No, I don't know why all the comments are in Russian

January 27, 2021 2:45 PM

I watched this entire hour-and-thirteen-minute-long wordless video of cakes being made at a commercial bakery in Korea and so should you.
posted by theodolite (34 comments total)

There are few things more relaxing and satisfying in this world than guiltlessly watching other people do highly-skilled manual work. Wonderful. 🍰
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 2:54 PM on January 27, 2021 [10 favorites]

Yeah, I've put in countless hours on Youtube doing just that, and it is wonderful
posted by NoMich at 3:10 PM on January 27, 2021

I particularly like that this wordless commercial cake-baking video has been up on YouTube for three weeks and has 13 million views. Apparently many other people also find commercial cake-baking to be mesmerizing!
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 3:33 PM on January 27, 2021 [5 favorites]

I want those big yellow flexible spatula/scrapers.
posted by ApathyGirl at 3:51 PM on January 27, 2021 [2 favorites]

Are they really using whipped cream as frosting, or is that a translation error?
posted by smartyboots at 3:57 PM on January 27, 2021

Are they really using whipped cream as frosting, or is that a translation error?

Looks like real whipped cream to me, albeit shelf-stabilized with ...(peers)... gelatin and milk powder, probably.
posted by ApathyGirl at 4:05 PM on January 27, 2021 [1 favorite]

Who gets to lick the G I G A N T I C B E A T E R S and can it be me
posted by emjaybee at 4:06 PM on January 27, 2021 [15 favorites]

I was curious why they were so delicate with the salt at :27. It doesn't look like it gets mixed up before they dump it in, so is there a reason they have to have the salt on the syrup instead of just dumping it in the bowl generally?
posted by tavella at 4:15 PM on January 27, 2021

Friends just spent 5 hours making a buche de noel - seeing these pros effortlessly make a similar cheese roll (?) cake will either thrill them or destroy them.
posted by PhineasGage at 4:47 PM on January 27, 2021 [2 favorites]

I've only watched like 5 minutes tops and I've already learned things I never would have thought of to make baking/frosting cakes easier, such as inverting the top rounded layer to have a flat instead of rounded cake top.
posted by BrotherCaine at 4:59 PM on January 27, 2021 [3 favorites]

I’m somehow surprised both by how much of this is mechanical and how much of it isn’t.
posted by mhoye at 5:04 PM on January 27, 2021 [12 favorites]

The user names for the comments look ethnically Slavic to me but Russia and the other former Soviet states have a sizeable ethnic Korean subculture descended from nineteenth and twentieth-century migrant laborers and refugees from invasions and wars. There's also the tiny North Korea–Russia border, with trade greatly increasing after the US diplomatic “successes” welcoming North Korea into the community of nations as a nuclear power during the last four years, and several other Korean-speaking and Korean-descended groups.

Google Translate isn't giving me any location clues from the Korean bits of text, but the YT “about” page for the channel says it's based in South Korea, though.
posted by XMLicious at 5:07 PM on January 27, 2021 [2 favorites]

I was curious why they were so delicate with the salt at :27. It doesn't look like it gets mixed up before they dump it in, so is there a reason they have to have the salt on the syrup instead of just dumping it in the bowl generally?
posted by tavella at 4:15 PM on January 27

They may have been weighing the salt while adding it, thus the need for a slow sprinkle.
posted by mefireader at 5:25 PM on January 27, 2021 [3 favorites]

The tops are sliced off for uniformity, and, discarded? Nooooo, I want cake!
posted by theora55 at 5:41 PM on January 27, 2021 [3 favorites]

I’m somehow surprised both by how much of this is mechanical and how much of it isn’t.

Yeah same! That the flour/salt/sugar/etc amounts getting thrown in seem so imprecise that the cakes are baked and come out with such diversity in height that the tops need a special machine to slice them down to size. It does seem very wasteful! Like if completely uniform standardized measurements were used, and if the cake batter was shaken so that it was more level in the cake pan, there would be no need for a special slicey machine bc the rounds would all be perfectly uniform and flat.
Also yes re XMlicious, there is a long history of Korean migrants moving to Russia and the Soviet Union (even prior to forced integration) to farm, and then the ethnic enclaves that formed after the Soviet era was over are still intact. When I lived in Central Asia there was a large population of ethnic Koreans and a lot of quasi-korean/quasi-central-asian/quasi-russian food bannered under "KOREAN" food stalls in bazaars and even some exclusively Korean language shops, plus a lot of Korean ex-pats and exchange students there. The overall history is very rich.
Also if I know anything it's that Russians love them some FANCY CAKES
posted by erattacorrige at 6:01 PM on January 27, 2021 [4 favorites]

Watched the whole thing, yup.

Started out with me wanting rainbow cake.

Then I was mesmerized by the mixing.

Then I felt like I needed a shot of insulin from just watching this.

Then it occurred to me all of the artistry that went into developing the recipe, then the engineering to develop the machines and systems to do this efficiently, then the craftsmanship and skill gained over countless hours.

Then I started thinking about how tiresome some of these tasks must be, such as hunching over the cookies to decorate them.

Then it occurred to me that the workers must have an incredible quota and work pace, and I wondered what kind of humor they might use to vent a little.

Then I started thinking about the business model and the profit margin on a box of macaroons.

Then it was done!

