What item serves as a food thickener? As a leavening?

Question

Few more questions:
What would happen if you left eggs or oil in a cake?
In oatmeal raisin cookies, would it make a difference if you substitued the raisins with chocolate chips?

you don't have to answer all of these but if thers some you can answer please help!

I meant what would happen if you left OUT eggs and oil in a cake?

Answer 1

Hi...in all these answers no one suggested what I feel is by far the best thing to thicken...ARROWROOT. It is a white powder. It's more expensive than starch or flour but there's a reason for that...it's MUCH better. With the other 2 you often get a chaulky taste and the color is muddy. Don't know what you are making, or if the color would make a difference. But when you use arrowroot it just thickens but the sauce becomes clear.

Here's an example. One of my fav things to do is make a black cherry sauce. Looks like it was hard, but it is silly simple and done in a couple minutes. You just save the liquid (they are cheaper in a jar...great if you have Trader Joes near you). Mix some of the cool liquid with the arrowroot separately. IE take a small bowl or cup and use about 1/4 cup of liquid and depending on how much you are making about 2 heaping teaspoons of arrowroot. Mix until blended (this will be cloudy). Then add this to as much of the rest of the liquid as you need. I then add a dash of vanilla, salt, and sometimes a little bit of a liquor for flavor. Then when it's almost done and thickened, add the cherries or other fruit. Awesome on chicken or duck breasts....or anything! Will look like you slaved in the kitchen hehehe!

But that is just one suggestion. It will thicken whatever you want using the same technique, be it stew, soup, whatever. And if it's not thick enough add a little more. Just be sure to use cool or warm liquid to mix with whatever you use, be it arrowroot, flour or corn starch or you will have hard, clumpy balls that don't break down! Mix separately until totaly dissolved then add to main dish.

I would suggest looking for arrowroot at a store that sells stuff in bulk or a farmers market (got a HUGE bag really cheap last time I vacationed in Amish country PA). The market is pricey, but you can try one jar to see if you agree it's the best. Bet you can find it online too...lots of good spice sites.

Another tip...if you are going to use flour I'd strongly suggest getting a cannister of Wondra flour. (Either in the flour or spice aisle). It's super fine and blends much better than regular flour to thicken. And yes cornstarch will work but it's my least fav as it adds a gummy, chaulky taste. Yuk!

And if you were asking about leaving eggs out of cake, there are some recipes for dense cakes without them. I'd suggest web searching recipes. I know there are some online, as I have a vegan friend. Leavening ingredients are primarily Baking soda or baking powder, but they are definately not a substitute for eggs FYI. And there are oil substitutes, like butter, fake butter (I can't believe it's not butter bakes better than most), some swear by applesauce. And Yum yes choc will work fine...choc always works lol. Think I got em all! hehe

Good luck!

Answer 2

Flour is a good thickening agent but the easiest one to work with is corn starch. Remember nothing thickens till it comes to a rolling boil for 10 minutes. And yeast is the best leavening agent on the market. Many cakes call for eggs and oil so that is not a problem. And there would be NO difference if you substitute choco chips for raisins. You may want to add some walnuts too.......yummy!!!

Answer 3

Flour and corn starch are the usual thickeners in modern Western cooking. Yeast and baking powder are among the leavening agents available.

I don't understand what you mean by 'leaving eggs or oil in a cake'. You might try 'The Joy of Cooking' for more answers, as they include many tips on various areas of cooking.

As for chocolate chips - why not?

Answer 4

If you mean- what would happen if you left out eggs or oil in a cake, I can answer that for you because I tried it once with a friend. We made a chocolate cake with a mix and left out the eggs it called for. It took a lot longer for the cake to bake but it tasted really good. Kind of surprising but it worked and the cake was very moist. Cornstarch & flour work as food thickeners if you mix it with water or melted butter- respectively. Hope I answered your questions well & God Bless!!!

Answer 5

Go ahead and take the raisins out and add chocolate chips...I do that all the time.

Now cake without oil or eggs is going to be VERY DRY. You can substitute apple sauce for the oil but I'm not sure you can take out the eggs. Good luck

Answer 6

I often use corn starch as a thickener. Just mix enough corn starch in cool liquid and mix thoroughly. When the hot liquid is boiling, add the cool liquid (with the dissolved corn starch). Once you bring the mixture back up to boiling, you will be at the maximum thickness for how much corn starch you used.

Oh, and I can't stand raisins, so I leave them out of recipes... I never thought to add chocolate chips instead. I think that would work nicely!

Answer 7

Yes, you can use chocolate chips in oatmeal cookies. You can substute an egg with applesauce or 1 tbs ground flaxseed in 3 tablespoons of warm water, let stand 5 minutes-will be the exact consistancy as egg. Leavening agents are baking powder or baking soda mixed with cream of tartar

Answer 8

Flour can act like a thickener either as part of a slurry, a paste or a roux.

You could substitute chocolate chips for the raisins, why not!

Answer 9

Leavening- baking powder, baking soda
Thickener- corn starch, flour
The eggs or oil would just bake where you left them if it wasn't Incorporated properly, but if you incorporated them properly it will be fine.
Yes, you can substitute chocolate chips, it's good!

Answer 10

thickener-flour,cornstarch
leavening- baking soda, baking powder, yeast
if you leave eggs and oil in a cake,,, you have a cake
if you leave out eggs--cake will be very crumbly
if you leave out oil--different, but acceptable consistency
cookies--no difference