Jalapeno Poppers and getting a thick crust?

Question

How can I make my batter stick to the outside of the jalapeno so it is thick? It seems every time I try a thicker batter it wont stick as well.

Asked by Brandon Clark

Answer

I have found that the problem with thicker batters not adhering to peppers generally is to do with the outer membrane protecting the flesh of the jalapeno. Essentially, you need to try to remove or weaken its effect.

You can minimize the effect of the membrane by:

• roasting the pepper, then steam in a brown paper bag and remove it
• scoring the membrane with a fork

Also, the pepper may have a decent layer of wax on it; this you can try to wash off with hot water and a thorough scrubbing.

Answered by mfg

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What to add to the batter of the cake to avoid hardening when the gluten formation can't be avoided?

Question

So, over mixing batter forms gluten, which in turn hardens the cake. Fine.

The problem is that I don't want lumps in the cakes, and the above statement prevents me from fine mixing the batter. So, is there something which I can add to the batter (more milk?) to make the outcome soft despite Gluten?

Asked by Anisha Kaul

Answer

Milk won't help you - it's mostly water, and gluten develops from flour (more accurately, specific proteins in flour) and water.

The way to reduce gluten development is to incorporate more fat into the batter. Lipids are hydrophobic and will prevent further hydration of the glutenin.

Using a lower-protein flour will also help. If you're not already using cake flour, the reason it's called cake flour is because of the lower protein content.

That being said, have you actually tried leaving the batter coarse? Just because the batter is lumpy does not mean that the cake will have big lumps. The entire mixture is wet, so unless you leave huge lumps of dry flour in the batter, you won't end up with a lumpy cake. There's a difference between "don't overmix" and "don't mix" - you're supposed to mix enough to incorporate, just don't try homogenize it.

Answered by Aaronut

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How can I modify corn bread recipes to accomodate a wet filling?

Question

I am hoping to make dough cups using a corn bread style dough. My approximate recipe would be, presumably, to par-bake initially, then fill with a pot pie style liquid/solid mixture, top with a corn bread puck, and bake until it is molten and exterior browns.

Standard style corn breads I have eaten are too spongy for this kind of application, and would not be able to be pressed against the walls of the muffin pan to form the walls; to give an idea, my initial idea was to try something more like beer dough for the par-baked crust.

Is there something in between? Even if corn-bread is throwing off my search results, I am guessing perhaps there is a molten cup cake batter/dough recipe or something that can be modified to have a savory corn-bread flavor and still really stand up to baking with a liquid inside.

• How can I modify standard corn bread recipes to accomodate a wet filling?
• Am I underestimating the resilience of corn bread to not succumbing to exploding from its filling?
• Would it be possible to use a standard corn bread recipe, but then, in effect, laminate the inside with something toothsome but not too distracting in texture (for instance, egg wash might prove a good laminate, but I am looking for vegan solutions)?
  • I have done similar things with egg wash before, would a wash of flax/Chia egg produce the same result?
  • melting something like cheese on the inside might work, any vegan options spring to mind (other than daiya)?

(Vegan options preferred, but I can make substitutions as necessary)

Answer

I agree that cornbread will not have the structure you need since it's close to a sponge cake. Instead of modifying a cornbread recipe, I would recommend modifying a pie crust recipe.

A standard pie crust is approximately 3 parts flour : 2 parts fat : 1 part water. To achieve the cornbread flavors, replace some of the flour with the cornmeal, as it can serve the same purpose as flour in this case. You can also replace some or all of the water with milk or buttermilk. If you do not like the grainy texture of the cornmeal, soak the cornmeal in the liquid you choose for several hours to overnight.

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Are ladyfingers and Genoise made the same way?

Question

I think I have heard somewhere that ladyfingers are made from the same batter as Genoise cake layers. But I don't remember where I heard it, whether the source was reputable, and if I'm not misremembering something else.

Now I want to make a cake or trifle which will go well with a ladyfinger-like texture. So, when choosing what layer to make, I thought of Genoise. But will I get the same texture as store-bought ladyfingers, and if not, how will it differ?

