Baker’s Chocolate

A brand presently owned by Kraft Foods and stocked in most major U.S. supermarkets, encompassing unsweetened (100% cacao), bittersweet (67% cacao), semi-sweet (54% cacao), German’s sweet (48% cacao) and white (no cacao solids; level of cocoa butter not available) chocolates. They also sell bags of chocolate chunks and dipping chocolate in white, milk and dark flavors that are packaged to go straight into the microwave. Outside of the chocolate realm, they also package sweetened coconut flakes.

Bakepedia Tips

Baker’s Chocolate began as a small company in 1780 as the market for chocolate was growing within the colonies here in the U.S. Baker was a family name. The company was kept in the family until 1852, then continued with the same name thereafter. The young lady named “La Belle Chocolatiere” that still appears on packages is a representation of the original painting that hangs in the Dresden Gallery in Germany. La Belle Chocolatiere has graced the Baker’s Chocolate package since 1877, making her the oldest product trademark in America. Her story dates back to 1745 when Prince Dietrichstein, an Austrian nobleman, went to a chocolate shop to try the new drink everyone was talking about – hot chocolate. His waitress was Anna Baltauf and the prince was so taken by the young lady that he soon asked her to marry him, making her a princess. Prince Dietrichstein commissioned a portrait of his wife by the famous Swiss painter Jean Etienne Liotard as a wedding gift. The artist suggested that she pose in her chocolate server’s costume, commemorating what brought them together. Some time prior to 1883, when the image was registered as a U.S. trademark, Henry L. Pierce, then president of Walter Baker & Company, saw the painting and decided it would be the perfect image for his packaged  chocolate.

butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)

A chemical additive used in the baking industry to retard rancidity in baked goods.

butterteig [boot-er t-eye-k] noun

German for “butter dough,” referring to puff pastry.

butter tart [buht-er tahrt] noun

A pastry crust filled with a rich concoction of sugar, butter and eggs. Sometimes nuts or raisins are added, but purists would scoff. The butter tart is associated with the English-speaking regions of Canada. The exact origin is unclear but it seems to date to the early 1900s.

butter sponge [buht-er spuhnj] noun

A sponge cake with the addition of extra butter, making it moist and flexible. Butter sponge is often used in the construction of tortes.

butterscotch [buht-er skoch] adjective noun

A term that is often used interchangeably with toffee, but is a flavor as well as an actual candy. It is made by combining brown sugar and butter and can be found in blondies, cakes, cookies and many other desserts, including butterscotch pudding. The candy itself is a hard candy that hails from Scotland and dates back to the 18th century. Butterscotch chips, which can be found near the chocolate chips in the supermarket, bear little resemblance to the real thing. It is also an artificial flavor used in the candy and liqueur industry, commonly colored in clear yellow/amber. Try our ButterScotch Sauce.

butter horns [buht-er hawrnz] noun

There are several baked goods that go by this name. One is a butter-rich pastry wound around a metal mold to produce a horn shaped dessert, often served filled with whipped cream. There are also butter horn cookies as well as Danish dough-style pastries with this name. There are specific Hungarian recipes called butter horns as well that are comprised of a butter-rich yeast dough.

buttermilk [buht-er milk] noun

The milky liquid left over after butter has been made fresh. Buttermilk you buy in the supermarket, however, is created by adding bacteria cultures to fat-free or low-fat milk.

Bakepedia Tips

Buttermilk is thicker than regular milk products, with a creamy mouthfeel and a slightly tangy flavor due to the light fermentation that occurs after the addition of the cultures. If you have never tasted this ingredient, think of it as a very thin, liquidy yogurt, but know that it is truly unique unto itself. Buttermilk is acidic, so it cannot be substituted for regular milk in baking without adjusting other components, such as leaveners.

buttercrunch [buht-er kruhnch] noun

A candy made from a hard, caramelized sugar center rich with butter (the buttercrunch part) enrobed with chocolate, usually milk or dark, and coated with chopped almonds (although other nuts can be used). Our Almond Buttercrunch Toffee is made with brown sugar and coated in dark chocolate and almonds, as seen in photo above.

buttercream [buht-er kreem] noun

A type of frosting, typically used on cakes, although it can be used on cupcakes or as a filling for some cookies. It is often used incorrectly as a catch-all term for frosting, many times referring to frosting recipes that replace butter with vegetable shortening, which is about as far from butter in flavor and texture as you can get. True buttercream will contain butter, but the amount will vary from one frosting to another. For instance, confectioners’ sugar frostings have very little butter, while Italian meringue buttercream contains so much butter that it hardens when chilled.

Bakepedia Tips

Confectioners’ sugar-based frostings are very easy to make, but do not be deterred from trying something a bit more challenging like the Italian meringue. It is silky smooth rather than gritty, and is sophisticated and endlessly variable. Also see French, Swiss meringue and Italian meringue buttercream.

butter cake [buht-er keyk] noun

Cake that is fairly rich in butter, such as the classic yellow layer cakes so popular in American baking. Butter cakes such as these are most likely derived from the even more butter-rich pound cakes, which pre-date them. With the advent of baking powder and other chemical leavening agents in the 19th century, pound-cake formulas were lightened and began their shift to the cakes we refer to as “butter cakes.”

butter [buht-er] noun

A solid dairy fat to use in dessert making, made from many different dairy sources (sheep, goat, yak) – but we are primarily concerned with butter made from cow’s milk and cream. This is a churned product that begins with sweet milk/cream or milk/cream that is slightly cultured. In the U.S., the butterfat content must be at least 80%, with most coming in between 80% and 82%.

