Instructions: Q. Me again. Most cake recipes suggest that flour should be folded into the mixture. Is this a must if cakes are to be produced in large batches? Can I instead put the mixture on a low speed in the mixer?

A. It depends on the type of cake you are making. You gently fold heavy ingredients into the light ones for two reasons: to avoid deflating the bubbles that you have worked so hard to form in the batter and that will give the cake its lightness, and to avoid activating the gluten in the flour, which will make the cake tough.

If the cake youre making is leavened primarily with beaten egg whites (angel food, sponge cake, genoise), you absolutely fold. Generally you mix a quarter of the egg whites into the rest of the batter to make it lighter, then fold that mixture back into the rest of the whites. Every bubble you preserve in the batter will result in a lighter cake. (Time is important, too, though. If you spend ages folding them together, however gently, many of the bubbles will pop on their own.)

If youre making a shortened cake (butter cake), there are several mixing methods that are appropriate. You may be called upon to cream the butter and sugar in a mixer (dont skimp at this stage - beating them together is what produces the air bubbles in this type of cake; six minutes of more is not too long), before beating in the eggs, and then the mixed dry ingredients alternating with the rest of the liquid ingredients. Another method is to mix all the dry ingredients briefly with the butter before the eggs and other liquid ingredients are added. This results in a tender, heavier cake. The quick-mix or

"dump" method has you mixing everything quickly together in one bowl, but is more appropriate for muffins and other quick breads than for a full-fledged cake.

There certainly are fussy cookbook writers out there who want you to find virtue in doing everything the hardest way possible, but generally, if a recipe says fold, wed fold. A big bowl and a really big rubber spatula will help with large batches.

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