Eggs in Frosting Recipes
 

I was about to make some tri-level brownies from a Pillsbury cookbook I
have from the '80s, when I noticed that there's a whole egg in the
(uncooked) frosting recipe.

So, I decided I'd go with the brownie recipe and substitute a frosting
recipe from my Hershey 1934 Cookbook. Seems virtually every frosting
recipe there has either a whole egg, egg whites, or egg yokes in the
recipe....and they're all uncooked frostings.

I guess I have two questions:

1. Is it really all that dangerous to use raw eggs in the frosting?

2. Is there some sort of across-the-board substitution to make for the
egg, e.g., replace the whole egg or yoke or white with perhaps some sort
of liquid?

It just seems odd that people were eating raw eggs for millennia, and
all of a sudden they're considered a health hazard. If the brownies
were for my own consumption I'd probably go with the original recipe,
but they're for church tomorrow night and I sure don't want to risk
ruining my reputation as the best baker around, nor do I want anyone to
become ill on my account!

Thanks!

> wrote in message
...
> I was about to make some tri-level brownies from a Pillsbury cookbook I
> have from the '80s, when I noticed that there's a whole egg in the
> (uncooked) frosting recipe.
>
> So, I decided I'd go with the brownie recipe and substitute a frosting
> recipe from my Hershey 1934 Cookbook. Seems virtually every frosting
> recipe there has either a whole egg, egg whites, or egg yokes in the
> recipe....and they're all uncooked frostings.
>
> I guess I have two questions:
>
> 1. Is it really all that dangerous to use raw eggs in the frosting?
>
> 2. Is there some sort of across-the-board substitution to make for the
> egg, e.g., replace the whole egg or yoke or white with perhaps some sort
> of liquid?
>
> It just seems odd that people were eating raw eggs for millennia, and
> all of a sudden they're considered a health hazard. If the brownies
> were for my own consumption I'd probably go with the original recipe,
> but they're for church tomorrow night and I sure don't want to risk
> ruining my reputation as the best baker around, nor do I want anyone to
> become ill on my account!
>
> Thanks!
>

The dangers from raw eggs are way overblown but they do exist. You can buy
pasteurized eggs to play it safe, or use the egg substitutes like egg
beaters.


--
Peter Aitken

Remove the crap from my email address before using.

> wrote in message
...
>I was about to make some tri-level brownies from a Pillsbury cookbook I
> have from the '80s, when I noticed that there's a whole egg in the
> (uncooked) frosting recipe.
>
> So, I decided I'd go with the brownie recipe and substitute a frosting
> recipe from my Hershey 1934 Cookbook. Seems virtually every frosting
> recipe there has either a whole egg, egg whites, or egg yokes in the
> recipe....and they're all uncooked frostings.
>
> I guess I have two questions:
>
> 1. Is it really all that dangerous to use raw eggs in the frosting?
>
> 2. Is there some sort of across-the-board substitution to make for the
> egg, e.g., replace the whole egg or yoke or white with perhaps some sort
> of liquid?
>
> It just seems odd that people were eating raw eggs for millennia, and
> all of a sudden they're considered a health hazard. If the brownies
> were for my own consumption I'd probably go with the original recipe,
> but they're for church tomorrow night and I sure don't want to risk
> ruining my reputation as the best baker around, nor do I want anyone to
> become ill on my account!
>
> Thanks!
>
>

Could you please post the recipe? I'm curious to know if it perhaps a
buttercream, in which the eggs would not be cooked with applied heat, but
instead by the incorporation of a hot syrup.

-Adam S.

> wrote in message
...
> I was about to make some tri-level brownies from a Pillsbury cookbook I
> have from the '80s, when I noticed that there's a whole egg in the
> (uncooked) frosting recipe.
>
> So, I decided I'd go with the brownie recipe and substitute a frosting
> recipe from my Hershey 1934 Cookbook. Seems virtually every frosting
> recipe there has either a whole egg, egg whites, or egg yokes in the
> recipe....and they're all uncooked frostings.
>
> I guess I have two questions:
>
> 1. Is it really all that dangerous to use raw eggs in the frosting?
>
> 2. Is there some sort of across-the-board substitution to make for the
> egg, e.g., replace the whole egg or yoke or white with perhaps some sort
> of liquid?
>
> It just seems odd that people were eating raw eggs for millennia, and
> all of a sudden they're considered a health hazard. If the brownies
> were for my own consumption I'd probably go with the original recipe,
> but they're for church tomorrow night and I sure don't want to risk
> ruining my reputation as the best baker around, nor do I want anyone to
> become ill on my account!
>
> Thanks!
>
>

I would *not* recommend using raw eggs if you're cooking for someone else,
particularly the elderly or young. Beyond that, you might want to make sure
the eggs are fresh (do you have your own chickens? ;), and that you crack
them so as not to allow the outisde of the shell contaminate the inside.

I think that the mass farm production methods have made eggs less healthy
today.

-T

> >
> > I guess I have two questions:
> >
> > 1. Is it really all that dangerous to use raw eggs in the frosting?
> >
> > 2. Is there some sort of across-the-board substitution to make for the
> > egg, e.g., replace the whole egg or yoke or white with perhaps some sort
> > of liquid?

