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Jim Cooley
Joined: 09 Oct 2008 Posts: 377 Location: Seattle
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 4:05 pm Post subject: Ammonia, and A NICE PLUM CAKE |
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Just got back from a couple months in India where a company called Honest Bakery makes the best damn Plum Cake I've ever eaten.
It's very much a Brit thing, I'm sure. Plum Pudding is another variant.
So I'm trying to reproduce the recipe here at home in USA, and the closest I've found is from Mrs Beeton's, of course.
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1769. INGREDIENTS.—
1 lb. of flour,
1/4 lb. of butter,
1/2 lb. of sugar,
1/2 lb. of currants,
2 oz. of candied lemon-peel,
1/2 pint of milk,
1 teaspoonful of ammonia or carbonate of soda.
Mode.—Put the flour into a basin with the sugar, currants, and sliced candied peel; beat the butter to a cream, and mix all these ingredients together with the milk. Stir the ammonia into 2 tablespoonfuls of milk and add it to the dough, and beat the whole well, until everything is thoroughly mixed. Put the dough into a buttered tin, and bake the cake from 1-1/2 to 2 hours.
Time.—1-1/2 to 2 hours.
Average cost, 1s. 3d. Seasonable at any time.
Read more at Celtnet: http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/beeton-baking-35.php
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the AMMONIA is no doubt a leavening agent, but just exactly what is it?
And as such, I think I'd be tempted to use a slightly sour or clabbered milk.
The cake from Honest Bakery is quite dense, yet has a very light crumb, so I think I'll use cake flour and beat as lightly as possible. And despite its density, it's not very rich.
This reproduction will probably take a few tries, but I welcome suggestions.
BTW, the ingredients listed on the Honest Bakery package are as follows. One in particular has me baffled. Can you guess?
Sugar
Vanilla
Vanaspathy (that's ghee)
Egg
Cherry
Ginger
Greap
Liquid Glucose
Permitting Flavours
Essence
Cardamom
Etc.
Now WTF is GREAP? :-) |
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Dilbert
Joined: 19 Oct 2007 Posts: 1304 Location: central PA
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Jim Cooley
Joined: 09 Oct 2008 Posts: 377 Location: Seattle
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 4:39 pm Post subject: |
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Dilbert,
Knew I could count on you but didn't expect such a speedy reply.
Many thanks! Spirits of Hartshorn, as I believe it was called?
Also, figured out the mystery ingredient greap.
It's grape! just spelled wrong. Whether they mean juice or crushed fruit will have to be determined by experimentation.
Jim |
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Dilbert
Joined: 19 Oct 2007 Posts: 1304 Location: central PA
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 5:25 pm Post subject: |
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hartshorn at one time - as I understand - was actually made from powder deer horn.
it's a veddy traditional 'flavor' for some German Christmas cookies...
if you opt to use it, do be advised - it does leave / produce an ammonia smell and flavor. you may or may not care for the effect..... |
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Jim Cooley
Joined: 09 Oct 2008 Posts: 377 Location: Seattle
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2014 8:46 pm Post subject: |
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Dilbert,
Thanks again. Of course I don't want the cake smelling of ammonia, so I'll substitute baking powder. Question is, at what ratio?
If orig recipe calls for 1 tsp ammonia, how much baking powder (double acting, Clabber Girl) should I use? Cake as it's made is rather dense, so I'm inclined to go on the shy side.
Had a good laugh trying to figure out why the cake was brown and not white.
It's the damn raisins/currants! I'll bet some are used as pulp to color the dough.
As far as flavoring is concerned, my original assessment was the following
Ginger
Allspice
Mace
Cloves
Cardamon
Going to skip the cloves, and it's a toss-up whether to use mace or allspice or both. And knowing my own peculiarities, I'll take it easy on the cardamom...
A friend raised an interesting question: use powdered ginger, or fresh grated?
Found the candied orange peel, and the candied cherries, so I think I'm all set. Skipped the candied citron, but did buy some candied lemon peel which I doubt I'll use.
Suggestions welcome. Thanks again!
