So now I have egg on my face, but are there any in the batter?

December 25, 2011 10:50 AM

Drunk Baking Problem! I don't know if I put eggs in this batter before putting it in the fridge. How can I tell for sure?

At some point last night during drunk Christmas Eve revels I decided to get a head start on all the baking I had to do today. I creamed the batter before realizing we were out of flour, so I put the batter in the fridge for the next day when I could run to the store.

The recipe calls for FIVE eggs, and I'm about 65% sure there are eggs in this batter. The only other ingredients mixed thus far in the batter are a 1/2 pound of butter, 1/2 cup of shortening and 3 c of sugar. The batter is thawing a bit now, but this is what it looks like. Any science-y ways of figuring out for sure if there are eggs in here?

posted by slightly sissy tea hound to food & drink (13 answers total)

Well where would you have put the shells? In the trash? In the compost?
posted by BlahLaLa at 10:52 AM on December 25, 2011 [6 favorites]

Are there eggshells in your trash or compost bin?
posted by needs more cowbell at 10:53 AM on December 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

How many eggs do you have left in the fridge or carton or whatever?

(I suppose you could also weigh the non-egg ingredients, then compare that to the weight of your batter, but that doesn't seem like the easiest or most reliable approach.)
posted by box at 10:58 AM on December 25, 2011

Five eggs in that much batter is a lot of liquid. Without them, you'd have a thick paste, with them, a more runny batter. What's the texture like?

Volume is probably the easiest way to know for sure. You have 1.5 cups of fat and 3 of sugar. Pour it into a measuring cup and see if you have significantly more than 4.5 cups. An egg is about 50ml, so five eggs is about a cup. Do you have 4.5 cups of batter or 5.5 cups?
posted by bethnull at 11:01 AM on December 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

Try heating a spoonful of it in a frying pan. If it's just butter, shortening and sugar, it'll just . If it's got eggs in it, you'll have something that looks more like greasy scrambled eggs.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 11:02 AM on December 25, 2011 [4 favorites]

Sorry, first sentence should end '...it'll just turn to liquid, then caramelise.'
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 11:03 AM on December 25, 2011

There are plenty of egg shells in the trash, but I've been baking a LOT of eggy things, plus I've made eggnog, so unless I peel through layers of garbage and piece together all the egg shells, that sort of detective work won't work. That would be my first response too, though!

I like both bethnull and bea arthur's answers, and tried the frying pan method first. At first I thought it was caramelizing and now it does sort of look like greasy eggs.

And just to clarify, I wasn't *that* drunk when I started baking - I'd been baking all day and into the night, so how many eggs cracked for which dishes has turned into a blur.
posted by slightly sissy tea hound at 11:23 AM on December 25, 2011

It caramelized into brown gunk. No eggs! Way to go, Metafilter.
posted by slightly sissy tea hound at 11:35 AM on December 25, 2011 [3 favorites]

Heh. This has happened to me while baking sober.
posted by tully_monster at 11:40 AM on December 25, 2011 [9 favorites]

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
posted by thinkpiece at 12:07 PM on December 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

My suggestion would have been to recreate the mood. Get drunk and try to remember.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 12:52 PM on December 25, 2011 [15 favorites]

Coming in late but in case it happens to someone else: I am hooked on using a baking scale because I am an easily distracted baker. You can find the weights of baking ingredients online and add it all up to see what you should have vs. what you actually have.
posted by tinamonster at 1:33 PM on December 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

Update! The science experiment worked. Results involved an amazing spice cake with five, not ten, eggs. Thanks!
posted by slightly sissy tea hound at 2:37 PM on December 26, 2011