Answer

Delicious variations abound, so it is hard to make absolute statements of what is "officially" a ladyfinger. In my pastry class, we were taught that the classic recipe for ladyfingers is close, but not identical, to genoise. Store-bought ladyfingers can be anything from, essentially, a meringue to a shortbread cookie.

Foam-based batters -- i.e., those that do not use chemical leveners or yeast -- can be divided into two categories: whole-egg and separated-egg. The main difference in results is that the latter tend to be stiffer and can better tolerate being overcooked a little. The primary example of whole-egg batter is the genoise cake. Because the whites are whipped together with the yolks (and sometimes extra yolks are added), it is a finicky batter, requiring more skill to assemble properly than others, but when it works, it is more tender. Separated-egg batters are far more common, as they are easier to assemble; the key is that you whip the whites into medium-to-stiff peaks, then fold it back into the rest of the batter. Examples include chiffon, dacquoise, and the French "biscuit" cakes.

Most recipes for ladyfingers use a separated-egg batter; others use a simple meringue. The meringue version will make a crisp cookie, the version with with the yolk, soft. Either will work well for uses like tiramisu or trifle.

Here is a recipe for ladyfingers from Allrecipes.com and a recipe for genoise from Epicurious. For my ladyfingers, I add a pinch of salt and some flavorings, such as vanilla or nut extract, but the base recipe is essentially the same.

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Mayonnaise substitute in cake batter

Question

My wife's chicken cake recipe calls for mayonnaise as one of the batter ingredients. In my opinion, mayonnaise is completely unsuitable for high-temperature processing (as in baking), but I was unable to come up with a substitute for it.

So, my question is, what can we put into cake batter instead of mayonnaise?

Update:

I think mayonnaise is unsuitable for baking because it is an emulsion which separates into its ingredients when heated, emulsifying agents used in a commercial mayo are not particularly healthy, and mayonnaise does not taste any good when it is broken into its components.

The components of the batter are: 6 table spoons of flour, 3 eggs, 200gram mayo, 200gram sour cream.

The components of the filling are: chopped prepared chicken meat, chopped sauteed onions, boiled eggs, etc.

Answer

Many cake batters call for mayonnaise. It makes for moister cakes. Using mayonnaise instead of its constituent ingredients adds convenience as well as extra emulsifiers. It is true that mayonnaise doesn't handle high heat on its own but it doesn't have to. It is part of a batter that will set.

If you really don't trust the recipe- the mayonnaise can be replaced with egg yolks that have oil whipped into them to form an emulsion. You can add a little vinegar for flavor. :)

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Is it safe to store batter/dough that contains eggs?

Question

I sometimes like to make a large batch of pancake butter or cornbread dough, and fry/bake it whenever I want some freshly made pancakes or cornbread. Both these liquids contain eggs. Is is safe to store them in the fridge, so long as they eventually get cooked? Nothing is being consumed raw here.

If so, how long can I reasonably store the batter/dough before things get iffy? I'm wondering about salmonella in particular.

Answer

Of course you can store them in the fridge. When things start to smell bad, you should toss it. From what I remember off hand, every pancake or cornbread batter recipe I've read says about a week is safe.

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How can I keep my waffle iron relatively clean when making waffles?

Question

I do not make waffles overly frequently, but when I do I tend to make a mess of my waffle iron. I use a ladle to place waffle batter in the middle of my waffle iron. On accident I occasionally overfill the iron so that when it is closed batter runs out the sides. The obvious answer is use less batter, but then I tend to use too little. To complicate matters I rarely use the same waffle batter recipe and some tend to make a larger mess than others.

Aside from eyeballing is there a good ratio of batter amount to iron size I should be using? Is there a way to easily cleanup a waffle iron after use that does not take a long time?

Answer

Replace your ladle with a ice cream scoop.

You will be able to control the amount of dough for each waffle much easier. For my waffle iron and scoop I use two scoops.

An additional advantage over a ladle, is that the dough releases much easier from a scoop - which reduces the probability of making a mess.

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What can I do with batter that has lumpy sugar in it?

Question

I was making a scratch cake, and my sugar (to my chagrin) was inferior. When I beat it into the batter, it turned into many tiny lumps. Has anyone ever figured out how to solve this problem? I beat it for a long time on high speed, but there were still lumps.

