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Hello!

Just trying my hand on the seemingly fabulous Pierre Hermé recipes from a book I have borrowed in the library 

The recipe i selected is a magnificent vanilla cake, only, calls for titanium dioxyde for whitening the finish. I cannot find any as it's been banned in the EU for culinary purposes and I am a bit leary of using the drugstore one 

Any idea for a replacement or someone from France or EU on how to source? I am really set on making that cake 🎂!

Thanks all

Agnes

Agnes, you piqued my interest! But if it's just a whitening agent can't you  just leave it out .. or maybe request a trial sample of a "clean & green" replacement from Sentient Food Colours.. another site suggests rice starch as a replacement in confectionery ;-)

It is completely unneccessary to put titanium dioxide in food. Just because the FDA approves of it doesn't mean it is a good thing. Titanium Dioxide is basically white paint, or rather, the pigment that forms white paint. So why would you want to ingest it? 

Personally, I use Cooks Pure Vanilla Powder, which avoids the slight brownish color that regular liquid vanilla will leave in a Vanilla Cake. You  should be able order it from Amazon. If not Cook's brand, than some other brand of Vanilla Powder. 

As someone with a biochemistry background, I really don't think titanium dioxide is an ingredient for a home cook

It's a very opaque, very white fine pigment that is used to make toothpaste and even paints a good bright white and give good coverage and opacity

If you leave it out the effect may not be quite such a solid, matte, white but that's all