Jim |
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Dilbert
Joined: 19 Oct 2007 Posts: 1304 Location: central PA
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2014 10:15 pm Post subject: |
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substitution....
okay,,,, there is not universal agreement on this.
for the most part.....
1 part hartshorn = 1 part baking powder
or
1-1/3 part baking soda |
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Jim Cooley
Joined: 09 Oct 2008 Posts: 377 Location: Seattle
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Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2014 10:38 pm Post subject: |
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1st iteration in the oven as we speak.
325° F for an hour? I'll use the toothpick test.
Made quite a few changes to Mrs. Beeton's.
Wish me luck! |
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Jim Cooley
Joined: 09 Oct 2008 Posts: 377 Location: Seattle
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Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 12:57 am Post subject: |
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Code: | 1 lb. of cake flour,
1/4 lb. of unsalted butter,
1/2 lb of sugar,
˝ tsp salt
1 whole egg, room temp
1/2 lb of currants,
2 TBS of candied lemon-peel
2 TBS candied cherry
12 oz (1˝ cups) whole milk room temp,
1 teaspoonful of ammonia or carbonate of soda = 1 slightly heaping tsp double-acting baking powder (fresh)
Spices:
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground allspice (may be too much?)
1TBS ground ginger
5 pods fresh green cardamom, husks removed (~ shy ˝ tsp)
Mode.—Put the flour into a basin with the sugar, currants, and sliced candied peel; beat the butter to a cream, and mix all these ingredients together with the milk. Stir the ammonia into 2 tablespoonfuls of milk and add it to the dough, and beat the whole well, until everything is thoroughly mixed. Put the dough into a buttered tin, and bake the cake from 1-1/2 to 2 hours.
10” cast iron pan, parchment paper on bottom, greased, warm.
325° F (pre-heated) for exactly 1 hour
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Didn't come out quite as I'd expected. I wanted something denser and moister, so maybe too much baking powder? Pan too shallow or not deep enough? 325° F seems rather slow; should I go slower?
Also, need to macerate some of the currants (and use ˝ raisins next time) and mix into batter to make a dark brown cake. |
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Michael Chu
Joined: 10 May 2005 Posts: 1654 Location: Austin, TX (USA)
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Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 6:14 am Post subject: |
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Jim,
I think it might have risen too much and taste different because you used baking powder instead of baking soda as your replacement for carbonate of soda. Sodium carbonate (carbonate of soda) is a bit more basic than sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) but as a leavener should be close enough to sub 1:1. Also, because it is more basic it might contribute flavor in much the same way that lye does to pretzels and masa. (Alternatively, you can theoretically make your own carbonate of soda by spreading baking soda out on a sheet pan and baking at 250-300F for over 30 min. An hour would probably be best. The resulting reaction should be: 2 NaHCO3 -> Na2CO3 + H2O + CO2. The resulting powder can be used in lieu of lye in many recipes like making ramen noodles, pretzels, etc.)
(Modern baking powders will have significantly more lift than the old timey stuff too. But the more I think about this, the more I think you just need to make your baking soda.) |
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Jim Cooley
Joined: 09 Oct 2008 Posts: 377 Location: Seattle
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Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 2:36 pm Post subject: |
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Michael,
I bet you're right on the baking SODA. I didn't read Dilbert's post closely enough and used baking POWDER instead of Ammonium carbonate.
It's quite good, not too sweet, and dense, which is the way I wanted it. Has a light crumb, too.
But it's not moist at all! Not dried out, but hard as a brick (well, almost...).
I don't want to add more fat, and I *think* the amount of liquid was about right.
So... deeper baking dish? Shorter cooking time? Both? (add some glycerin?)
EDIT: I also added an egg, as a binder of sorts. It just didn't make sense not to use one as called for in original recipe, but perhaps I was wrong? |
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Michael Chu
Joined: 10 May 2005 Posts: 1654 Location: Austin, TX (USA)
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Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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try using brown sugar instead of regular sugar? That usually results in a little more moist mouthfeel. |
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Jim Cooley
Joined: 09 Oct 2008 Posts: 377 Location: Seattle
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Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 10:39 pm Post subject: |
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Oh. of course!
How that slipped my mind, I don't know, but I meant to use some jaggery instead of all white castor sugar. |
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