Bakepedia Tips

The Bakepedia test kitchen uses Land O’ Lakes for testing our recipes. There are high-fat versions available (such as Plugra) that contain as much as 86% butterfat. If you use a high-fat butter in a recipe that was developed with a lower, standard-fat variety, the recipe might not work. The rest of butter’s composition is made up of water, milk fat and sometimes salt, which is added to commercial products as a preservative; it also alters the flavor.

Most baking recipes recommend sweet (that is, uncultured) unsalted butter, but always use what is called for. If the recipe just says “butter,” assume unsalted. Do not substitute whipped  for regular in recipes. It has air whipped in and will greatly affect the recipe ratios. Margarine, which is a hydrogenated oil product, is used as a substitution for butter by many bakers. In our opinion, it is not an even trade, neither in nutrition nor in reference to texture or flavor. Results will vary greatly.

burnt sugar [burnt shoog-er] adjective noun

This term is used to describe a flavor as well as an actual item. When you melt sugar beyond the caramelization point, it can blacken and burn, in which case it would be the literal version of the phrase. Burnt sugar is also called black jack in the baking industry. When this term is referred to as a flavor, the reference is to a deep, caramelized flavor, not an actual burnt flavor. To confuse things further, simple caramelized sugar is sometimes referred to as burnt sugar. Technically, caramelized sugar will register between 338˚ and 380˚ F, while truly burnt sugar is defined as 410˚ F or higher. The temperature is so high that the sugar breaks down to pure carbon at this point.

burnt cream [burnt kreem] noun

Also crème brulée. Thought to have been popularized in the late 19th century in Cambridge, England, where a burnt cream dessert was served at Trinity College. According to the school’s website, this does not mean that crème brûlée was invented at the college, although the desserts are quite similar. Instructions for cooking Cambridge burnt cream, or even just Trinity cream appears in a number of cookbooks. The dessert is still served at the school. Note that the term was in use prior to the school’s involvement, as long ago as the beginning of the 18th century.

Bundt pan [bun t, boon t pan] noun

A decorative, ridged ring pan for baking cakes, somewhat similar to a gugelhupf pan. The term Bundt cake refers to any cake that is made in such a pan, but usually connotes a simple snack or tea cake sometimes finished with a glaze. The original ring pans were common in Germany and Austria, the term “bundt” derived from the German “bundkuchen,” literally meaning “gathering cake.” Bundt actually means “gathering of people,” thus it might have been used because the cake batter gathers around the center ring or perhaps because one of these baked beauties assures a gathering of people around the table to eat it! The old-world pans were often ceramic or iron and heavy. In 1950, H. David Dalquist, the founder of Nordicware, trademarked an aluminum design that is still popular today (see image). The design really took off in 1966 when the famous Pillsbury Bake-Off contests’ second-place winner used the pan for her Tunnel of Fudge Cake.

Bakepedia Tips

Most recipes using the Bundt pan call for a 12-cup-size pan. Nonstick versions are great, as you want the cake to unmold with all of the distinct ridges intact and pristine. At the very least, the pan should be well-prepped with butter (and possibly dusted with flour as well). Always follow the recipe’s instructions.

Buddha’s hand [boo-duh z hand] noun

Image courtesy of Melissa’s

An odd-looking citrus fruit related to the lemon and citron with particularly fragrant zest. In many parts of Asia, it is a symbol of happiness, longevity, and good fortune and is a traditional temple offering and New Year’s gift. Indigenous to the lower Himalayas, Buddha’s hand is known as “fo-shou” in China and “bushukan” in Japan. This unusual fruit has a clouded history. Scholars cannot agree whether Buddhist monks carried it from India to China around the 4th century A.D. or if it developed naturally in the Yangtze Valley from another citron variety.

Bakepedia Tips

You can enjoy Buddha’s hand as a seasonal ornamental fruit or in any recipe that calls for lemon zest. Choose fruit that are firm and plump, avoiding any blemishes or moldy spots. Store at cool room temperatures for up to two weeks or refrigerate for up to four weeks.

buckwheat flour [buhk-hweet, -weet flouuhr, flou-er]  noun

Fagopyrum esculentum. A plant cultivated for its grain-like seeds that is ground into fine flour and is ideal for those with wheat sensitivities. It is not wheat at all. Russia and China are top producers of buckwheat flour, but it was a very common U.S. crop in the 18th and 19th centuries as well, although production declined in the 20th century due to the increased production of wheat and maize.

buckle [buhk–uhl] noun

A traditional American dessert comprised of yellow cake batter poured into a pan with fruit, sweetened or not, arranged on top or folded into the batter. While baking, the batter rises up between the fruit, creating a snack cake with fruit on top as well as in pockets throughout the cake. Sometimes a topping is added, with a dusting of crunchy sugar, streusel or nuts, but at its heart it is a very simple cake. Try our Nectarine Raspberry Buckle.