Eggs are a key ingredient in many kinds of sweets, used both in bakery products and in Thai desserts. So how is egg use in these two styles similar, and how does it differ? Let's find out.
Types of Eggs
The eggs used in bakery are almost always chicken eggs. Cake, one of the most popular bakery items, relies on chicken eggs together with flour, sugar and butter to make its crumb. Chicken eggs create an egg foam within the batter that helps the cake rise, while the yolk is a source of emulsifiers that help incorporate air. Eggs also add flavour, aroma and moisture to the cake.
Thai desserts use both chicken eggs and duck eggs, depending on the dessert. Chicken eggs are chosen to avoid an eggy smell, for example in khanom pui fai (steamed fluffy cupcakes), khanom khai (small egg cakes), sangkhaya khai (egg custard), bua loi khai wan (rice-flour dumplings in coconut milk with sweet poached egg), met khanun (mung bean and egg-yolk dumplings) and thong ek (golden egg-yolk cakes).
Duck eggs have a stronger eggy smell than chicken eggs, so Thai desserts usually use only the yolk, mainly where colour matters. Duck egg yolks are smoother, a beautiful creamy yellow and richer than chicken yolks, which is why they are used especially in the "golden" family of Thai desserts, such as thong yip (pinched golden yolk flowers), thong yot (golden yolk drops) and foi thong (golden egg-yolk threads), as well as khanom mo kaeng (Thai baked custard).
How to Buy Fresh Eggs
Whether you're buying chicken or duck eggs for bakery or Thai desserts, choose the freshest you can. If you buy from a department store or supermarket where the production date is printed on the pack, pick the most recently produced eggs, ideally no more than 3 days old.
At a local market, check by touch. A shell that feels rough means the egg is fresh, as its natural protective coating is still intact, while a smooth shell indicates an older egg. The shell should also have no dents or cracks. Knowing these tips helps you choose the right eggs for baking and all kinds of cooking.
Chicken and Duck Egg Sizes
Egg size also matters in bakery. In Thailand, chicken eggs are graded into 7 sizes by weight per egg (including the shell):
- Size 0: the largest, at least 70 g per egg
- Size 1: extra large, 65–69 g per egg
- Size 2: large, 60–64 g per egg
- Size 3: medium, 55–59 g per egg
- Size 4: small, 50–54 g per egg
- Size 5: small, 45–49 g per egg
- Size 6: the smallest, no more than 44 g per egg (rarely found)
Each size suits different uses, mainly depending on the amount of egg white: larger eggs contain more white. For bakery, use the egg size your recipe calls for; most recipes use size 3 or 4, weighing 50–59 g per egg.
Duck eggs are also graded into 6 sizes by weight. For Thai desserts, any size of duck egg will do, because usually only the yolk is used, so there's no need to choose a specific size as with chicken eggs.
