Cakes with syrup--basic principles

Can anyone point me to the basic baking principles for cakes that soak up lovely syrups? What general flour: fat: moisture ratios are used for syrup-drenched cakes? I've seen semolina cakes, wonder if other coarse flours would be recommended...I love this idea that I'm not going for light and fluffy but coarse and a little dry, but we usually work hard for the former that recipes and headnotes tend to explain how to achieve that goal!

Raquelita
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Reiney
Reiney August 18, 2012
You can use a soaker with sponge cakes or European style cakes (Sacher Tortes, poppyseed) as well - it doesn't need to be a coarse flour, just a drier cake. These cakes are leavened with egg foams rather than creamed butter/sugar or a quickbread style.

The flavoured syrups can be a very subtle (almost undetectable) note, though, so go pretty heavy on the aromatics when making the infusion.

If you like messing around with this sort of thing, check out entremet cakes - layers of sponge with mousse or bavarois (among other things). They're tons of fun to experiment with when it comes to flavour combinations, colours & garnishes.
 
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