If there's no way to fix this type of problem, could I get some hints on how to prevent it, e.g. how to smash all the sugar lumps before I put it in the batter?

Edit: For clarification, this batter is very thin, and the recipe requires beating it on the highest speed for three minutes straight. So that's not a big issue with this.

Also, I did mix the dry ingredients (including sugar) together before anything else. I used the mixer to try and break up the lumps (when the mixer only had the dry ingredients in it), and when it had stirred for 5 minutes or so, I thought it would be better to proceed with the recipe and add the wet ingredients, hoping that they would dissolve the sugar. They didn't. After beating it for the required three minutes, I just put it in the oven. I didn't actually beat the batter any longer than the recipe said to; the only thing I did that the recipe didn't tell me to was to stir the dry ingredients for 5 minutes.

The cake seems okay. Maybe when the lumps are small enough, the heat of the oven takes care of them?

Answer

Don't most cake recipes require mixing dry ingredients first? Well, what's been done has been done.

The standard professional chef way of getting lumps out of anything is to pass it through a fine strainer. In your case a standard metal pasta strainer should work. Put the strainer over a bowl, pour the batter in and use the back of a large spoon or ladle to gentle press the batter through. The lumps of sugar will be left over and you can just crush them then.

Whipping the batter might work the gluten proteins in the flour which will make for a tough chewy texture. Some cakes actually take this into account and others it is bad, so be careful.

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Which part of yellow cake batter gives it the yellow cake flavor?

Question

We recently made a cobbler by adding oil, water, and powdered yellow cake mix (from a box) on top of sugary fruit filling and it came of the oven crispy and delicious with that distinctive yellow cake flavor. What gives yellow cake its flavor? Even without the egg, this flavor is apparent, so it can't be entirely egg related, especially comparing yellow and white cake flavors.

UPDATE:

It turns out this may be something of an inadvertent trick question. I have yet to test this but I get the idea that store-bought white cake and yellow cake batter powders both have a more similar cake battery taste than I originally suspect. The reason is pretty simple: the combination and ratios of sugar, salt, baking powder, and flour are probably not very different between the two powder mixes (don't be fooled by the yellow food coloring). Later, when the egg or egg whites and butter vs. oil are added it will of course affect the final cake texture but probably not the cake batter flavor.

Another possibility is that yellow cake batter mixes might have artificial butter flavoring whereas white cakes simply use vegetable oil for a lighter flavor.

Answer

Yellow cake made from scratch is given its color and flavor from egg yolks. A cake mix from a box, although you didn't add any eggs to it, might already have egg product in it. If it was one of the major brands of cake mix then it will likely have additives such as flavorings and food color to give it its distinctive flavor and color. In the homemade realm a white cake is made with only egg whites and a yellow cake is made with both whites and yolk.

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What is the name of this batter?

Question

I remember reading and watching videos about it, but haven't ever made it, and I also forgot the name. I want to learn some more of it, find the correct recipe, etc., but it is rather hard without the name as a starting point.

It is very simple, made with only egg whites and something else (flour, or cornstarch, or confectioner's sugar, I don't remember exactly which, or the correct ratio). It is baked in a very thin shape, often dripped in a pattern. When hot out of the oven, it has enough plasticity to be shaped per hand. It then cools in the shape it was given, making ornaments (out of the dripped patterns) or small basket-like shapes, for serving ice cream etc.

Does anybody have more info on it?

Update thank you for the great answers. I was able to find good ressources, mostly on searches for tuile, which seems to be the broader term (although hippenmasse alone would have helped too). The best information in English was available on http://www.pastrysampler.com/Questions_and_Answers/tuile.htm, if anybody is interested.

Answer

Sounds similar to a tuile. There's a little more to it that flour and egg white, but that's a good start; you'd also want some sugar, and probably some fat.

I have an example on http://blog.jagaimo.com/archive/2010/03/16/improvised-pumpkin-seed-tuiles.aspx with a few photos. I've also used the same basic batter to make little cups for ice cream, for which I generally crimp four ways over a small teacup. The batter generally loses plasticity very quickly out of the oven, so there's not much time to work.

A fortune cookie is made using a similar technique, though I think the dough has less fat.

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