recipes, and how they mutate

[redbird]

I just took another look at papersky's fine cake-making poem, because I made cakelings for eleanor yesterday and she wanted the recipe.

Oh. The sugar's supposed to go in before the egg. I wonder how much difference it makes that I've been doing it the other way around?

Oh again. Peel the apple. Nah, too much trouble, and I like them with the peel.

Apple, then flour. Am I doing any of this as specified? Well, I'm melting the butter, and the proportions are as given.

Maybe if I do it in the other order, I'll manage to get 12 cakelings out of a batch. (I usually get ten or 11--yesterday only produced nine.)

Comments

[eleanor.livejournal.com]

Most of which I ate. They were yummy!

[papersky.livejournal.com]

If you put the sugar after the egg, you won't get as many because you can't get the air into it -- or rather, the sugar will get the air out of it again. So you'll have denser cakelings. I never have any problem getting 12 though.

Peeling the apple won't matter, I do it because some people don't like peel. (Looks at zorinth

Apple after flour, well, I don't suppose it matters, I do it the other way around because apple takes time to chop (especially if you're peeling) and I don't want it to go brown, if I put it in before the flour I can stir it under as I have some, and then add the rest as I have that. Then the flour can be folded in quickly -- again, this preserves air in it and makes the cakelings light. But if I was doing something that can be prepared in advance, like redcurrants, which rysmiel doesn't like, I'd put them in after.

When I make choc-chip or raisin cakelings, I put a handful of the chips or raisins in a sieve and sieve the flour through them, dropping them in as they are coated. This prevents them from sinking to the bottom -- I don't know why it does, just trust me, it does -- and means they go in simultaneously with the flour.

[redbird]

Ah. That explains things. Must bake again.