Vegetable Shortening or a Substitute? It’s Best to Stick With the Real Thing

Question: Can margarine or oil be substituted in recipes calling for vegetable shortening?

Answer: “Joy of Cooking” by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker (Bobbs-Merrill: $16.95, 1986) says to substitute butter or margarine for solid shortening, measure for measure, since the water in the butter or margarine compensates for the air in the shortening. The authors recommend against substituting oil for shortening in cake recipes and advise using oil in baking only when specifically called for in the recipe.

Q: A good many cookie and dessert recipes call for ground chocolate wafers. I have been unable to find them. Are they still available?

A: Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers are still widely available, but some supermarkets stock them with the ice cream toppings rather than the cookies. The manufacturer tells us they can be found at Alpha Beta Co., Gelson’s Markets, Lucky Stores Inc., The Pantry Inc., Safeway Stores Inc., Stater Bros. Inc. and Vons Grocery Co. stores.

Q: Recently, I made an eggnog cake that was delicious. However, when I went to fill and frost it, the top was moist and sticky. This caused it to be a bit gummy when filled. I have had the same thing happen to other cakes from time to time, even though they test done and are not wrapped until absolutely cool. What causes this?

A: Too much sugar causes a sticky top or crust, according to Jean Anderson and Elaine Hanna in “The New Doubleday Cookbook” (Doubleday: $16.95, 1985). They also discuss other things that go wrong with cakes, including: a collapsed center, which they say is caused by too much sugar or shortening, too little baking powder or underbaking; uneven browning, which is likely the fault of crowding the oven rack, using dark pans or baking at too high a temperature; uneven texture, which is caused by undermixing; and a cracked or uneven top, which is the result of too much flour or too hot an oven.

Q: What is buttermilk baking mix? Two of us have looked at half a dozen supermarkets and cannot find it.

A: Buttermilk baking mix is the generic name for Bisquick.

In a response to the March 26 You Asked About . . . column regarding keeping bottom pie crusts from being soggy, B. Thomason of Richmond, Va., suggests: “Place the pie in an old-fashioned iron skillet while it bakes. The crust will always be brown and crispy.”