The lines of distinction are sometimes a little fine when telling one dessert from another; for instance, the difference between a pie and a tart or the similarities of a cream puff and an éclair. How about the identity crises of a torte when compared to a common cake?
Here are a few of the specific characteristics of some of the most popular desserts. We’ll begin with pies and tarts. A pie normally includes pastry on its top and bottom with a filling in between while a tart, which is a type of pie, usually has an open top with a sheet of pastry on the bottom with pastry cream and/or fruit layer or compote across it.
The cream puff and the éclair are both made with Choux Pastry. Cream puffs are baked with Choux Paste to form small round puff pastries that are filled with whipped cream or custard and topped with a sweet sauce like chocolate or caramel. An éclair is a larger and longer version of the cream puff but the éclair pastry is baked so that its shell is somewhat crispy. It is often filled with custard or whipped cream and coated with a fondant icing. Éclairs sometimes have flavored fillings which can make them more distinguishable from cream puffs.
The typical cake is baked with these common ingredients; Flour, sugar, eggs (for binding), butter or margarine, liquid for moisture usually milk but sometimes water or fruit juice for certain flavoring and a leavening agent like yeast or baking powder. Many modern recipes do not require leavening but rather rely on air bubbles during baking to enable the cake to rise. Tortes are a type of cake that use more eggs to create a dense texture or to enhance a particular flavor. Tortes are commonly infused with icing and sometimes layered with icing in between the layers. Fondant can often compliment a torte by accentuating the flavor or enhancing its look.
These are just some dessert similarities. I will attempt to tackle any other misconceptions that I come across as we go along.
In the mean time, Bon Appetite!
Written by Delightful Biteful