Quick Cooking Question

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by sadora

Using margarine can make your cake dry.

That and butter tastes waaaaaayyyyy better than marg in baking.

I agree with the reduction of sugar and I would definately recommend using butter.

[BuzzardsWife]

my mom always told me that for cooking be creative but for baking be exact

[Machiavelli]

This is why I don't bake. For all my time and effort, I'll just pick up cookies or buy a cake.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

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 that's the case then don't switch the ingredients. It might turn out fine but it won't taste like she's expecting it to.

One method to improve your baking is to measure ingredients by weight instead of volume. It's a much more accurate way to do things. There should be volume to weight conversion charts online somewhere.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by 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.

There is a HUGE difference in butter and margarine. You can substitute margarine for some recipes but it will depend on what kind of margarine. If you get the whipped margarine, or the diet kind, that has lots of water in it, your birthday cake is gonna be dry and crumbly.

And some types of recipes, just dont substitute period. Like shortbread cookies, fruit cakes etc. There will be a substantial difference in both the taste and the end result of the final baked product.

[redforever]

And I am not sure where you live.

In Calgary, I always use a bit less flour with most of my baking. We have a very very dry climate here and the flour will be drier as well, ....... meaning it will absorb more liquid than normal.

So to compensate, you either have to add a bit more liquid or a bit less flour, I have found the latter to work. AND, if your batter just seems a bit thin, you can always add a bit more flour. You can never take it out though if your batter is too stiff.

[redforever]

Unsweetened chocolate is sometimes in shorter supply because not as many recipes use it.

However, now there is a big trend towards bittersweet chocolate and it is usually readily available, at least that is what I have found. It will make an excellent substitute for the unsweetened chocolate and you wont have to adjust your sugar either.

So if you can find bittersweet chocolate, go for it. Then you can keep the other ingredients the same and you wont have to be a nervous wreck about someone saying, "this cake doesn't taste like it normally does"

You wont have any change in the taste with the brown sugar you found. If it called for demerra sugar, then yes you would, but regular brown sugar and golden brown sugar are pretty well exchangable.

[Ford Prefect]

A word on butter vs margarine, from an eater's POV. I have pretty sensitive taste buds, so factor that in, but butter rules. I find margarine is only marginally edible. I personally don't think margarine works as a substitute. Not only does margarine affect the flavour negatively, but I find it also affects the moisture content adversely as well.

I also find semi-sweetened chocolate and less sugar works better than unsweetened chocolate and more sugar.

The above isn't based strictly on my taste buds as I've done some baking, but not a great deal.

[bigtmac19]

Bump.
Hey Eastern Girl, how did your cake turn out?

[Eastern Girl]

Originally Posted by bigtmac19

Bump.
Hey Eastern Girl, how did your cake turn out?

Well... the recipe called for it to be baked about an hour, so I put it in for one hour. When that was done, I went to check it and the outer edges of the cake were cooked, but the middle was still liquid. So, I put it in longer, the middle finally cooked, but the outer edges were rock hard.

So, the 'outer shell' of the cake wasn't good, but the cake innards were not too bad. Also, the frosting didn't turn out at all. It was watery and ridiculously sweet. A little bit of it would have rotted the teeth right out of your head.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions guys, but I think I am a lost cause when it comes to this stuff.

[bigtmac19]

Oh, sorry to hear that!

It might not have been you, it might have been your oven? Sometimes the temperature is off, or it fluctuates too much, and cakes can do that.

I have never been able to make banana bread without it not cooking well in the middle and being too well done on the edges.

[stang]

My wife is very precise in the kitchen everything is EXACTLY as the recipe calls for...

I am the exact opposite... splash of this, dash of this, sprinkle of this....

Drives her nuts!!!

No point to my story... lol

[Eastern Girl]

^^ I've tried both approaches. I have failed at both approaches.

[Nancy]

Originally Posted by bigtmac19

Oh, sorry to hear that!

It might not have been you, it might have been your oven? Sometimes the temperature is off, or it fluctuates too much, and cakes can do that.

I have never been able to make banana bread without it not cooking well in the middle and being too well done on the edges.

My wife loves to bake, but prior to buying our house several years ago, we had rented a couple of older places. For a long time, she had a real battle to get recipes to turn out. Finally, someone suggested that she get an oven thermometer to make sure that the temps were right. They weren't. We had great landlords, and they replaced the thermostat for us. That helped tremendously, but as it was a small oven, I still think it had difficulty keeping an even temperture. Then we got our brand new house with a brand new full sized oven. Huge difference.

As for baking, it requires a lot more precision and experience than cooking. I can throw together a pretty decent (and sometimes awesome) dinner using random incredients from the pantry and without a recipe. But for the life of me, any time I've tried baking, even if I follow a recipe exactly, it just doesn't turn out.

An aside, here... if you have any recipe that requires yeast, always make sure it is not stale dated and that it is proofed properly. If you want to make it really awesome, go to the SuperStore bakery and ask them for fresh (i.e. non-dehydrated) yeast, they'll sell it to you.