[HPFGU-OTChatter] Cocoa-Cola Cake

[Jen Faulkner]

On Mon, 5 Mar 2001 pengolodh_sc at yahoo.no wrote:

> This recipe was passed on to me by an Internet acquaintance.  I have
> not had the opportunity to try it myself, due to a number of problems
> with converting the recipe into Norwegian standard.  Among other
> things I am in doubt as to whter I can replace buttermilk with
> regular sour-milk, as I understood the descriptions of buttermilk to
> be a bit different from  sourmilk. 

Buttermilk is different from sour milk, and it is called for in recipes
that would've formerly used sour milk, because pasteurized milk won't
sour naturally (it just spoils).  You can substitute buttermilk for sour
milk -- I'm pretty sure you can substitute the other way also.

> ::Adopts air of insufferable superiority::  Honestly; why can't
> you just adopt the metric system like *sivilized* countries do?! 

'Cause then they'd have to abandon one of the basics of elementary
school math? *g* How many cups in a pint?  How many pints in a quart?  
How many quarts in a gallon?  *shudders at the recollection* I was
really hopeless at it too.  (My grades in math *vastly* improved when we
began to learn real math rather than arithmetic.  I was also much better
at algebra and calculus than geometry and trigonometry.)  I still
haven't the faintest idea how some of the conversions work -- how many
teaspoons in a tablespoon, for instance.  So they teach the nice, easy
metric system just to remind you of what might've been...  but I *still*
wouldn't want to switch (call my attitude parochial, if you must *g*),
because while I understand them abstractly, I have no real world sense
of metric measures.  I could pour, say, a half cup of milk without a
measuring cup, because I *know* how much it is, but 125 mL has no
'meaning' to me...  I suspect most of us Americans feel that way, and
therefore don't want to change, and it doesn't seem that anyone's going
to make us...

> Also, how much is in a "box" of powdered sugar?  Is it common in USA
> to use recipes with measurments in boxes and sticks rather than
> ounzes and cups?

I've never actually seen a call for a box of powdered sugar before; I
wasn't even aware that they were always the same size.  The box in my
cabinet has 3 3/4 cups.  It is common, however, to use measurements like
that, particularly in recipes that aren't in cookbooks intended for a
wide audience.  Butter and margarine are often measured in sticks, since
that's the way most of us would get them from the store.  But you'll
also see them measured in cups.  I can't recall that I've *ever* seen a
recipe that called for something in ounces, without giving an
alternative of how to measure it (ie. '12 oz (1 package) of chips')...  
I'd not know how to measure that, since it's a weight measure...  But
it's definitely not uncommon for recipes to call for a certain size
package (box) of something...

The cake sounds quite interesting....

--jen :)

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