Recipe help please - how much is a dash?

muddywhitechicken

Hello

I'm baking a fruitcake and the recipe calls for a dash of vanilla extract and a dash of brandy. Google tells me that a dash is 1/8 teaspoon but that doesn't seem enough. I'm thinking 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of brandy - what do you think?

Thanks,
MWC

bouicca21

A dash is smaller than a glug but bigger than a pinch.

jackyann

You can think of a dash as upending the bottle over the bowl and immediately righting it again.
However, one member of our household gets so distressed by this inaccuracy, that some years ago Santa brought him a gift of " pinch, dash and smidgeon " spoons, which he uses most earnestly.
From these I can confirm that a dash, 0.6ml, is actually more than a pinch (0.4ml)

suki1964

Thats plenty enough for extract, thats pretty powerful and if you are adding brandy, Im assuming the final dish isn't supposed to have an overpowering taste of vanilla

A dash of brandy , well its subjective really. My plug would be a pretty hefty pour. Best use the cap as a measure. Try one and taste. You can add, but you can't remove

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

No more than half a teaspoon of vanilla or the cake will taste like you're eating something from the Body Shop circa 1993. Brandy, I'd be more generous with - 1tsp. If there was any left after 'just checking the flavour'.

muddywhitechicken

Thanks everyone

I probably should have mentioned quantities of the main ingredients as well (1.15 kg dried fruit and 300 g flour) and/or cake tin size (23 cm square). One teaspoon of vanilla wasn't overpowering (well not when I scraped the bowl afterwards!) but I'd probably use more brandy next time.

Recipe is here if anyone is interested - it was really easy to make and looked good when I got it out of the oven this morning.

jackyann wrote: »

You can think of a dash as upending the bottle over the bowl and immediately righting it again.
However, one member of our household gets so distressed by this inaccuracy, that some years ago Santa brought him a gift of " pinch, dash and smidgeon " spoons, which he uses most earnestly.
From these I can confirm that a dash, 0.6ml, is actually more than a pinch (0.4ml)

I need those spoons!!! I don't trust my palate and follow recipes exactly (much to Mr MWC's annoyance - he just throws things together and they taste amazing). That's why I love the (usually) preciseness of baking

bouicca21

Actually with vanilla, which can be overpowering, the problem is solved by using vanilla sugar. Bury a vanilla pod in a container of caster sugar, and leave it there. It will flavour the sugar so you can use it to substitute in any recipe that calls for sugar and vanilla.

buildersdaughter

Yes, I use vanilla sugar, and tend to only use vanilla extract for something very specific.However, many years ago when through odd circumstances, I acquired (separately!) a large number of vanilla pods, and some pretty awful brandy, I made my own vanilla extract by steeping the pods in the brandy and adding a bit of sugar. It lasted me about 10 years!

Google pinch, dash, smidgen spoons - there seem to be a lot, at wildly varying prices. Santa got his Lakeland, but they no longer do them.

janb5

muddywhitechicken wrote: »

Thanks everyone

I probably should have mentioned quantities of the main ingredients as well (1.15 kg dried fruit and 300 g flour) and/or cake tin size (23 cm square). One teaspoon of vanilla wasn't overpowering (well not when I scraped the bowl afterwards!) but I'd probably use more brandy next time.

Recipe is here if anyone is interested - it was really easy to make and looked good when I got it out of the oven this morning.



I need those spoons!!! I don't trust my palate and follow recipes exactly (much to Mr MWC's annoyance - he just throws things together and they taste amazing). That's why I love the (usually) preciseness of baking

Dear MWC- the recipe you posted is absolutely fab and I love it. They made a slight mistake with the conversion but otherwise it is gorgeous.

Thank you so much for posting it. xx

Spendless

jackyann wrote: »

However, one member of our household gets so distressed by this inaccuracy, that some years ago Santa brought him a gift of " pinch, dash and smidgeon " spoons, which he uses most earnestly.

Making a roast dinner with my teenage son a few years ago, I told him the measurement for something was a kn0b of butter. 'What a strange measurement' said DS 'one c0ck of butter' coming up. :rotfl:

caronc

Spendless wrote: »

Making a roast dinner with my teenage son a few years ago, I told him the measurement for something was a kn0b of butter. 'What a strange measurement' said DS 'one c0ck of butter' coming up. :rotfl:

Yes it's sent my 2 into fits of laughter before too:rotfl::rotfl:
My Mum's favourite measurements were a "dollop" and "just enough"......