If you have not noticed there is a holiday for practically every day of the week and this Thursday, January 27th is no exception. Thursday is Chocolate Cake Day. Cakes have been around since ancient time, although they were quite different from what we are accustomed to, since they were more bread like in texture and sweetened with honey and filled with dried fruits and nuts. In fact, the words bread and cake were somewhat used interchangeable and these cakes were usually cooked on a hot stone.

The astonishing rise in cake decorating has taken the entire industry by surprise, and although the craft has been around for years the strong desire for quality cakes with cutting edge design has moved consumers to want the outrageous, the unusual and exotic. It is no longer enough to add a simple rope, weave or rosette pattern finished off with a cluster of rosebuds.

The holidays always bring about the invention of some of the booziest baked goods known to mankind. There are those ever popular bourbon balls, which must be made with 100 proof Old Grand Dad to be truly engaging.

Baking and Snackes.com recently featured an article that reported prune puree can “replace as much as 30 per cent of the fat by weight in chocolate cupcakes, and could be used to reduce saturated fat levels in baked goods”, according to researchers at New York’s Hunter College. The Hunter College group is slated to present their findings during the ADA Food & Nutrition Conference and Expo in Boston this November.

The biggest issue to date is that researchers must find a way to develop “fat replacers” for low-fat and low calorie products without compromising texture, flavor and appearance.

The authors cited previous research indicating successful results for other fruit based purees as alternatives for fat. They said their investigation revealed the “effectiveness of prune puree at 0 (control), 15, 30, and 60 per cent levels on the physical, textural and sensory properties of chocolate cupcakes.”

Tiffany D. Wiese and Melani W. Duffrin, authors of Effects of Substituting Pawpaw Fruit Puree for Fat on the Senory Properties of a Plain Shortened Cake also discovered that a smaller amount of pawpaw substitution (25%) provided an acceptable product; however use of more of the pawpaw altered color, texture and tenderness of the overall product; and although this is a great start it is evident that more research is needed.

Oftentimes fat-reduced cupcakes are denser, and had higher water activity levels. It will be interesting to follow these research efforts and see where they will take us as we move to reduce fat and maintain flavor, texture and overall quality.

Several years ago Chef Paul Prudomme offered up syrup recipes that could be used to add extra flavor to sauces and breads. These simply syrups were made from juice concentrates and featured in his cookbook Fork in the Road: A different direction in cooking from America’s Favorite chef. The syrup is by not means a replacement for fat, but it is an enhancement for flavor. It will be interested to see where the use of concentrated products takes us in the future. This may be a far better alternative to artificial flavors, and products that only stand to mask the authentic goodness of food. Is getting back to the basics truly a thing of the past?

Prune Cake

2 cups sifted flour
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup Canola oil
1 teaspoon soda
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon allspice
1 cup cooked stewed prunes, chopped fine (mixture will be thick)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon salt

1. Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl
2. In a medium mixing bowl beat eggs, oil, buttermilk
3. Add to dry ingredients
4. Add vanilla and prunes
5. Stir in pecans

Pour batter in 9×12-inch baking pan, that has been greased and floured
Bake at 325 for 40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean
Serve plain or your favorite butter-cream frosting recipe.
If served plain, this is a wonderful breakfast cake to accompany that cup of Joe!

Have you ever wondered what is in that fluffy mound of frosting that sits atop those delicious cupcakes?

The truth is some bakers use real butter, but more than not it is a product made up of soybean oil, fully hydrogenated palm oil, partially hydrogenated palm and soybean oils, mono and digycerides, THBQ (TBHQ an anti-oxidant that keeps fats from going rancid),  and citric acid aka vegetable shortening.

So with that said what is buttercream frosting? It is the amalgamation of substances that may or may not include butter and/or cream depending on who is making it.

I have a real problem eating a spoonful of vegetable shortening, no matter that it is blended with sugar and flavorings. Recently one of the baking message boards addressed the issue of what to use instead of vegetable shortening (VS) and the conversation went from nothing, since VS is the best product for buttercream frosting to butter, plain old fashioned butter, then I think someone else suggested an Italian product called strutto, a melted animal fat (sorta like lard), free of all meat particles and preserved in soft form, not sold in the U.S.

I started to look up some alternatives to using vegetable shortening and found some other ways of making buttercream, but they would probably be more expensive for most bakers and less stable, meaning they would not withstand sitting on a table waiting on the guest for an extended length of time.

There is Italian Buttercream made with simple syrup and eggs whites,  and the usual ingredient, cooked of course.

French Buttercream made with egg yolks, whole eggs and the usual, also cooked of course.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream, again cooked and makde with egg whites.

German Buttercream made with pastry cream, confectioners’ sugar and butter, but not cooked!

Last but not least, Cream Cheese Buttercream also not cooked.

With all these options why on earth would anyone ever want to us vegetable shortening in their buttercream frosting, have you ever tasted the stuff?