How can we recognize a good cake ?
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Visual analysis
The cake deriving from whole-meal cereals must feature uneven edges and more or less diffused spots, due to bran. Pay attention, specially on the edges, to black/brown parts, due to heat excess. It shall feature no perfectly smooth surfaces, but a certain roughness, index of an optimal compactness, and therefore of fragrance. If several cereals are used, the different grains – often apparently glassy – and their colour must be distinguished. The core, after breaking, must feature the same shading of the external part. Extended bright sections indicate a non optimal baking -
Sound analysis
If you break the cake, you must hear a sharp and decided “crock”, indicating a low content of moisture, and therefore an optimal conservation. If the breaking is not immediate and requires a certain effort, the raw materials can be not the best ones. In the case of very thin cakes, and corn cakes, also a certain irregular ”crumbling” is possible, indicating the use of whole, integral and not degerminated grains. -
Olfactive analysis
The smell of the cereal must be full, soft and clearly perceptible. The sweet of corn (often similar to pop-corn) or the “almost dust” of small grain products, such as spelt or rice, shall not be intrusive. Also in spiced products (rosemary, thyme, ginger etc.) the presence of the spice shall not cover the ground smell. Smells of rank, oil or “closed” are certainly defects. -
Taste analysis
The sweet reaches the tip of the tongue, and usually is not felt immediately, but after some seconds, the time during which the saliva transforms the starch. A light “coating” on the tongue indicates a quality product, featuring an appreciable “force” (similar to that of hard wheat). No bitter taste shall be felt on the tongue sides (if not due to spices), indicating an excessive baking. The persistence in the mouth and the back-taste shall not be troublesome, but invite to a new tasting or, even better, to the combination with food, wine or beer.
