Personally, I thought Arinco King's vanilla sponge goes better with salted caramel or chantilly cream due to a distinct fragrance. Since chocolate has a stronger taste, the chocolate fudge and chocolate cream incorporated over whelms the taste of the vanilla sponge.
All in all, the chewiness and springiness of Arinco King's sponge is their niche.
Perhaps fellow foodies or bakers can give me some insights. Based on daddy's experience with baking a sponge cake, it seems that the chewiness and springiness of a Japanese sponge is often due to the addition of cornstarch. Despite layering with fluffy whipped cream, Arinco King's sponge isn't as soggy as other strawberry shortcakes we have come across. Not sure if this is an effect of cornstarch in cake chemisty.
Arinco King (Closed)
2 Orchard Turn
Ion Orchard Food Hall
#B4-60
Singapore 238801
Tel: 6509 8640
4th April 2010: Arinco King and the adjacent food stalls seems to be closed for good. The stall looks cleared out without much kitchen utensils nor boxes.
12th April 2010: Dropped a call to Arinco King and apparently there is no one on the line
Initial hypothesis: Is Arinco King closed for good?
13th April 2010: They are not listed in ION store directory anymore.
7 comments:
Interesting question. I did some googling & it seems like recipes for Japanese light cheesecakes do use cornstarch to give it a finer & springier texture. The texture of Arinco's sponge is somewhat that of Japanese light cheesecakes & Glace's souffle cheesecake.
I think Arinco's cake is chewy and springy because its recipe does not require oil. It is similar to the white Angel Food Cake that also do not contain oil. It is therefore less prone to becoming soggy even with the presence of the cream.
Since it does not contain oil and has little or no sugar, it is therefore less moist and drier than sponge cakes and chiffon cakes that requires lots of butter and sugar.
Arinco's cake is elastic, chewy and springy, but it is healthier and less fattening than other cakes. This could be why it is very popular in Japan.
Arinco's cake texture is similar to the strawberry shortcake from Patisserie Glace, but looks firmer and drier because it does not contain oil, and the pores are of similar size with Glace's because it does not use baking powder or cream of tartar(like the white angel food cake) but rely on the egg whites to rise.
Cornstarch is used to lower the tough gluten content in sponge cakes to create a sponge that is soft, brittle and has texture that is not elastic/chewy. So, since you mentioned Arinco's cake is springy and chewy, that means cornstarch is most probably not needed and not used in their recipe.
It should also be noted that Arinco King's roll cakes are french roulade cakes and are different from swiss rolls. Roulade cake layers are thinner than swiss rolls and uses egg whites meringue for the sponge, whereas swiss rolls use whole eggs for the sponge. Arinco's chewy/elastic sponge is probably fitted for such a french roulade cake, which does not break easily when rolled.
I have heard from the internet that the light brittleness in sponge cakes caused by using cornstarch can also be achieved by using the finer, less gluten-rich but pricier cake flour. Up to individuals' preference I guess.
Here are the main differences in ingredients between the cakes:
Kasutera/castella sponge cake - whole eggs, no butter, no baking powder, bread flour
Sponge cake - whole eggs, butter, baking powder
Angel Food Cake - egg whites, no oil, no baking powder, uses cream of tartar
chiffon cake - whole eggs, light oil, uses baking powder, uses cream of tartar
swiss roll- uses whole egg cake recipe
french roulade - uses egg white meringue recipe
So you can see the main good point about Arinco's cakes is that it is healthier than other cakes.
I know only Victoria sponge uses butter, most recipe has no oil or butter. Not sure about chocolate sponge whether oil is needed, as most chocolate cake need veg oil. Fluffy_ness of sponge come from vigorous whisking to add air bubble, and sugar is used to prevent collapse of air bubble..
Ice: Glace's souffle cheesecake & Jpn cheesecake are pretty similar but I thought Arinco's sponge is lot denser and drier...
Taster: I tried the sponge after reading your comment. The sponge is not oily but I think it is sweet. Perhaps, sugar is used to "hold" the cake?
Judging from how white the sponge is, apart from it being oil-free, I doubt there is any egg yolks in Arinco's sponge.
By the way, any idea of "oil-free" chocolate cake with regards to Tocksuan's comment?
Fen: it is the protein from the egg and flour that holds the cake and can make it dense. The sugar crystals do not hold the cake but only softens the cake texture like fat.
Arinco's cakes are very white because it uses cake flour that is chlorinated bleached flour, like the Chinese mantou's flour.
There are many oil-free chocolate sponge cake recipes that can be found on the net.
I think nowadays many bakeries/home-bakers increasingly include oil/butter in their recipes for sponge cakes because the traditional sponge cakes are dry and lack flavor and are not as popular as cakes that are moist with oil that can bring out flavors better. Consumers like cakes that are moist not dry. A good example of a popular commercial sponge cake that includes fat is the butter sponge cake.
I just tried an Angel Cake from a neighbourhood confectionary and indeed it is denser with a slightly springiness.
I thought all white wheat flour are bleached but the cakes baked at home are still yellow. Not sure if this is due to the yellow dye present in butter...
By the way, some sponge recipe uses hot water bath to melt the sugar, so there would little sugar crystal left, any idea wat will be the resulting effect?
Yea, I tried a home-made pure butter cake before and it was not oily unlike the ones available at confectionaries, but the problem of using butter is that the cake will not be as moist as those that uses vegetable oil.
Not all white wheat flour are bleached. Cake flour, HK and superlite flour are definitely bleached to lesser their protein content.
Hot water bath is only to assist the mixing by hand, if you are using a mixer you can skip it. There is no difference in the cake result.
You can prevent butter sponge cake from losing its moisture by sealing it tightly with plastic wrap for storage, rather than exposing it. This is also widely practiced in commercial bakeries for the same reason.
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