How Much baking Soda Question??

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larry_stewart

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My wife was following a recipe to make a vegan cake. No eggs, only baking soda as a rising agent.

My question is, what do you think would be an acceptable range of amount of baking soda to use, considering there were 3 cups of flour.

Basic ingredients

3 cups Flour
??? Baking Soda
2 Tbs Apple Cider Vinegar
Spices ( cinnamon, nutmeg ..)
1/4 cup apple butter + 3/43 cup water ( mixed together)
2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup Oil
2 tsps Vanilla
1/2 cup Pecans

I know the answer, im just curious for those bakers out there what would be an acceptable range
 
My basic zucchini or carrot bread, whole food plant based, no oil, recipe has 3 cups of flour, 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp baking powder. Right or wrong, it works great.
 
I have a recipe for chocolate cake that doesn't have any egg. It uses 1.5 teaspoons of baking soda for 1.5 cups of flour. It does have buttermilk and vinegar to react with the baking soda.
 
So he reason why I bring this up, is my wife decided to bake me a cake for my birthday.
When I bit into it, initially it was ok, but then as the taste settled on my tongue, all I tasted was baking soda.

She asked me to taste it first before she proceeded with the rest of the recipe. I tried being polite, but the longer the stuff seat in my mouth, the more like all I taste was baking soda. I had her taste it , and kinda the same thing happened. At first she thought it was ok, but then the baking soda flavor kicked in and dominated.

***Almost every time she tries a new recipe, she has me read its through first, cause in most cases, I can get a pretty good idea of what it will taste like before going through the hassle of making it. This was kinda of a surprise for my birthday ( it sure was a surprise to my taste buds). so she chose to override the vetting step and just make it.***

Anyway, after our mid recipe taste test, she decided to abandon the recipe and go to the store to pick up a few pints of garlic stuffed olives, put a candle on the olive container, and use that as my ' Birthday Cake'. Usually we get a few quarts of vegetarian hot and sour soup, and putt candles in that, but all the local restaurants that make good veg hot and sour soup no longer exists. Closest one is 50 miles away.

Anyway, I promise I was polite about it, she wasn't insulted, but I wasn't up to eating a cake that taste like a bad pretzel and pretending to like it.

BTW, the recipe called for 1 Tbs + 1 tsp of baking soda.
I dont bake much, so Although it did seam like more than I usually put it ( and it sure tasted like it too), I wasn't sure which is why I wanted to ask what you guys thought.

I also questioned her if she definitely measured correctly. Then I asked her if she did a thorough job mixing all the ingredients together. I did a taste test on several areas of the cake, and she had 2 cakes to layer, so I tasted both, and the baking soda flavor was consistency throughout.

Anyway, no need to make any suggestions on how to change the recipe, we wont be making it again.

( I spared the chicken the calories and disappointment and just threw it out in the trash.)

This falls under " Its the thought that counts" and again, I was very nice about it, I didnt make her feel bad.
 

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Yeh, I agree that that is too much baking soda. I have a recipe for a no-egg chocolate cake that uses 2 cups of flour, and it has only 1 tsp. baking soda (it does have mayo in it). Even with only 1 tsp. baking soda, it gets a mildly astringent flavor, and actually tastes like it has walnuts in it, though it has no nuts, I don't know where your wife got the recipe, but it is flawed, and like you stated, not her fault. I hope the rest of your birthday was a joy.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
Yeh, I agree that that is too much baking soda. I have a recipe for a no-egg chocolate cake that uses 2 cups of flour, and it has only 1 tsp. baking soda (it does have mayo in it). Even with only 1 tsp. baking soda, it gets a mildly astringent flavor, and actually tastes like it has walnuts in it, though it has no nuts, I don't know where your wife got the recipe, but it is flawed, and like you stated, not her fault. I hope the rest of your birthday was a joy.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

Recipe wound up in the trash next to the cake, and the birthday garlic stuffed olives were delicious !!
 
I wonder not about quantity of baking soda but the lack of activating agent. 2 T of Apple cider vinegar is not enough for amount of soda. I have ran into this problem in many American recipes. Most Russian recipe books if calling for baking soda, always call for vinegar. I wonder if vinegar is to be assumed, like eggs being kept outside of the refrigerator in French cooking books?
 
I wonder not about quantity of baking soda but the lack of activating agent. 2 T of Apple cider vinegar is not enough for amount of soda. I have ran into this problem in many American recipes. Most Russian recipe books if calling for baking soda, always call for vinegar. I wonder if vinegar is to be assumed, like eggs being kept outside of the refrigerator in French cooking books?
Any amount of an acid ingredient will create a reaction with the baking soda. When you say vinegar, do you mean distilled white vinegar? Because that's not necessary to create the rise. Any acidic ingredient, like buttermilk citrus juice, will work. I've never come across the idea that it's assumed that you need to add vinegar to any baked good using baking soda.
 
LOL! That's a take-off of the old depression cake, often called crazy cake or cockeyed cake. It was made without eggs or butter. There are chocolate and vanilla versions. Apparently, yours spiced things up with the apples in pecans, but everything else in your recipe is exactly as it should be ----except the soda.

It should be 2 teaspoons. It's actually worth making again.

3 c flour
2 c sugar
2/3 c oil
2 c liquid
2 TLB vinegar
2 tsp baking soda
etc.
 
Any amount of an acid ingredient will create a reaction with the baking soda. When you say vinegar, do you mean distilled white vinegar? Because that's not necessary to create the rise. Any acidic ingredient, like buttermilk citrus juice, will work. I've never come across the idea that it's assumed that you need to add vinegar to any baked good using baking soda.

Yes, I did meant distilled vinegar. And you are right any acidic agent will promote reaction, if mixing don properly. I.e. soda needs to be mixed with such agent, rather than added to flour mixture.
 
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