Quick Cooking Question

[Eastern Girl]

Quick question for the chefs on CP, how important is it to get the exact ingredients specified in a recipe?

I have been nominated to make a birthday dinner and birthday cake for my friend, and I can't cook or bake to save my life. I am pretty sure I was nominated so that my friends can take turns mocking me and my cooking, once I fail miserably.

Anyways, I have chosen my recipes, and done the shopping but was unable to find some of the specific ingredients. For instance, instead of regular brown sugar, I have Golden Yellow Brown Sugar (which I still don't get, how can it be yellow and brown?), instead of unsweetened bakers chocolate, I have semi sweetened bakers chocolate and instead of butter, I have margerine.

So, I am pretty stupid when it comes to this stuff, so my question to everyone, are these differences things that will really change the taste of the food?

Any help is appreciated.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Eastern Girl

For instance, instead of regular brown sugar, I have Golden Yellow Brown Sugar (which I still don't get, how can it be yellow and brown?),

Yes, it comes in both colors and no problem with substituting.

instead of unsweetened bakers chocolate, I have semi sweetened bakers chocolate

Reduce the amount of sugar the recipe calls for.

and instead of butter, I have margerine.

No problem with this substitute.

[bigtmac19]

For baking you really have to be precise with the ingredients and the measurements.

The semi-sweet chocolate will not really be a good substitute for the unsweetened bakers chocolate. The margarine for butter may work, but it also may affect the flavour, and could affect how light the cake is. For something like cookies, it may not matter, but a cake is a little more easily messed up.

The golden sugar instead of dark brown will be okay, just the colour may be off, which usually isn't a huge issue.

Cake mixes work really well, taste good and are pretty fool proof?

What kind of cake/dessert recipe is it??

[Eastern Girl]

The recipe calls for about a cup of sugar and two or three squares of unsweetened chocolate, so if I use the semi sweet squares, what should I reduce the sugar to? Half a cup or 3/4?

[Superflyer]

The diffrence in the sugars is the regular brown sugar still has more molasses in it so it is a little stronger in taste but not enough to make a diffrence unless you are using alot of it.
As for the chocolate, just like First Lady said just cut down the amount of sugar you are using. And for the butter and margarine there is very little diffrence.

[Superflyer]

Originally Posted by Eastern Girl

The recipe calls for about a cup of sugar and two or three squares of unsweetened chocolate, so if I use the semi sweet squares, what should I reduce the sugar to? Half a cup or 3/4?

I would say closer to the 3\4 cup, maybe even a little more, you should only have to take out a couple of tablespoons.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Eastern Girl

The recipe calls for about a cup of sugar and two or three squares of unsweetened chocolate, so if I use the semi sweet squares, what should I reduce the sugar to? Half a cup or 3/4?

I would go with either 2/3 or 3/4 cup for the sugar.

[Eastern Girl]

Originally Posted by bigtmac19

Cake mixes work really well, taste good and are pretty fool proof?

What kind of cake/dessert recipe is it??

My friend wanted a specific recipe. It's one her mom always makes for her and she loves it, so she asked me to make it. If she hadn't, I would have skipped the mixes and baking altogether and just bought her a cake, save myself the torment. The recipe is for a chocolate banana cake with chocolate frosting.


Thanks for the responses and advice everyone.

[OilersBaby]

If this was me I would just buy the cake..cuz I cant bake a cake that looks good haha.

[bigtmac19]

I'm sure it will end up tasting great. Just relax and you'll do fine.
Have fun.

[Eastern Girl]

I am sure I will have fun with it, cause I really do like baking and cooking. I just can't do it to save my life. I am always finding new ways to ruin food. There are very few times where something I cook or bake turns out how it should.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Eastern Girl

My friend wanted a specific recipe. It's one her mom always makes for her and she loves it, so she asked me to make it. If she hadn't, I would have skipped the mixes and baking altogether and just bought her a cake, save myself the torment. The recipe is for a chocolate banana cake with chocolate frosting.


