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07 July 2006

Hope me prove a point, science boffins. [More:]In the office yesterday we were talking about cake (if you work in an office you will know how important things like cakes, biscuits (cookies) and chocolates are to the general enjoyment of the working day) and I mentioned the famous chocolate mayonnaise cake and commented on its general deliciousness.

One of my team-mates said that he wouldn't be able to eat it because he can't eat anything with a high fat content, such as mayonnaise (but he can eat cake made with butter or i-can't-believe-it's-not-butter, etc.).

I said that I thought he would be ok to eat mayonnaise cake if he can eat normal cake because, from my understanding of cake baking, in order for a cake to 'work', it has to have proportionate amounts of fat, eggs, sugar and flour. Too much sugar, for example, and it sinks and goes crispy round the edges. Too fatty, and the batter curdles. Too much flour, and it won't rise (or something). So a mayo cake would not, proportionately, contain more fat than a normal cake or it wouldn't turn out right.

I remember at school being taught the basic proportions for a cake as 4oz sugar, 4oz butter, 2 eggs, 8oz flour (in the olden days before England went metric). In a mayo cake you replace the butter and eggs with a 7oz jar of mayo.

So am I right in saying that a mayo cake would have the same fat/flour/sugar/egg proportions as a butter cake and therefore not be higher in fat?
You are indeed correct. The mayonnaise takes the place of the butter and eggs in this recipe. It may be *slightly* higher in fat, but not enough to make a big difference.
posted by smich 07 July | 15:12
Hmm, 7 oz mayonnaise has 153g of fat (total). 4 oz of butter has 92g of fat (total).

However, 7 oz mayonnaise has 9.7g of saturated fat compared to 58.3g in 4 oz of butter and 52 and 244mg of cholesterol, respectively.

From here.
posted by porpoise 07 July | 15:13
Hmm, 7 oz mayonnaise has 153g of fat (total). 4 oz of butter has 92g of fat (total)


But the mayo would also have approx 2 eggs in it, whereas the cake with butter would need to have the eggs (containing 50g fat) added. So that would add up to the 150g.
posted by essexjan 07 July | 15:43
But the mayo is also taking the place of the eggs, I think? In the recipe. So you have to factor the egg fat into the equation. You have to compare mayo to eggs and butter, not just butter.
posted by iconomy 07 July | 15:43
Iconomy is onto something here. The mayo is replacing BOTH eggs and butter. It's a premix of one egg yolk to about 2/3 or 3/4 a cup of oil. It's also adding a bit of acid (the vinegar or lemon juice) which helps activate the baking soda/baking powder. I'd add a bit more baking soda and reduce the amount of powder if replacing eggs & oil with mayonaise. The mustard just adds a bit of zing.

The real problem is that the oil is vegetable oil and not butter. Just like using oil rather than butter in cookies, the cake might not rise as well.

What I really don't understand is why they bother to use self-raising flour AND baking powder in the BBC recipe. That's just moraly offensive, that is.
posted by bonehead 07 July | 16:00
Two medium eggs contain 8.7g of fat.

7oz mayo: 153g fat
4oz butter + 2 medium eggs: 101g of fat.

Much less saturated fat in mayo than butter+eggs, though.
posted by porpoise 07 July | 16:29
Yeah, I worked out the eggs wrong on fitday.
posted by essexjan 07 July | 16:37
Would y'all stop talking about cake?! Please and thank you.

*whimpers*
posted by deborah 07 July | 16:43
Deborah, that's how I feel about the threads where people talk about being in love.
posted by matildaben 07 July | 17:01
Yeah but, but, but...
posted by deborah 07 July | 17:30
At least you can go out and buy a cake, matildaben
posted by essexjan 07 July | 18:57
What do you know? || Imminent Roadtrip Coming...

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