broduke2000 ([info]broduke2000) wrote,
@ 2009-06-24 00:32:00
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Current location:A Safe Distance From Chemicals
Current mood: nauseous
Current music:She's Real Fine My Polysorbate 80
Entry tags:pillsbury frosting added chemicals

MMMN!



So here I am baking a cake. Smells fine, until you read the ingredients: (Gets better the further you go down)

1. Sugar
2. Water
3. Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (Soybean and Cottonseed Oil)
4. Cocoa Processed with Alkali
5. Fructose
6. Corn Syrup
7. Corn Starch
8. Mono and Diglycerides
9. Salt
10. Artificial Flavor
11. Cellulose Gel
12. Carrageenan
13. Propylene Glycol Monostearate
14. Citric Acid
15. Potassium Sorbate
16. Polysorbate 80
17. Cellulose Gum
18. Soy Lecithin
19. Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate
20. Red #40
21. Yellow #5
22. Blue #1


That's 22 ingredients, just for the frosting! And what color is the Chocolate frosting before the added coloring? Yellow?! Pink??!!

No wonder my stomach has shifted. It's running away from all the chemicals, most likely imported from China these days!

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[info]furr_a_bruin
2009-06-24 09:55 am UTC (link)
One of the changes from my childhood that's annoyed me is the disappearance of cake frosting mix. Used to be, one bought a frosting mix, blended that with butter (or margarine) and there's your frosting. Even made with margarine, not something I like as a replacement for butter as a spread - I seem to recall those frostings tasting better than the ones we now get "ready to spread" in a tub, made with "partially hydrogenated oil."

I did find a listing for the ingredients of a frosting mix from http://www.KingArthurFlour.com that looks a lot more reasonable:
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Mix
Ingredients: confectioners sugar (sugar, cornstarch), buttercream base (powdered sugar, modified food starch, flour, natural and artificial flavors), eggs, natural flavor, salt.


Edited at 2009-06-24 09:55 am UTC

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[info]broduke2000
2009-06-25 06:11 am UTC (link)
I'm picturing you and Bikerbaer in a bake-off, and my stomach is growling.

MMMMMN!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]bbearseviltwin
2009-06-24 01:04 pm UTC (link)
Mmmm, Polysorbate 80, my favorite.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]broduke2000
2009-06-24 11:24 pm UTC (link)
It's Polysorbate 60's rich uncle.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]maxauburn
2009-06-24 01:09 pm UTC (link)
Yellow #5!!!

Sounds yum-alicious!!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]broduke2000
2009-06-25 06:00 am UTC (link)
MMMM Yellow!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]h0gwash
2009-06-24 01:21 pm UTC (link)
No Chinese chocolate cake is complete without melamine.

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[info]broduke2000
2009-06-24 11:29 pm UTC (link)
I had a good laugh with that. Thanks!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]progbear
2009-06-24 05:39 pm UTC (link)
Yeesh! Do you really need three kinds of sugar? And three kinds of food colouring for what is essentially cocoa coloured? And any time you see the word “hydrogenated,” just run!

I know understand the cocoa “processed with alkali” thing, though. I went ahead and bought some unsweetened cocoa powder to which I could add [artificial sweetener of my choice]. And it was not processed with alkali, which it crows proudly on the container. Well, it turns out the alkali process is essential to getting the cocoa powder to mix properly. Without it, the powder just kind of sits on top of the liquid. Weird! And annoying!

I remember an old ad for Wesson oil where Florence Henderson was crowing, “Wesson doesn’t have Polysorbate 80!” If Mrs. Brady is against it, it must be bad!

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[info]furr_a_bruin
2009-06-24 11:04 pm UTC (link)
I wonder if I should tell you this....

You have to realize that Fat + Alkali = Soap. Thus, processing cocoa with alkali turns the cocoa butter into ... cocoa soap. That's probably why alkali processed cocoa disperses much better in water.

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[info]broduke2000
2009-06-24 11:30 pm UTC (link)
That's a very "clean" comment.

*duke ducks*

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]broduke2000
2009-06-25 06:59 am UTC (link)
This is the closest that I could find


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[info]putzmeisterbear
2009-06-24 05:40 pm UTC (link)
At least the chemicals I used to put in desserts would make me hallucinate and stuff for the rest of the evening. Sometimes into the next day. hehe...

Edited at 2009-06-24 05:41 pm UTC

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[info]broduke2000
2009-06-25 06:03 am UTC (link)
Sound like you were high enough to play in the shower with me, and enjoy it.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Cake ingredients...
[info]master_dave
2009-06-25 01:23 am UTC (link)
So:

If I want to make a cake, then I contact the Aldrich Chemical Company? (Perhaps some company a >>little<< less expensive?) When I was a kid, we went to the grocery store for cake ingredients, and people with money could go to the bakery shop for theirs.

To make your cake bigger, add some flour and yeast, and like that. It might taste different, but it can be much bigger!

Fat plus sodium hydroxide results in "sodium tallowate". It doesn't get better than that. Not for use in foods, though!

You need uranium to make yellowcake. Or, so I have heard. For best results, the batter should be stirred with aluminum tubes. That enhances the flavor, or something.

Dubya must have eaten lots of cake!!

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: Cake ingredients...
[info]broduke2000
2009-06-25 06:06 am UTC (link)
Years ago there was this Chinese-owned bakery in (of all places) The Castro. Man it was heavenly! And cheap.

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