Yellow Cake 牛油蛋糕

My search for the perfect yellow cake recipe has been for a while. Yellow cake is a classic cake in the North American kitchen and almost every baker has their own favorite recipe. I have to confess that I am a baking nerd who would do anything just to make a recipe right. This yellow cake is just one of the examples. Every now and then I would ~~search for~~ study about different yellow cake recipes and try to make them according to my taste. However, a lot of them were just not my cup of tea (of course it doesn’t mean that they aren’t good). To me, the perfect yellow cake is one that is low in sugar and fat, moist enough so no sugar syrup is brushed on before frosting the cake (as in sponge cakes), and fluffy yet sturdy enough to withstand the weight of my frosting and fondant. Recently, I have come across to the Tender Yellow Cake Recipe by Food52. That was very close to what I have been looking for so with that as my blueprint, my own yellow cake recipe has evolved. Compared to the original recipe, I have added one extra egg to make the cake fluffier. The sugar amount has been reduced by 60% (yes 60%!!!). Homemade buttermilk instead of milk is used for extra tenderness. Yellow cakes are traditionally prepared with the creaming method. Here because of the huge reduction in both sugar and fats, a combination of the separated egg method and the reverse creaming method is implemented. The air bubbles in the meringue, when expand in the oven, are responsible for the beautiful rise of the cake. The reverse creaming method makes the cake tender by minimizing gluten formation during mixing. The oil (instead of butter) in the cake makes it very moist. The downside is that the cake will be less buttery. However, given the fact that it would later be paired up with rich chocolate ganache, I am very happy with it. I would say my quest for the perfect yellow cake recipe is over.

So here comes my yellow cake recipe. I hope you love it as much as I do!

Updated Jan 3, 2017: I’ve found other better and quicker recipe. See my blog posts for Yellow Butter Cake and Easy Vanilla Cupcakes for details.

EC尋覓理想的yellow cake食譜已經有一段日子了，yellow cake是北美地區常用的蛋糕，各人皆有自己的心水食譜。EC承認自己在烘焙方面有點瘋狂，最愛鍥而不捨地研究合自己口味的食譜，yellow cake便是其中一個例子。有段日子EC閒時便會搜尋鑽研yellow cake食譜，然後按照自己的要求嘗試修改食譜，但每每失敗而回(EC當然不是說這些食譜不好，只是並非EC那杯茶而已)。EC對yellow cake的要求是少甜、少油、質地濕潤不用像海綿蛋糕般掃糖水防乾、質地要鬆軟卻同時要紮實得能夠承托霜飾及翻糖裝飾的重量。最近EC試了Food52的Tender Yellow Cake食譜，覺得跟自己的要求相近，於是便以此為藍本，打造出合自己心意的yellow cake配方。與原食譜相比，EC增多了一隻蛋令蛋糕更鬆軟，糖量減掉了六成(沒錯，是六成！)，再改用自製的buttermilk代替牛奶令蛋糕變得更鬆軟。傳統的蛋糕做法是糖油攪拌法(creaming method)，但因為糖量及脂肪量均減掉了很多，所以蛋糕做法以分蛋法和reverse creaming method作配合。蛋白霜中的空氣受熱膨脹後可令蛋糕變得鬆軟，而reverse creaming method則可減少麵糊被攪拌至出筋的問題。蛋糕是用油做的所以可以保持濕潤，但同時亦少了牛油香。不過蛋糕最終會配上軟心黑朱古力作夾餡，所以EC亦覺得十分滿意，EC的yellow cake食譜尋覓之旅應該可以完結了！

以下便是EC的yellow cake食譜，希望你也會喜歡吧。

2017年1月3日更新：EC找到更好更易做的配方，詳情請參考牛油蛋糕及簡易雲尼拿杯子蛋糕。

Yellow Cake
牛油蛋糕

Makes two 8 x 1.5 inch or two 6 x 2.5 inch round cakes
可做兩個8 x 1.5吋或兩個6 x 2.5吋圓形蛋糕

Ingredients

Yolk Batter
270 g cake and pastry flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 salt
4 egg yolks, large
60 g granulated sugar
75 g canola or vegetable oil
225 g milk
15 g (1 Tbsp) white vinegar or lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract

Meringue
4 egg whites, large
60 g granulated sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Notes: The eggs I use are about 50 g each without shells.

