[VashCrow]

So, in our household, my wife is the cook and I'm the baker. I bake for holidays and just when I'm bored. My biggest thing in baking is experimenting and this week, I acquired an emulsion for baking. I understand the concept of what an emulsion is, but I would like to know about creating your own emulsions.
As an example, I recently baked a cake that included soda pop in the recipe. However, upon baking it, the flavor seemed to "bake out" and it was barely noticeable against the taste of the cake. Would there be a technique that could prevent this from happening? As I understand it, baking with an emulsion tends to help keep the flavor better and this is why I bring this up.
I'm not a professional cook or baker, but I DO like to learn more about my little hobby in order to create better desserts. Any advice would be helpful and appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[flipflopgirl]

Sooo...welcome to Chef Talk!
Emulsions and oils and pastes have replaced 95% of my go to flavorings.
I favor the LuAnn brand and the thought to make my own has never crossed my mind (have done a few extracts that were acceptable).
Sure it can be done .... what recipes have you found so far?

mimi

 

[VashCrow]

Sorry for the late reply. I haven't baked with the emulsion I ordered yet, but it is in today's agenda. I've not baked with an emulsion before, so this will be the first time AND with an odd flavor to start with... Fruit Punch. I LOVE the flavor of fruit punch and want to try either a cake or cupcakes with the flavor. I mean, really, these emulsions could be used for almost anything too... flavoring Cool Whip for desserts, multi-layer cakes each layer being a different flavor, flavored cupcakes with different flavored frosting. The possibilities are endless.
The company I ordered from, One-on-One Flavors, has an awesome selection of flavors for baking, candy making, etc. I ordered an 8 oz. bottle (not realizing how much 8 oz really is when it's a concentrated emulsion) for $10 and it came with a free sample of Sweet Strawberry emulsion... $13 after tax and shipping. Not too bad.
Anyway, once I actually bake with it, I will post my results and some pics for you and let you know the general consensus around the house LOL

 

[VashCrow]

SO sorry for the late post on this thread. I have been SOOO busy the last few weeks with work and weddings and etc. ANYWAY, last night I finally got a chance to bake a cake using my purchased fruit punch emulsion and the results were awesome. I used a Betty Crocker boxed white cake mix (followed the directions exactly) and added 1 tablespoon of emulsion to the batter. For the frosting, I just used Cool Whip with about 7-10 drops of emulsion added. The results were excellent. The cake came out moist, fluffy, and flavorful. At first, I was apprehensive about the flavoring because it was so strong smelling, but it's a concentrate, so it's going to be strong. Once it was diluted with cake batter, it was much less "kick you in the nose" lol.

If you are looking to bake a cake that no one has ever tried before (like this Fruit Punch flavored cake), then I suggest using an emulsion to flavor your cake batter. You'll get weird looks (depending on the flavor you choose), but people will be amazed at what kind of cakes you can come up with.

P.S. That color? That color is awesome. It comes from only the flavoring... no food coloring added whatsoever.