Can a baker give me some insight into my cake experience just now?

[Clarissa]

I'm baking a chocolate cake I've made many times. It's oil and cocoa based. This time, because one of the people who'll be eating it has sugar issues (borderline diabetic but does eat sugar sometimes), I substituted agave for half the sugar. I'd put the wet ingredients in a bowl and got interrupted. When I went back later to mix it, there were some yellow lumps. Yolk colored, but pretty rubbery. It's as if there was some chemical reaction that made these little rubbery bits. I put it through a strainer before folding it into the dry ingredients, but can't figure out what happened. I also want to make sure it's nothing wrong that would make it bad to eat, but could find nothing online about this.

Any idea why this happened? And, if so, is it okay to serve? The eggs, by the way, were quite fresh, so it's not that. The wet ingredients sat out for less than an hour and it's not terribly hot in my kitchen.

[Clarissa]

Hey -- thanks to everyone for your replies. Sounds like it might not be a great cake, but it won't make us sick. So I'm going to sneak a tiny taste before icing it to see if it's okay to eat, texture-wise.

I appreciate the responses. If anyone sees this and wants to warn me of any safety issues, please do. For the time being, I'm planning on serving it. Hopefully the icing will cover some sins.

[Clarissa]

Update: Tasted a bit from the bottom. Not bad at all. A tiny bit sweeter than I like, but texture is fine. Hopefully I won't start projectile vomiting now. J/K. As the other person said, I killed off the salmonella.

This is what I get for trying to be a little healthier. Feh. From now on, I will embrace sugar and white flour and eggs.

[happybaker]

"From now on, I will embrace sugar and white flour and eggs."

You'll feel better tomorrow, I promise.

(I'm always grumpy after cooking mishaps. Ask my husband how cheery I was after having to throw out an entire batch of merlot jelly!)

Hope your gathering is great!

[Clarissa]

Thanks so much! I was a lot less grumpy after I decided to serve the cake to my family instead of throwing it out. But I don't often tinker with things, and of course Rose Levy Beranbaum's book taught me, many years ago, that this chemistry thing needs to be respected. So I disrespected the chemistry, and the chemistry gods punished me.

Merlot jelly sounds amazing. Sorry you had to toss it.

[goodhealthgourmet]

A tiny bit sweeter than I like
~~~~~~~
you know, i was so focused on your yolk problem that i didn't think to address your agave/sugar swap. how much agave for how much sugar? agave is sweeter than sugar, so if you're gong to use it (which i never recommend anymore), you should always use at least 25% less agave than you would sugar. (depending on how much agave is in there you might also need to tweak the other liquid amounts and lower the oven temp slightly. just FYI :). )

[Clarissa]

I used exactly 25% less agave than sugar. But I used a bit of applesauce for some of the oil (I know, over-tinkering) and maybe that had some natural sweetness. Or maybe, as I get older, I'm more sensitive to things being overly sweet? Although I do love sugar so very much....

I should have lowered the oven temp, but didn't. Luckily checked the cake a lot so it didn't get over-baked. That said, I should have been more on top of the whole thing as I was making it. If I had it to do again, I would have only done as advised, and changed one thing and not several. Even after many years of baking, I'm an amateur who needs to be careful about messing around too much with things.

Thanks so much for your advice. Next time I do this I'm going to do what you said. I haven't given up on agave, but I am going to try to be more on top of the whole thing.

[maxie]

Sugar would coagulate the yolks if left to sit for an hour. I'm not sure about agave, as it is more liquid. Was the remaining half of the sugar in there too? There is no reason it would be unsafe to eat , but if it is not too late, I might add an extra yolk. The texture may be slightly off.

[Clarissa]

That's it. The sugar coagulated the yolks. Yes, the remaining half of the sugar was in there. Too late to add the yolk, but I'll taste a tiny bit from the bottom and see if it's okay for everyone to eat. Not much yolk wound up in the strainer -- maybe 1/3 of one of the three, or even less.

[happybaker]

I would not serve it.

And on a side note, I try to do just one substitution per recipe, especially baking. If I'm tweaking the sugar, I'll keep all the fats. If I'm tweaking the fats - I'll keep the sugar as is.

You can bake the cake again and use the splenda baking mix (that measures like sugar). Or bake using organic sugar (evaporated cane juice) and white whole wheat flour - it will hit the blood sugar slower with those ingredients then with white flour white sugar.

Or make a really lovely granita - you could sweeten coffee with some of the agave, freeze it, flake it and then top with some whipped cream (You can even get fat free whipped cream if you are willing to work with a spray can : )

[Clarissa]

So you don't think it's safe to eat, or you just don't think it'll have a good consistency? Because for this crowd, if it's not a safety issue, it'll be fine. But if it's a safety issue, I'll toss it.

You're right. I did too much tweaking.

[chefj]

It is safe to eat.
Even if the remote possibility that your Eggs were infected with Salmonella it will be destroyed in the baking.

[Clarissa]

Thanks! So glad I don't have to make another one.

[happybaker]

Texture issue : )

[Clarissa]

Yeah, I tasted a bit. Not bad but not the best texture. Next time, I'll do better.

[ipsedixit]

What was in the "wet" ingredients other than agave nectar and yolks?

[Clarissa]

Whole eggs, vegetable oil, some applesauce, vanilla.

[goodhealthgourmet]

hmm, is the applesauce completely smooth? i'm wondering if it could have been bits of apple stained by the vanilla...

[Clarissa]

The applesauce wasn't totally smooth. Just touched one of the lumps and it reminded me of when I've cooked yolks to bring them to 160 or whatever. Like they got partially cooked. There are very few of the lumps and I strained them out, but it is curious. Maybe I should toss it. Don't want to make anybody sick.

[ipsedixit]

Sounds like the yolks curdled. Most likely from the acid in the applesauce probably.

It's safe to eat, but probably won't work in whatever cake recipe you were going to use.

[Clarissa]

Bummer. Thanks a lot. I may taste it from the bottom and see if it's ruined, since I did strain it. If it won't make everyone sick I may still ice and at least serve to my immediate family. They're not so choosy.

[goodhealthgourmet]

it sounds like something "cooked" or seized the egg yolks, and the agave wouldn't have done that. my best guess is that there was residue left in the bowl from the last time you used it, and that caused some sort of reaction. i can't imagine it would be unsafe to serve, but the texture/moisture level of the finished cake might be a teeny bit off if you strained out some of the yolk.

[Clarissa]

Very little was left in the strainer. Apparently it wasn't all the yolk that did this. And the bowl and beater were very clean -- I hadn't used them in a month or two, and they were washed before that.