材料

蛋黃糊
低筋麵粉270克
泡打粉 1.5茶匙
梳打粉 1/4茶匙
鹽 1/2茶匙
大蛋蛋黃 4隻
細砂糖 60克
芥花籽油或菜油 75克
牛奶 225克
白醋或檸檬汁 15克(1湯匙)
雲尼拿醬或純雲尼拿香油 2茶匙

蛋白霜
大蛋蛋白 4隻
細砂糖 60克
他他粉 1/2茶匙

註：EC用的大蛋每隻淨重約50克

Directions 做法

Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Separate the egg whites and egg yolks. Line bottom of two 8-inch baking pans with parchment paper. Butter the sides and coat with flour. Tap off excess. Set aside.
焗爐預熱350°F/180°C，分開蛋白和蛋黃，兩個八寸圓模底部放上牛油紙，內側抹油及洒上一層薄粉後再拍走剩餘的粉備用。

Make buttermilk by combining milk and white vinegar in a large bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes (mixture will start curdling). Set aside.
大碗內放牛奶，加入白醋拌勻後靜置五分鐘做成buttermilk備用，數分鐘後混合物會開始出現結塊。

For the yolk mixture, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a mixing bowl and mix well. Add oil and half of the buttermilk. With an electric mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat until the mixture becomes a thick paste. Add the egg yolks, remaining buttermilk and vanilla bean paste and beat for another minute or until mixture is smooth and well incorporated. Set aside.
做蛋黃糊：麵粉、泡打粉、梳打粉、鹽及糖混合過篩放在鋼盆內拌匀，加入油及一半份量的buttermilk用電動打蛋器或廚師機拌成糊狀，再加入蛋黃、雲尼拿醬及餘下的buttermilk攪拌一分鐘或直至光滑及完全混合，備用。

For the meringue, in another clean mixing bowl, whip egg whites with an electric mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until foamy. Add cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form. Then slowly add sugar in batches and continue beating until glossy and firm peaks.
做蛋白霜：取另一清潔的鋼盆放入蛋白，用電動打蛋器或廚師機將蛋白打至起泡, 加入他他粉繼續打至泡泡變細密, 分次加入糖打至企身及有光澤。

Fold meringue into the yolk mixture in two to three batches until well incorporated.
蛋白霜分兩至三次輕手以切拌方法與蛋黃糊完全混合。

Divide batter evenly among the baking pans (the picture shows three 6-inch pans as i was making a 1.5 batch of the recipe). Smooth top with a spatula then tap cake pans against the kitchen counter several times to get rid of any large air bubbles. Bake until cake springs back to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center of cake comes out clean, about 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Level and slice cakes if necessary before frosting.
將麵糊平均分配倒入模中(照片是三個6吋蛋糕模，EC做了食譜的1.5倍份量)，抹平表面後將模往桌上輕敲幾下敲出較大的氣泡，焗至蛋糕表面有彈性及竹籤插入蛋糕中央取出不沾麵糊 (約35-40分鐘，請自行調整時間)，取出十分鐘後可脫模及轉移到鋼架放涼，用刀切去頂部突出部份便可按需要切片使用。

I baked three 6-inch cakes that are 2.5 inches high by using 1.5 times the recipe. With dark chocolate ganache, homemade marshmallow fondant and modeling chocolate decorations I made a Minion cake for my kids joint birthday party.
EC用1.5倍份量做了三個6×2.5吋的蛋糕，再以軟心黑朱古力作夾餡，蓋上自製糖皮及造型朱古力裝飾後便成為了EC兩個寶貝的Minion生日蛋糕了。