Now I want a rainbow cake again.
posted by darkstar at 6:29 PM on January 27, 2021 [4 favorites]

Correction: “macarons”

(Macaroons are made with coconut, macarons are made with almond meal.)
posted by darkstar at 6:49 PM on January 27, 2021

How has it never occurred to me to flame the mixing bowl in order to warm the butter?!??!
posted by Tandem Affinity at 6:59 PM on January 27, 2021 [4 favorites]

They may have been weighing the salt while adding it, thus the need for a slow sprinkle.

That's exactly what they were doing. The whole bowl is on a big scale. They edited out the part where they're getting the weight right on the flour, etc. because the first step is so dramatic, but they're dong it.

Like if completely uniform standardized measurements were used, and if the cake batter was shaken so that it was more level in the cake pan, there would be no need for a special slicey machine bc the rounds would all be perfectly uniform and flat.

Not even, because the spot each cake sits inside the oven is gonna be a factor in its rise, as well as how long it's sitting in the hot oven while the rest of the cakes are still being loaded in before they close the door and start the timer.

And it seems like at this scale of production, the outlay to buy a batter depositor machine with a vibrating table would be much more than the wages of the guy who scoops the batter into the pan plus the cost of whats basically a bandsaw with a short conveyer belt.
posted by Jon_Evil at 7:27 PM on January 27, 2021 [3 favorites]

Also, salt and yeast do not play well--when yeast is used. I haven't watched the entire video so I only know I want to lick the bowl.
posted by datawrangler at 7:34 PM on January 27, 2021 [1 favorite]

I'd be surprised if the sliced off cake wasn't used for decorative crumbs or in parfaits or puddings. I really don't think there's a lot of waste in commercial bakeries.
posted by BrotherCaine at 8:47 PM on January 27, 2021 [4 favorites]

Aww, I was blissfully entertaining the fantasy that one of the perks to working there would be that workers occasionally got to take home cake slicins.

But yeah, they are certainly using those scraps in other recipes.
posted by darkstar at 9:17 PM on January 27, 2021

My dad worked in a commercial bakery, albeit a long time ago and in Canada, but one of the perks was that yes, they could take home as much defect baked goods as they wanted.

The shine apparently does wear off.
posted by dazed_one at 9:52 PM on January 27, 2021 [7 favorites]

I thought that much more of this would have been automated. This is so much more satisfying to me than watching the giant omelets being made which i like a lot.
posted by AugustWest at 10:42 PM on January 27, 2021

That video brought back memories.

A couple of decades ago my sister worked for Harry & David in Oregon. During a visit she arranged for a friend, a woman whose job was to develop new desserts, to give me a factory tour.

After a walk through the production floor (during which I was invited to help myself to candy seconds), she took me to her test kitchen where she showed off a cooler storing many of her recent creations. After describing each with a parent’s loving pride she cut a slice and begged for an opinion.

The afternoon was a blur of lemon, blueberries, hazelnuts, chocolate, fondants and creams and so many sponges, galettes, and tortes... I mumbled and moaned in sugary bliss as their baker explained that she was leaving the company in frustration—after two years of work only one of her cakes had been chosen for production.
posted by kinnakeet at 2:31 AM on January 28, 2021 [7 favorites]

(Macaroons are made with coconut, macarons are made with almond meal.)

Alternatively: the word macaroon is English and refers to a single large-to-medium sized cookie; the word macaron is French and refers to a dainty sandwich cookie in a panoply of colours and flavours.

Almond macaroons definitely exist; they are large with half an almond in the centre, crisp on the outside and beautifully soft on the inside. And now I really want one.
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:01 AM on January 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

This video is really well photographed and edited, maintaining a good pace and staying fascinating. Thanks for posting.
posted by theora55 at 7:04 AM on January 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

I really enjoyed this. I have to say that baked goods in Korea have become sweeter looking than I remember from the early 2010s. When I came back to the US, everything was SO SWEET. Of course, I got used to that again. Lately a lot of my baking has consisted of savory muffins. At least I can pretend they're somewhat healthier.
posted by kathrynm at 7:33 AM on January 28, 2021

I'd be surprised if the sliced off cake wasn't used for decorative crumbs or in parfaits or puddings. I really don't think there's a lot of waste in commercial bakeries.

Pretty sure this is where the entire "cake pop" industry came from.

I'm 15 minutes into this and enraptured.
posted by helpthebear at 7:49 AM on January 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

OMG, this video came up on my YT homepage last week. And I watched it, it's great.
But I'm wondering what's going on with the recommendation engine. I mean, what are the odds that we both would get served up this particular vid?
posted by storybored at 1:40 PM on January 28, 2021

(Butter)
posted by scrump at 4:41 PM on January 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

That the flour/salt/sugar/etc amounts getting thrown in seem so imprecise that the cakes are baked and come out with such diversity in height that the tops need a special machine to slice them down to size.

They're weighing everything in this video. The amounts aren't imprecise - all of those stainless steel bowls are on scales.
posted by See you tomorrow, saguaro at 5:16 PM on January 28, 2021 [3 favorites]

Despite living in the US her entire life, my wife will be enraged every time she sees a baking recipe/cookbook with measurements by volume rather than by weight.
posted by BrotherCaine at 5:37 PM on January 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

Awesome. I have made videos of commercial bakeries before but never a cake factory, very impressive.

the cakes are baked and come out with such diversity in height that the tops need a special machine to slice them down to size.

Folks have already pointed out that the bakers are using weight measurements which are much more precise than volume measurements; it’s also worth noting that the slicing machine separates the cake into three different layers.

I think we can be pretty sure that every step and process here has been very well thought out with an eye towards consistent results and efficiency.
posted by soy bean at 5:46 AM on January 29, 2021 [2 favorites]