Thanks for the responses and advice everyone.

In that case, I'd be as exact as you can. Things like the type and amount of sugar, and whether you use butter or margarine can have a huge impact on flavour. I'm a purist, so in general I'd say don't bake with margarine--always use butter.

[sadora]

Hey Eastern Girl, when it comes to cooking you can substitute ingredients to fit your liking. When it comes to baking you really have to know what you're doing because every ingredient in the recipe is there for a particular purpose, ie. to provide moisture, texture, flavor or leavening.

For instance, instead of regular brown sugar, I have Golden Yellow Brown Sugar (which I still don't get, how can it be yellow and brown?)

The color in brown sugar refers to amount of molasses in the product. If it's darker, then it has more molasses. You can substitute this product fairly easily so don't worry about it.

instead of unsweetened bakers chocolate, I have semi sweetened bakers chocolate

If you're using semi sweetened over unsweetened the only difference comes into the sugar content. Depending on how much you're making you might need to adjust either the amount of sugar of the amount of chocolate used. If you're making a small batch you probably not need to worry about it.

butter, I have margerine.

This is one ingredient I wouldn't recommend that you substitute for, simply because butter and margerine have different water content. When butter is used in a baking recipe it's there for moisture.

I've taken a few baking classes so if you would like, PM me your recipe and I can help you work it out.

[Hack&Lube]

The best part about cooking is improvising and using new ingredients and using different amounts to create new things.

Recipes definetely do not need to be followed in any way except for just generally. It's not a chemical formula or mechanical instructions or anything. Just a general idea of what ingredients go well with each other in general amounts.

I agree with the others as to the butter/margarine issue. It depends which margarine you use. Some light margarines will be recommended not for baking because they have higher water content.

[bigtmac19]

I would agree the most the about the butter/margarine substitution.

Especially if the margarine is a spreadable type, that doesn't substitute well for butter in my experience.

[bigtmac19]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

The best part about cooking is improvising and using new ingredients and using different amounts to create new things.

Recipes definetely do not need to be followed in any way except for just generally. It's not a chemical formula or mechanical instructions or anything. Just a general idea of what ingredients go well with each other in general amounts.[/B]
[/B]
I agree with the others as to the butter/margarine issue. It depends which margarine you use. Some light margarines will be recommended not for baking on their website because they have higher water content.

I would agree with this, except in baking, generally you have to measure precisely, and it's much harder to substitute ingredients.

[sadora]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

The best part about cooking is improvising and using new ingredients and using different amounts to create new things.

Recipes definetely do not need to be followed in any way except for just generally. It's not a chemical formula or mechanical instructions or anything. Just a general idea of what ingredients go well with each other in general amounts.

For cooking yes but not for baking. Recipes for baking are actually formulas to achieve a particular result. When you don't follow the formulas correctly you can ruin your end result.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by bigtmac19

I would agree with this, except in baking, generally you have to measure precisely, and it's much harder to substitute ingredients.

Sorry, yes I probably meant in cooking and not baking (because of the thread title), when you're talking about the mechanics of getting a cake to rise properly and be of the right texture, that's true. I guess I was just saying that maybe the people who have a little more experience are probably more comfortable playing around which I always do when cooking and baking. You get more interesting surprises because I never like having the exact same thing to eat twice and I think it's more fun.

In regard to the semi-sweet chocolate/sugar issue, it's better to err on the side of caution and use less sugar, less salt, etc. in cooking/baking the worst thing to ever do is have too much of one flavor. You can always compensate afterwards (add sugar to the frosting or just use more frosting for example).

[Eastern Girl]

Ok, so most are thinking I should use butter and not margerine. I will try and wrangle me up some butter.

[sadora]

Originally Posted by Eastern Girl

Ok, so most are thinking I should use butter and not margerine. I will try and wrangle me up some butter.

Using margarine can make your cake dry.