Confectionery cream is the final touch in baking preparation, which will give a special, rich taste to a cake or other treat. If you learn how to cook several basic creams (for example, butter, custard or protein), you can come up with your own unique recipe. The taste of the most common sponge cake will change dramatically if you add an additional ingredient to the classic butter cream: nuts, cocoa powder, orange zest, etc.
Tasty cream: general principles of preparation
The main types of creams for confectionery products are as follows:
• creamy;
• protein;
• oil;
• sour cream;
• custard.
Based on these types, hundreds of different creams are invented, unlike each other in taste, composition and consistency. By skillfully combining ingredients and various flavors, you can turn the most ordinary cake into a real work of culinary art.
The most popular are creams based on butter and sour cream. They do not require a large number of products and time costs, so they are in demand among busy housewives. You can note the cream of yogurt or cottage cheese cream, which is not as high in calories as the rest.
Each cream has its specific advantages. Custard is not only very tasty, but also tender, melting. Prepare it from egg yolks, butter, milk and flour. It is with this cream that the famous "Napoleon" is coated.
It should be noted that too sweet cream can spoil even the most perfect sponge cake. For each type of baking, you need to choose a special recipe. As a basis, you can take not only cottage cheese, butter or sour cream, but also less familiar ingredients: for example, cream ice cream or condensed milk.
What is a cream? This is a bulk weight, which is obtained by whipping proteins, yolks, cream, sour cream, butter, sugar and other ingredients. Vanillin and gelatin are often added to the cake impregnation.
Here are the basic rules for making pastry cream:
• The most important rule is that the products must be of high quality and fresh. The basic ingredient of most creams is butter. If it contains too much vegetable fat, the finished impregnation will begin to delaminate and it will be difficult to beat. Another significant drawback of bad oil is an unpleasant aftertaste. If the manufacturer does not specify all the ingredients and used an insufficient amount of animal fat, the cream will be similar in taste to margarine;
• cream for the cream should ideally be greasy. The minimum percentage is 38%. It is best to use a home product. Low-percentage cream is badly whipped, because of which the cake will not be fluffy and will flow;
• it is important to prepare the necessary kitchen utensils and appliances: containers for mixing ingredients, a mixer or blender, an egg separator, a small saucepan, etc .;
• if the cake is prepared for a major celebration, it is better to decorate it with roses and borders. Liquid food colors will help in this. They are added to the whipped cream at the end of the preparation. To get a bright saturated color, you need only a few drops of concentrate. Those who are afraid of chemistry can use beet juice or a small amount of spinach juice. It is important not to overdo it with such natural dyes, otherwise the impregnation will acquire a specific aftertaste;
• for aroma and spicy taste, you can add liquor or cognac to the cream. It is also important to observe proportions.
Cooked cream stuffed cakes and sandwich cakes, also decorate the finished product. The easiest way to decorate a cake is to apply a mass on its surface with a knife or other convenient object and distribute it carefully. An excellent assistant in the kitchen is a culinary bag with a variety of nozzles. With it, you can create to decorate the product with fancy patterns - as fantasy suggests.
A pastry bag is usually sold as a set of two components: an elastic bag and a nozzle. The package can be reusable and disposable. For frequent use, it is better to purchase a plastic bag. Nozzles can be very different: in the form of flowers, stars, waves or various shapes. With the bag you can decorate the sides of the product. A special long knife is also used for this purpose, the blade of which is not too sharp and wide.
If there is no such device, you can take regular baking paper and build a cone-shaped bag out of it, which you then need to fill with cream. The end of the bag is cut straight, at an angle or in the form of cloves. The finished cake, covered with impregnation, can also be decorated with chocolate figurines, confectionery dressing, crushed nuts, candied fruits, fruits, etc.
Recipe 1: The Most Delicious Cake Cream
Ingredients:
1. Butter - 150 g;
2. Sour cream - 150 g;
3. Sugar - 150 g.
Cooking method
Sour cream cake to prepare very quickly and easily. It can be safely used for a layer of cakes and filling cakes. Its main advantage is a minimum of ingredients, but this does not affect the final result. The cream is light, fluffy and very tender. It can be used to make any kind of baking.
First you need to use a blender or a mixer to make sugar a glass of powdered sugar. The softened butter is whipped with chilled sour cream (cream as an option) and powdered sugar. Get a thick foam, it should not spread. Icing sugar should be poured gradually, in small portions. The finished mass can be filled with cakes or fluff cakes.
The key point in this recipe is sour cream. Beating it for too long will make it look like butter. And yet - an excessive amount of sugar makes the cream liquid, and this is absolutely not necessary. It is best to whip the mass with a whisk, although it takes some time. Ready cream should stand in the refrigerator.
Recipe 2: Delicious Chocolate Cake Cream
Ingredients
1. Chocolate - half a kilo;
2. Half a glass of tea;
3. Orange peel.
Cooking method
Chocolate must be melted in a water bath. Next, you need to make tea and let it brew. Tea leaves are filtered from the tea leaves through a strainer, after which it can be poured into liquid chocolate. The cream is whipped until a homogeneous consistency, in the end you need to pour orange peel. If the cream is prepared to interlayer the cake, it is better to do it in advance and place in the refrigerator until the mass thickens. Before applying it must be beaten with a mixer until an air mass is formed. If the cream is used as a glaze, it is better to leave it liquid - thus it will be evenly distributed over the entire surface.
