# 2 For 1 Egg



## kirstens (Jul 3, 2009)

Has anyone had two egg yolks come out of one egg? Would this count as two eggs? First time this has happened and wondering if it'll affect my pound cake?


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Yes. They're fraternal twins -- just as though they were human. 

Not much. If precision measurement is important to you, and it's a "large" egg, count it as the yolk from an extra large and the white from a medium; or two medium yolks and one medium white. In other words, if your recipe calls for the standard large eggs, the twinning shouldn't change your cake enough to matter. 

BDL


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## kirstens (Jul 3, 2009)

That makes sense. Thank you boar d laze.


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## bughut (Aug 18, 2007)

We'll sometimes get a double yolk when we buy local FR eggs.

I prefer the yolk.and if i want a fried egg i put 1 in the pan and the yolk from another with it. The white goes into a poly bag and into the freezer for meringues/pavlova another day.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

When I was a kid we used to get plenty of double yolkers, as we called them. Wonderful looking at you when fried. Two yolks rather than one to dunk your bread into. Now they seem to be selected out of the eggs sold in the stores, unfortunately. Who knows why?


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## nichole (Sep 16, 2009)

Well if its 2 eggyolk then it was counted as 2. So instead of using 5 eggs. Then all you need to use is 3 more. It doesn't mean having 2 eggyolk you would count it as 1. The quantity itself proves that they are 2 of them.


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

I can get cartons of half-dozen 'double yolkers' eggs in my supermarket - not that I've ever bought them, just noticed the packaging and read the description. SOMEONE must like them if it's worth marketing them!


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Sort of, but not really. While it's true that 2 = 2, 2 medium yolks are not the same as 2 large yolks. It's all about mass -- or even volumbe -- but not number. For baking purposes, when being very stern and precise (which is seldom), I'm inclined to count a double yolk as two yolks from the next size down, or one from the next size up and adjust if necessary (also seldom). Otherwise, I count it as the "yolk of one egg," and proceed obliviously.

BDL


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

yeah, also because they are usually two smaller yolks! Unless you get a gigantic egg.


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## pua.melia409 (Oct 23, 2009)

Two yolks would definitely affect your pound cake, i suggest just finishing one yolk out and you should be good!


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## kirstens (Jul 3, 2009)

How do people know if they're actually selling double yokers? How can you tell?

What would it do to the pound cake? I would just think it would be richer and the texture maybe more moist? I wouldn't think the extra egg would do too much damage.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

"Candling."

Very little. All recipes, unless otherwise specified are read so that an egg is a large egg.

As you know, a "large" egg is a size, and size determines volume. The available volume in the shell limits the size of the yolks, and the chicken's genetic programming ensures that there be enough white in the shell with the yolks to support their development. So the proportion of yolk to white for eggs with twinned yolks is not hugely different than the proportion of yolk to white in normal eggs of the same size. In other words, each individual yolk in a pair of twins is smaller than the single yolk of a normal egg; while the total mass of the twin yolks is greater, but not hugely greater than the mass of the single.

A typical pound cake recipe calls for 1/2 dozen eggs per pound of butter. If you got one double-yolk egg in a carton of large eggs and used it in your pound cake, you'd be using 5 large egg yolks and the equivalent of 1 extra-large egg yolk, and 5 large egg whites and the equivalent of 1 medium egg white. Not a whole lot different from 6 large eggs. It's a rough equivalent to a difference of 1/2 oz in a pound. Not enough to make much of a change.

And, if you made the pound cake entirely from extra large eggs or medium eggs instead of large eggs it wouldn't make that huge a difference either. You'd still get a good cake.

Richer and denser, yes; but not by much. Not moister.

Even comparing slices from two pound cakes on the same plate, I doubt anyone could tell the difference. IMO, the "definitely affect" [sic] from pua.mella is wrong.

BDL


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

To get a nicer texture in cakes i often substitute a yolk for one of the whites, especially when the whites are not as important for making the cake rise (e.g. when there is baking powder or soda and they;re not beaten in separately - though i've also done it in these and have not had any problem).
The Yollk makes for a richer texture, the whites tend to make them high but drier. 

Also nature does not measure so precisely, and some of us have bigger feet and some smaller feet in proportion to our height, and within a certain range we all can stand without falling. Eggs have to have a certain proportion of yolk to white, but I've seen single yolkers with bigger yolks and some with smaller yolks. Are the precision measurers now going to weigh the yolks separately from the whites? I can think of more productive things to do with ones time. 

And keep in mind that two spheres take up more space side by side than they would if they were incorportated into a single sphere, so while visually they may appear to be much more yolk when they;re sitting in a bowl, if you took them out and weighed them or broke them and measured them, they;d be much less than you think.


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## kirstens (Jul 3, 2009)

Thank you for your response boar d laze. I didn't notice a difference and neither did the people who I was serving this pound cake to notice anything different. I don't bake much (much rather like to cook) so I found it odd to see two yolks in one egg. Good to know about this info.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

I remember when i was a kid we used to be able to tell most of the time which eggs were double yolkers, because their shape (the shell) is slightly different - it tends to be longer and have the slightest either indentation or just lenghthening in the center. (Normal one-yolk eggs have a center part (when you look at it lenghthwise) that is the widest point and then begins to taper on either side of it, but the double ones have a kind of longer center, and sometimes slightly indented). So besides candling, it is sometimes visible. Not always though. 
What nostalgia, double yolk eggs. Fried, with nice black pepper flecks all over it, crispy edges and with buttered cinnamon raisin bread dipped in the yolks. ah, comfort food.


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