake" once have a broader meaning? it would apply to anything small and baked and portable that wasn't a pie?
ReplyDelete