help, what am I doing wrong (baking, best, chocolate, egg)
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which my kids LOVE. I have about a 50% success rate. Half the time, the filling comes out soup. Are the 2 egg yolks insufficient? Am I maybe not heating it adequately?
Dunno. Any suggestions? Son wants it with his birthday celebration.
Assuming you separated your egg yolks and discarded the white, it could be you didn't let the egg/milk mixture thicken as much as it should have before removing from the heat (probably 20 minutes or so it says one recipe I found). I did a search and on another recipe site with the identical recipe, another person had trouble with this being runny. Also make sure it doesn't boil.
That recipe seems a bit sketchy. I don't see anything that counts as a real "set up" type thickener. I think they are relying on the melted chocolate to re-thicken after cooling. Are you allowing it to cool long enough?
If you have any on hand, add a teaspoon or so of unfavored gelatin to help set the filling.
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I couldn't open the recipe, but here is one explanation I found online.
Won't thicken: Egg yolks have a starch digesting enzyme called alpha-amylase. In order for a successful gelling of a starch in the recipe, the enzyme has to be killed by cooking the custard almost to boiling (a little less than 212 degrees F). Otherwise the left-over enzymes digest all of the nice firm starch gel and your custard is nothing but liquid. (All other custard cooking methods without starch can curdle if cooked beyond 185 degrees.)
An undercooked custard may initially appear thick but will slowly turn to soup as the amylase enzyme attacks the starch and breaks the custard down, usually as it sits under refrigeration. A good guideline is to cook for 1 to 2 minutes after bubbles appear in the custard, stirring constantly.
SARAH SAYS: You can reboil refrigerated custard if you discover it hasn’t gelled.
This is essentially a custard-based ganache. The proportions are such that I don’t see how it could ever become “soup.” The trick with any custard is heating the egg yolks long enough to thicken but not scramble. It should “coat a wooden spoon.” See this video: Coating the Back of a Spoon - YouTube
Thank you, helpful people! It is already starting to set up nicely. My son is going to be overjoyed. And I know more about custard than I did this morning. I appreciate your time.
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I had an unsuccessful Crème Brule once, so if I try it again I'll be mindful of this advice also.
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