A 4 ounce bottle of double strength Madagascar vanilla at Penzey’s is almost $30!
Wow, I don’t remember paying that much for Madagascar vanilla the last time I ordered from Penzey’s. Maybe what we have isn’t double strength. It is very good and we use it pretty sparingly.
I also prefer Guittard chocolate.
I’ve never used citrus oils in my cakes or other baking. I just use fresh juice and zest and like the brightness it adds in addition to the flavor. Is there an advantage to oils that I don’t know about? I can’t remember any of my recipes calling for it.
@Consolation I have a friend who brings that sherry cake to every celebration! She makes it in a decorative bundt pan and everyone loves it. I bought the ingredients a while back but they’re still sitting in my pantry- it really is very good…
P.S. I just went back and looked - she uses the 15.25 oz yellow cake mix and a large box (5.1oz) of instant vanilla pudding
DH will zest (esp when he makes key lime mousse), but likes the oils too.
@doschicos, I used the oils in my truffles and chocolates, often in combination with other things. The boyajian citrus oils are actually expressed from the rind of the fruit. The addition of a little lemon oil along with fresh lemon juice to a ganache made the flavor both bright and longer lasting, for example. Zest would spoil the texture, and infusing the cream with zest wouldn’t give a strong enough flavor. I did a lot of infusing, though, and also used a lot of liqueurs. It is a matter of achieving the desired flavor profile. I like a rounded profile, with a high, middle, and end, that actually meets the chocolate and works with it. Instead of being sort of the chocolate on the right hand and the additional flavor on the left hand, if you see what I mean.
Thanks, @Sdgal2 I will note that on my recipe card. Does she use the 4 eggs and the same amount of sherry and oil?
For vanilla, I use Nielsen-Massey Bourbon Madagascar Vanilla Bean Paste.
Me, too. It’s amazing!
@Consolation Thanks. I can see it making total sense for chocolate making, especially where oils would be much better than a liquid like juice.
@Consolation Yes, same amounts of oil and sherry…I went back to check and she says either size pudding box works but she usually grabs the larger one. I could only find Harvey’s Bristol Cream Sherry so hoping that’s correct! 
Also, they made this version on The Chew a while back and it looked delicious!
http://abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/honey-whiskey-cake-the-baking-barons
I haven’t read the entire thread, but wanted to share my mother’s “secret” recipe story. My mother is a great baker and is always asked to bring dessert for any family function. Last year once of my daughter’s friends (her mother and I are dear friends also) asked her mother if she might be able to get my mother’s chocolate chip and oatmeal cookie recipes to make when they were making Christmas cookies. My girlfriend wasn’t sure my mother would share, but she inquired.
When my mother told her the chocolate chip cookie recipe could be found on the back of the Nestle Toll House Morsels bag and the oatmeal cookie recipe was under the lid of the Quaker Oats Old Fashion, my girlfriend about died laughing! Never in a million years would they have imagined my mother would be baking something so simple. That said, the secret is in her pans and the sprinkle of love that goes into the mix! 
Nice story @snowball . I believe the magic is in the hands. 10 of us could use the exact same ingredients for a recipe and there could still be a difference in how each of ours turns out. The different ovens, the pans, the measurements, the timings, and the temperature of the ingredients and how they are mixed all leading to different results.
@raclut I agree with you on all the different parts of making a recipe. My children have threatened to have a cook off on a few of the recipes they have inherited from me, which were passed down to me. They want to see who can produce the “best” of each.
The one problem I have found in trying to follow a recipe to the letter is how the packaged food no longer come in the same size packages as when the recipe was given. Or, the item is not longer available. For example, a cake starting with a boxed cake mix is no longer the same size box; everything is smaller now. I have trouble trying to adjust the other ingredients to match the smaller box, so do I buy two boxes and pull what I need from the second box and trash the rest? I am a decent cook and can follow any recipe; where I fall short is knowing where to tweak a recipe. My mother can look at a recipe and know immediately that it is going to be too dry, too salty, too much liquid, etc…; I wish I had that skill.
It amazes my how I can make my tried and true and perfected recipes in someone else’s house in a different geographical location and everything is a bit different.
Things that can vary and affect results, even if recipes are identical: water quality; oven temperature; humidity; elevation.
^ DH and I used to joke how the first time making any recipe so often seemed like the best.
@Snowball, I said above that I just buy the extra box, spend that extra dollar or two, rather than twist my brain around recalculating. But that’s for my special cake (actually, wedding cake,) which is already a big batch. And things like eggs or egg whites can’t easily be fractioned.
Using different pans can make a difference. And ovens can vary.
I’ve seen my recipes go horribly wrong in strange kitchens. We used to own a Disney Vacation Club membership, and we’d typically stay in the 1 bedroom villas, and I would cook. I eventually gave up on cooking for two reasons:
- Not my oven, not my pans, dinner was always a crapshoot.
- What idiot cooks on vacation?
“And things like eggs or egg whites can’t easily be fractioned”
When making large batch recipes (like wedding cakes) the egg measure is in liquid measure not size or number of the eggs.
So 1 cup beaten egg (not 5 eggs). That way the recipe is always consistent.
Same with flour–the flour amount will be by weight not by cup measure. That way there isn’t any variation because of sifting or packing of the flour.
Sure, but not this recipe, gouf. And you’d still have issues at home fractioning eggs, with tgeir odd consistency- unlike a commercial site using nice pourable product.