Genoise

Help! I can't get my genoise to rise. I have tried everything but Viagra; more beating, less beating, more ribbon, less ribbon, light folding, heavy folding, etc. I can only get it to come just above the point of, say, rubbery scrambled eggs with only the tiniest bit of cake texture near the top. It only rises about 1/2 inch. What gives? Jenise, are you out there?

rwj

[Jenise]

Robert, I am SOOO not a baker! But I made a genoise not that long ago, and I remember that I had to keep two things in mind to keep it from deflating. One, keep the butter warm, and two, not overmix. Can't diagnose your problem from a distance--maybe it's one of those things where you just have to throw it out and start over?

When you mix are you mixing as if making pancakes? I'll keep an eye on the butter, too. I haven't tried that but mine is definitely not getting cold. Nevertheless, I'll check it out. Thanks for the tips.

rwj

Robert -

I ran this by my wife, who's far more baking-savvy than me. She thinks the easiest place to go wrong is when mixing the eggs with the flour and the butter. Since there's no leavening in a genoise, it's imperative to keep all of the air in the batter. It's important to fold carefully and gently and not over-mix. This is the most technique-intensive part of the process. She also said that it's helpful to sift the flour into the eggs as it's folded in.

If that's not the problem, another issue could be with the beating of the eggs. It's important to warm them to a little above body temp over a double boiler before beating them and then to beat them until they're at least tripled in volume. According to my wife's genoise guru, Rose Levy Berenbaum, this will take at least 5 minutes with a stand mixer and over ten with a hand mixer.

As Jenise mentioned, it's also important to get the butter warmed up before folding it in.

Hope this helps!

Mike

Robert,

Well, I am definitely NOT a baker, but I happen to be reading Cook's Illustrated Magazine yesterday and there is an article on Pound Cake.

The articles author, Dawn Yanagihara says that they found the reason why pound cakes without leaveners don't always rise is because of the temperature of the eggs and butter (like other posters mentioned). However, she states:

During creaming, the sugar crystals are pushed through the butter and cause the formation of tiny pockets of air. after more than a dozen failed cakes, I learned that the commonly called-for room temperature butter(in the past, we've found that 70 degrees is the ideal butter temperature for most cakes) produces flat, dense pound cakes. Looking into my mixing bowl, I could see that the butter was getting too warm (its temperature rose to 75 degrees by the time I was finished creaming it) and too slack to aerate.
A chemical leavener adds lift to most cake batters. But without any leavener, pound cake demands maximum aeration from the butter-which means keeping the temperature of the batter below 70 degrees. Since creaming heats up the butter, starting with chilly 60-degree butter greatly increases the odds of success.
After a dozen more failures, I learned that too-warm eggs can deflate the batter. And if the eggs were too cold or added too quickly, they were difficult to incorporate and the air was knocked out of the butter by the time I had smooth batter. After more trial and error, I concluded that 60 degrees was perfect for the eggs too.

Ms. Yanagihara also explains that you should beat the eggs in a measuring cup and then dribble them into the already creamed butter and sugar over a 60-90 second period...INSTEAD of adding each egg one by one and waiting until they are fully incorporated into the creamed butter/sugar (usually takes about 5 min.).

HTH a little.

Robert -

She also said that it's helpful to sift the flour into the eggs as it's folded in.

If that's not the problem, another issue could be with the beating of the eggs. It's important to warm them to a little above body temp over a double boiler before beating them and then to beat them until they're at least tripled in volume.

As Jenise mentioned, it's also important to get the butter warmed up before folding it in.

Hope this helps!

Mike

Aha! I have only been letting my eggs come to room temp. along with everything else. The sifting of the flour makes good sense, too.

I do the beating until triple volume. In fact, I'm working out of 'Baking with Julia' edited by Dorie Greenspan. This is the only recipe in this book that isn't really clear; at least so far. It seems clear on reading but in practice it is difficult to make this work. Indeed, air-leavend cakes are tricky.

I'll make another this weekend and report back.

Maria - Thanks. I have that issue and have not cross referenced Cooks' with genoise techniques. I'll look deeper.

rwj