# Any Canadian cooks here?



## suelandress (May 10, 2002)

I found a recipe for barley sponge cake on a Canadian site. One of the ingredients was 4 Tblsp of Emulsifier. What is that? Like lecithin?


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## fireliteca (Jun 7, 2004)

suelandress-I cook lots and have not heard of an ingredient referred to as an emulsifier. PS I'm very curious can you print the recipe and I'll research my obscure cookbooks for a reference-fireliteca


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## suelandress (May 10, 2002)

*From: http://www.albertabarley.com/barley/food/bakingcontest.html*
*1st Place - Pastry Category 2008 Barley Baking Contest*
Barley Sponge Cake
By Sarah Morley 
*Ingredients*
1/2 cup cold water
4 1/2 eggs
2 Tbsp milk powder
1-1/4 cups sugar 
4 Tbsp emulsifier (k-68)* 
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup barley flour
3 Tbsp bread flour
4 Tbsp melted butter
1 cup vanilla icing
*emulsifier (k-68) can be purchased at most local bakeries
*Directions*
Melt butter and set aside to cool. Prepare two 8-inch round cake pans by greasing with shortening and then placing a wax paper circle on the bottom of the pan. In a bowl, sift all dry ingredients together. In a second large bowl, mix water and eggs. 
Add dry mixture to wet mixture. Using a hand mixer, mix on low speed for 1 minute, then in high speed for 6 minutes. Fold in cooled melted butter. Bake at 375Â°F for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Flip cakes onto a baking sheet sprinkled with granulated sugar or onto cooling racks. Once cooled, split cakes in half. Spread vanilla icing on top and sides bottom halves. Add top halves and ice. Yield: 2 cakes.​


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## Tirzah (May 19, 2006)

Suelandress,

I'm not from Canada (but I am Canadian ), I did a search at King Arthur Flour's site and came up with this:

http://search.kingarthurflour.com/search.jsp?N=0&rt=p&Ntt=emulsifier

I also found that Lecithin is an emulsifier for baking.

I hope this helps !


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## suelandress (May 10, 2002)

Wonderful, thank you! I do have granulated lecithin. Hopefully that works!


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## suelandress (May 10, 2002)

OK, I just followed your link, and see nothing to do with lecithin. Am I just blind?


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## snoozy (May 10, 2002)

I googled...

http://books.google.com/books?id=pK...6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=*emulsifier (k-68)&f=false

Frankly, it sounds hideous. But then, I only like to eat *food* -- food that I don't need a paragraph of chemical analysis to tell me what it is, but that's just me. Lecithin I can accept...maybe try 2 T of lecithin.


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## suelandress (May 10, 2002)

This cake was a disaster. Ok, that's far stretching. But it was flat as a pancake. I did wonder to start with how less that a full cup of flour could make 2 cakes. And this was an award winner? Yikes!
So the chickens feasted, and I made a 2nd cake going only on instinct. I did use lecithin in both of them, but I wonder if it really made a difference. No other cake has an emulsifier for fats and liquids, why should barley be any different?
And I agree, I don't want to use "food" that needs hundreds of pages of chemical analysis.


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## snoozy (May 10, 2002)

With that little batter and 2x 8" pans AND you're supposed to slice each cake in half horizontally?? Seems like you're supposed to be making 1/4" layers of genoise type cake. So it would be flat as a pancake. 

Barley flour is not so different from wheat flour, except it is somewhat low in gluten. Should be a good thing for a cake.


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## suelandress (May 10, 2002)

maybe I should have made ladyfingers


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## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

After doing some searching, it sounds to me like it's a particular chemical name (K-68) for a cake emulsifier. It also seems that pretty much only professional bakers use it.

According to this, cake emulsifier is a combination of things that should have made it hold together and rise better, as well as giving it that "sponge cake" texture:

http://www.kitchenfoods.co.uk/index...cakeemul&sid=il7qad3iwyo136ce12iq905300qro4q0

Cake Improver/Emulsifier 

Ingredients; raising agent e450, e500, emulsifier e472b, e477, glucose syrup, skimmed milk powder, egg powder, egg white powder, thickener e415. 

So if it was left out, that would make a huge difference in the cake. It also looks like a lot of people outside the US use products like this all the time. Guess we're the weird ones here, lol!  

While lecithin is a stabilizer, as well as cream of tartar, I don't think the British think of it as the same thing as their cake emulsifier. I did find a picture of the K-68 somewhere, and it looked like cream of tartar, but I lost it and couldn't find it again, lol.

This person made sponge cake cupcakes and recommended a different brand of cake emulsifier. 

http://lilyng2000.blogspot.com/2009/01/paper-lined-cup-sponge-cake.html

http://www.ovalett.com/

What is Ovalett?.
Ovalett (or Ovalette) is a cake stabiliser/emulsifier used predominantly in the baking of sponge cakes or steam cakes. It gives the cakes a super fine texture. It is used to aid the beating process of egg yolks or egg whites to ensure its stiffness holds. It helps the eggs to rise rapidly and stiffly and also to remain stable therefore ensuring that eggs do not lose their voluminous texture. Ovalett ensures quick whipping properties and provides a remarkably stable batter that may be left unbaked for some hours. Ovalett produces a perfect sponge that is not too fragile, while providing excellent flavour and fresh keeping qualities.

Sorry if this is too much information, but I love the history and whys and hows of cooking, so I found this very interesting, lol.


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## suelandress (May 10, 2002)

The footnote on the K-68 on the web site I got the recipe from said that it was available in most grocery stores in the baking section, so I think you're right about common usage. It's probably not on our shelves cause the majority use boxes of cake mix which probably has that in there. I hate the taste of boxed cakes.


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## Oldskool (Nov 6, 2011)

im from canada and live in canada.... no idea lol


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## fireliteca (Jun 7, 2004)

Glad someone was able to help you.I'm from the province next door and had never heard of this item neither had a few of my baker friends.-fireliteca


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## suelandress (May 10, 2002)

Thanks. I think if I try that particular recipe again, I'll just beat the egg whites seperately  Easier than trying to track down a mystery food.


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