.jpg) White cake with white frosting | |
| Type | Cake |
|---|---|
| Course | Dessert |
| Invented | Late 19th century |
| Main ingredients | White sugar,white flour,egg whites,baking powder orbaking soda |
White cake is a type of cake that is made withoutegg yolks. White cakes were also once known assilver cakes.[1]
White cakes can bebutter cakes orsponge cakes.[2] They became widely available in the later part of the 19th century, and became associated with weddings and christenings.
The key difference between a white cake and others is the absence ofegg yolks or other ingredients that would change the color of the cake. (Egg yolks give yellow cake its color.[3]) This decision affects the cake structurally. Because of the lack of egg yolks, the cake has less fat to impede its rise.[3] White cakes tend also to be slightly lesstender than cakes made with whole eggs.[4]
White cake typically calls forcake flour rather than all-purpose flour to create a lighter batter with a finercrumb.[3] White cakes are oftenvanilla-flavored. Sometimes artificialclear vanilla extract is used to preserve the white color.
White cake can be made by thecreaming or reverse creaming mixing methods; the latter can be used to make tiered cakes with a tighter crumb that will stand up to stacking.[5][6][7]
White cake is a typical choice for tieredwedding cakes because of the appearance and texture of the cake.[4] In general, white baked goods, which used white flour and white sugar, were a traditional symbol of wealth dating to theVictorian era when such ingredients were reliably available, though still expensive.[8] The idea that white symbolizes purity at awhite wedding was invented by the Victorians.[9][8]
White cake is used as a component for desserts likeicebox cake, and some variations oncharlotte russe andtrifle.[10][11][12] It is also used as the base for brightly colored cakes, such as a rainbow-colored cake, as thefood coloring will produce clearer, brighter colors on white cake batter than if the cake has its own color.[13]
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White cake is a relatively new invention, as it depends on having refinedwhite sugar andwhite flour, in addition to omitting the egg yolks.[14] From the 17th century, a "white cake" meant afruitcake (or other non-white cake) coated with whiteicing, made from egg whites and expensive double-refinedgranulated white sugar, rather than a cake that was itself white.[8] Any type of cake coated in white icing, such as the fruitcake served at the 1840wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, was expensive and considered a status symbol.[8]
In the early 19th century, a lady cake made of light-coloredalmond flour, and a tough white sponge cake that was a precursor to the modern, lighterangel food cake, were the only cakes that looked white when cut.[15][16]
Modern white cakes appeared late in the 19th century, when white sugar, white flour, and reliable chemical leaveners such asbaking powder became widely available.[14] By the early 20th century, a tall, elaborately decorated white cake, called thebride cake, was established as the primary cake to celebrate weddings, with a dark-coloredgroom's cake disappearing or taking second place.[14]
The firstcake mix for white cake was introduced in the US around 1930.[17]
By the end of the 20th century,chocolate cake had become more popular than any other cake flavor.[16]
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The Best Cake for Rainbow Cake Is White Vanilla Cake: Snow-white cake batter takes readily to a rainbow of hues — no fighting yellow cake's buttery color.