Bakers Chocolate Bar Size - fail

[Janet H]

Another "stick it to the consumer" moment. So...

Today I decided to bake my very favorite marble cake - my grandmothers recipe. I've been making it for many years from her old recipe card; you know the one.. it has grease stains and floury thumbprints and styley old script HANDwriting. No fake ingredients anywhere and includes this:

2 squares of Bakers unsweetened chocolate, gently melted.

I sent hubby to the store to buy it. He comes home and I pick up the box - it has a new look and a new feel. It weighs half as much. More horrifyingly, there is one bar of chocolate with snap lines - no wrapped squares.

After some research and head scratching, I learned that I needed 8 of the little chocolate squares.

Not at all intuitive. The old blocks had a snap line but each segment weighed 1/2 oz. These new segments weigh 1/4 oz each.

I googled up the Kraft Foods site and was bummed to see that they have no conversion help leaving bakers to fend for themselves and guess. I also learned that despite a price reduction (according to corp doublespeak) my store still sells the 4 oz box for about the same price as the old 8 oz box.

Fail.

 

[taxlady]

That really sucks. Too bad they didn't give you a chart for the conversion. Wait, then it would be easy to figure out that you were getting ripped off.

 

[Dawgluver]

That really sucks. Too bad they didn't give you a chart for the conversion. Wait, then it would be easy to figure out that you were getting ripped off.

+1

 

[Janet H]

That really sucks. Too bad they didn't give you a chart for the conversion. Wait, then it would be easy to figure out that you were getting ripped off.

Well since they haven't, I guess we can.. here's a visual aid..






New Rules: 4 segments = 1 OZ
Old Rules: 2 segments = 1 OZ

New Rules: 1 Box = 4 OZ
Old Rules: 1 Box = 8 OZ

Boo, hiss.

 

[Kylie1969]

Awww that is no good at all

 

[Aunt Bea]

Things like that are very frustrating and annoying.

How did the cake turn out?

I really enjoy a chocolate marble loaf or an old fashioned marble spice cake!

 

[bakechef]

Well since they haven't, I guess we can.. here's a visual aid..


View attachment 18490

View attachment 18491

New Rules: 4 segments = 1 OZ
Old Rules: 2 segments = 1 OZ

New Rules: 1 Box = 4 OZ
Old Rules: 1 Box = 8 OZ

Boo, hiss.

So they think giving the same amount of segments will fool the consumer that they are getting the same amount?

Thing is, the only people buying these are people who bake and are the MOST likely to notice the change.

HUGE FAIL.

The last box that I bought was 8 oz back in april. The German's brand was 4 oz. So I bought the semisweet at 8 oz for the same price as the 4, because what they don't tell you is that the German's brand and the semi-sweet are more alike than different and can be used interchangeably in recipes. But they knew that someone would likely buy the German's if that's the cake that they are making.

 

[Oldvine]

Apparently no one at the chocolate factory uses Grandma's recipes. Today's "engineering" is amazing isn't it? It's all about the dollar, not the product.

 

[Janet H]

How did the cake turn out?

Unknown. This cake is always better after is rests for a day and so I've been staring at it longingly. Tonight we'll get it gussied up with a dusting of powdered sugar and then serve with fresh blackberries and a dollop of whipped cream.

Grandma O's Marble Cake:

Oven 350 | Pan prep: Butter and flour a tube pan

Ingredients:

2 C Sugar
4 eggs, separated
1 C butter
3 tsp vanilla
3 T plain yogurt (use the full fat, greek variety)

1 C milk @ room temp

3 C flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
dash of nutmeg
rind from one lemon, grated

2 squares Bakers unsweetened chocolate (2 oz), gently melted​

Assembly:

1. Cream together egg yolks, sugar, butter. Add vanilla and yogurt and cream again.
2. Whip egg whites until stiff
3. Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
4. Add dry ingredients and milk to butter mixture alternating, by thirds and mix until smooth and blended but do not over mix.
5. Fold in egg whites by thirds.
6. Mix 1/3 of cake batter into melted chocolate. Make sure your pan is sufficiently cooled to not cook cake batter.
7. Add lemon peel to remaining 2/3 cake batter.

Put 1/2 of vanilla batter in bottom of tube pan
Add all chocolate batter and then top with remaining vanilla batter.
Gently drag a dinner knife through the batter, swirling a little as you go to make the marble interesting. DO NOT GO OVERBOARD. A little chaos is interesting. (life parable alert).

Bake for about 55 minutes, until cake tester comes out clean. Let cake rest for at least 12 hours before eating.

Dust with powdered sugar, serve with whipped cream.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Janet,

You have an iron will if you can wait for that pound cake to ripen, the only way I can do it is to bake another treat to eat while I'm waiting!

I really like the addition of a little lemon and nutmeg to the basic batter. It reminds me of the flavor combination used in some of the old bakeries. The Italian bakeries in my area used an extract called Fiori di Sicilia, flowers of Sicily, it combines vanilla and citrus flavors.

Next time I fall off the bakery wagon I will give your recipe a try, thanks for posting it!

B