Recipe 3: Delicious cream cake "Curd"
Ingredients
1. Three grams of lemon peel;
2.250 g of cottage cheese;
3. Vanillin;
4. 40 g of nuts;
5.150 g of sugar;
6. Half a cup of fatty cream;
7. Tablespoon of gelatin.
Cooking method
To get a lush mass, you need to grind the cottage cheese through a fine sieve, mix it with sugar (or powdered sugar) and beat well. The next cooking step is soaking gelatin. A glass of water is taken for the indicated amount. Whipped cream is introduced into a lush whipped mass. Next you need to add vanilla, lightly roasted and chopped nuts, lemon zest, soaked gelatin. All ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Ready cream must be kept in the refrigerator for three hours. Cakes are smeared with the finished cream, and they can also fill eclairs. You can diversify the filling with pieces of berries and fruits.
Recipe 4: Delicious Cream Butter Cake
Ingredients
1. Butter - 250 g;
2. Two eggs;
3. A quarter cup of milk;
4. A glass of sugar.
Cooking method
Products with this cream are very fond of children, and there are many ways to prepare the filling. Here is one of them. Cooking begins with beating eggs with sugar. In the lush mass need to carefully pour the heated milk. The mass is heated in a water bath until the sugar is completely dissolved. Ready mass must be allowed to cool. Butter should be softened and kneaded properly. An egg-milk mixture is introduced into the butter in small portions, all ingredients are thoroughly ground. Delicious cake cream is ready. It is perfect for sandwiching and making custard cakes.
Recipe 5: Delicious Yogurt Cake Cream
Ingredients
1. 300 g of yogurt;
2.7 g of gelatin;
3. 300 g of cream;
4.100 g of powdered sugar.
Cooking method
In this recipe, it is important to correctly select and soak gelatin. It is better to use an imported product, as it is prepared much easier and faster. Such gelatin is soaked in a small amount of water. The swelling time is not half an hour, as usual, but only five minutes. Soaked gelatin need to put warm in a water bath and wait for the complete dissolution of the particles. The cream is whipped with powdered sugar until a thick foam is formed. Next, you need to beat the yogurt with a blender and gelatin brought to the desired consistency. If the yogurt is cold, you can not pour out all the gelatin at once, since it can thicken and "go" into lumps. Gelatin mass is poured gradually. The cream is introduced at the end, after which the whole mass is whipped again. The cream will usually turn out white or slightly yellowish. It can be painted with fruit juice.
Recipe 6: The Most Delicious Sponge Cake Cream
Ingredients
1. 400 g of cottage cheese;
2.100 g of sugar;
3. 4 egg yolks;
4. 60 g of berries;
5. 50 g of raisins;
6. 50 g of nuts;
7. Vanillin.
Cooking method
Another recipe for a delicious cottage cheese cream cream. Such impregnation is ideal for biscuit dough. Grind the egg yolks with sugar, pass the cottage cheese through a sieve. Pureed curd mixed with egg-sugar mass. Nuts are lightly roasted and ground. Rinse thoroughly, dry and cut into small pieces. Prepared nuts and raisins are added to the mass, then we add whipped cream. If desired, vanillin and a wide variety of berries can be added to the cream. This curd cream is also well combined with gelatin (if you need to leave the impregnation stored for some time) and butter. It should be borne in mind that in the latter case, the treat will come out more calorie.
Recipe 7: Delicious Cream Cake "Scallop"
Ingredients
1. Two glasses of milk;
2. Two eggs;
3. A glass of sugar;
4. Three tablespoons of flour;
5. Vanillin.
Cooking method
This recipe is one of a large number of custard making options. You can take it as a basis and prepare more complex versions of creams with it. So, for example, butter will give it great splendor, and if you add a little cognac or liquor, the mixture will become aromatic and piquant. Adding cocoa powder will turn the mass into a chocolate custard.
It is better to beat the eggs with a whisk, after which the flour is introduced into them and a glass of milk is poured. Pour flour in small portions. In a separate container pour the second glass of milk, add sugar there. We put the milk-sugar mixture on a gentle fire, bring to a boil. After the milk begins to boil, remove the container from the heat and immediately pour the mixture into a thin stream of eggs, flour and milk. During the connection, the mass must be continuously stirred. Care must be taken to ensure that the eggs do not curl from too hot milk. Now put the resulting mixture in a water bath. Warm up, stirring occasionally, until the mass begins to thicken. The resulting lumps can be broken with a mixer or a blender.
Delicious Cream - Tips and Tricks
Each housewife probably has a few secrets of cooking delicious cream for the cake, so that the treat gets a unique, exquisite taste. And here are some more little tricks that you can take note of:
• if the icing sugar creaks too much or the cream needs to be whiter, you can do this: first, the butter and icing powder are whipped with a mixer at maximum speed for 5-10 minutes. Then additional ingredients are introduced;
• You can flavor the cream with cocoa or fruit puree. Any berries are perfect: raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, etc. You can use not only fresh berries and fruits, but also frozen ones;
• It is important to remember that cream is a perishable product. The finished mass is stored in the refrigerator, and the soaked cake can be kept for no more than 40 hours;
• The type of cream depends on the type of cake. If the cake needs to be decorated only on top, the cream should hold its shape well and not spread;
• Cream plays an important role in preventing cakes from drying out. The fat content and texture of the cream should be monitored during cooking or mixing the ingredients;
• cream can be used not only as an addition to baking. It may well become an independent dessert. To do this, add fruit, berries, dried fruits and nuts to the mass. Here are a few options: creme brulee with strawberries, curd cream with raspberries, coconut cream with dried fruits and bananas, coffee cream with chocolate, delicate cream cheese cream. The cream base for such recipes should not be too oily.