> I would *not* recommend using raw eggs if you're cooking for someone else,
> particularly the elderly or young. Beyond that, you might want to make sure
> the eggs are fresh (do you have your own chickens? ;), and that you crack
> them so as not to allow the outisde of the shell contaminate the inside.

Salmonella contaminates the egg INSIDE and outside the shell - being
careful with the shell won't matter if the egg is contaminated.
>
> I think that the mass farm production methods have made eggs less healthy
> today.

True. During the age your cookbook was printed, the huge factory
farms weren't as ubiquitous as they are today, and contamination
wasn't as much of an issue.

I have a torte recipe that calls for multi-layers of cake interspersed
with layers of icing that include a raw egg yolk - I've never worried
about the eggs with my family, but I do refrigerate the leftovers, as
you should, if you use raw egg.

Instead of raw egg white, you could use egg white powder, readily
available where baking supplies are sold, and to eliminate the
possibility of contamination, you could use pasteurized eggs,
available in supermarkets and clearly marked, or a yolk substitute.
With a liquid product, I'd still refrigerate the leftovers.

N.
> -T

at Wed, 13 Oct 2004 00:13:36 GMT in <14862-416C7330-487@storefull-
3113.bay.webtv.net>, wrote :

>I was about to make some tri-level brownies from a Pillsbury cookbook I
>have from the '80s, when I noticed that there's a whole egg in the
>(uncooked) frosting recipe.
>
>So, I decided I'd go with the brownie recipe and substitute a frosting
>recipe from my Hershey 1934 Cookbook. Seems virtually every frosting
>recipe there has either a whole egg, egg whites, or egg yokes in the
>recipe....and they're all uncooked frostings.
>
>I guess I have two questions:
>
>1. Is it really all that dangerous to use raw eggs in the frosting?

Not if you use eggs from a reliable source, that doesn't come from a
battery-hen megafarm. So cheap, no-name eggs, and the more standard types
in supermarkets, have a *slight* chance of being unsafe. But eggs from a
local small farm or other reasonably trustworthy source are almost always
safe.

>>2. Is there some sort of across-the-board substitution to make for the
>egg, e.g., replace the whole egg or yoke or white with perhaps some sort
>of liquid?

Not really, but to make a chocolate frosting (such as one would use for
brownies) a safe, and elegant, alternative is available : ganache frosting.
You can make either firm ganache or soft ganache. The idea is, either chop
up very finely some high-quality chocolate, or better still, grate it with
a box grater (hold the chocolate with a paper towel folded up). Then, scald
a certain proportion of cream, immediately pour the scalded cream over the
chocolate, and fold until you get a uniform, silky-brown mixture. Allow to
cool until it just starts to solidify. Then you can either whip it up to
any desired volume, or simply pour it over the brownies.

Firm ganache will be quite stiff - the consistency of unsoftened butter -
once fully cool and intensely chocolatey. For firm ganache you use 2 parts
chocolate to 1 part cream. Thus for 8 oz. chocolate, you'd use 1/2 cup
cream.

Soft ganache is much softer, like peanut butter, and has a creamy taste as
well as texture. It's also great for fillings, btw. There you use 1 part
chocolate to 1 part cream. If you whip it for a while, it will become very
airy and mousselike, unlike firm ganache which gains some volume but never
becomes truly light.

>It just seems odd that people were eating raw eggs for millennia, and
>all of a sudden they're considered a health hazard.

That's the result of the introduction of industrial-scale farms, fast food
and other mass-production food purveyors, and an overly litigous society.
The first means that conditions on the farm may be less than ideal, so some
eggs can be contaminated. The second means that many establishments serving
food on a large scale look for the lowest food cost and aren't necessarily
picky about sources of supply. Thus they may buy from more suspect sources,
and in addition, process them in ways that themselves are suspect, allowing
contaminated eggs to enter the food being served. The third means that far
too many lawsuits arise over these kinds of incidents, making everybody
paranoid and conservative, lest they be the subjects of a multimillion-
dollar suit. So overall the recommendation is really directed at minimising
the worst abuses of the largest producers and suppliers. Shop carefully and
don't worry.

--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)

"Could you please post the recipe? I'm curious to know if it perhaps a
buttercream, in which the eggs would not be cooked with applied heat,
but instead by the incorporation of a hot syrup.
-Adam S."

Here it is. Funny, but in years of baking, I've come across fluffy
frostings made with just egg white, but honestly can't recall ever
seeing a frosting recipe that called for egg yolk before!

BTW, I ended up just scattering chocolate chips and walnut pieces atop
the double decker brownies, and they were a HUGE hit!

COCOA BUTTER ICING

2 tbs. softened butter
1 cup 4X sugar
3 tbs. Hershey's cocoa
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg yolk
light cream as needed (about 1 tbs.)

Wash the butter to remove all salt (that's where my washing butter
question in another thread came from), then cream well. Add sugar
gradually, then cocoa, then vanilla. Add the egg yolk and cream as
needed. Spread on cooled cake.

From the 1971 Revised Edition of the Hershey's 1934 Cookbook.