the science of the cake

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southbucks3
Posts: 3579
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

the science of the cake

Post by southbucks3 »

Following my post on the lemon drizzle cake thread I felt inspired to post about Andy Connelly. My hubby discovered him when looking for answers to the flat beer he had brewed. He is brilliant at explaining exactly what is going on in many foody processes. Once you know the science bit, the years of disasters all seem so obvious., and you can use science to explain away any future disasters too. "Oh dear, my chemical leavening agent must have reacted with some moisture in the tub and already performed its first functional reaction before I used it in the cake mix" should shut them up when they are laughing at your pancake sponge! Certainly useful when I made some jaw breaking cinder toffee last year. :lol:

http://www.theguardian.com/science/blog ... y-connelly" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


The only things I would add to his thoughts is treat every recipe like a chemistry experiment, weigh and measure accurately, someone has worked it all out for you, why mess it up by sloppy measuring. Also the baking Goddess Delia's big thing: cake tin size, a flat cake often simply means you are spreading the mix too thin, soggy in the middle, not spreading it far enough.
KS10
Posts: 2516
Joined: Sun Mar 07, 2010 12:39 am

Re: the science of the cake

Post by KS10 »

I will read this when I am less tired. How on earth did I miss it? I'm not even sure how I came across it as it was there one minute and gone the next.
fatbananas
Posts: 1411
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:03 pm

Re: the science of the cake

Post by fatbananas »

I wish I hadn't seen the picture of the cake before going to bed .... hungry now!

Thanks for that. I've been trying to find a book like this to appeal to my DC. They are interested in why things behave like that in the kitchen and love Stefan Gates and all his programmes. I was looking for a book on this kind of food-science, aimed at kids, but can't seem to find one. This blog will be brilliant for some kitchen chemistry 8) :D
Seize the day ... before it seizes you.
kenyancowgirl
Posts: 6738
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:59 pm

Re: the science of the cake

Post by kenyancowgirl »

I can recommend "Crisp Packet Fireworks" by Chris Smith and Dave Ansell - you can get it on Amazon for about £8 - lots of experiments to do with things found around the house. We had this a couple of years ago. My younger son just enjoyed the "magic" of the experiments and my oldest was able to read the "science" behind them. A bit of fun on those wet, wintry days!
fatbananas
Posts: 1411
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:03 pm

Re: the science of the cake

Post by fatbananas »

Thank you Kenyancowgirl! Will take a look at it right now. :)
Seize the day ... before it seizes you.
doodles
Posts: 8300
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:19 pm

Re: the science of the cake

Post by doodles »

I can't reiterate strongly enough the need for measuring accurately when baking cakes or making bread. I am a bit of a slap-happy, throw it in the pan cook but when it comes to bread and cakes the scales do come out - it all made sense when I realised that one teaspoon of baking powder wasn't going to raise 250g of flour as well as it would raise 100g!

Happy baking, just about to go and give my bread a bit of a pulverising!
JamesDean
Posts: 1537
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:03 pm

Re: the science of the cake

Post by JamesDean »

kenyancowgirl wrote:I can recommend "Crisp Packet Fireworks" by Chris Smith and Dave Ansell - you can get it on Amazon for about £8 - lots of experiments to do with things found around the house. We had this a couple of years ago. My younger son just enjoyed the "magic" of the experiments and my oldest was able to read the "science" behind them. A bit of fun on those wet, wintry days!
That looks fab, Kenyancowgirl. DD did the mentos in coke experiment (explosion) at school this week - love things like that :)

JD
southbucks3
Posts: 3579
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: the science of the cake

Post by southbucks3 »

The book looks great...ds1 loves all that stuff. I have witnessed far too many bottles of diet coke and mentos exploding over my lawn :lol:

Cooking wise cinder toffee is great fun....or honeycomb for yumminess. Make sure you use fresh bicarbonate though, and it does get v v hot, but is amazing to watch turn into bubbly gooey froth.

Also a firm favourite with us are the quick condensed milk and lemon juice puddings such as this:
http://www.carnation.co.uk/Recipes/6/Key-Lime-Pie" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Which is a great one for kids, as the thickening reaction is really quick...fingers out though. :roll:

If you are feeling very brave...maybe save this one for summer in the garden, the cornflour experiment is hilarious.
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2008/may/02/physics7" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

All much more fun than 11+ practice papers. :wink:
doodles
Posts: 8300
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:19 pm

Re: the science of the cake

Post by doodles »

southbucks3 wrote:All much more fun than 11+ practice papers. :wink:
But just as educational :wink: :wink:
talea51
Posts: 522
Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2011 5:10 pm

Re: the science of the cake

Post by talea51 »

kenyancowgirl wrote:I can recommend "Crisp Packet Fireworks" by Chris Smith and Dave Ansell - you can get it on Amazon for about £8 - lots of experiments to do with things found around the house. We had this a couple of years ago. My younger son just enjoyed the "magic" of the experiments and my oldest was able to read the "science" behind them. A bit of fun on those wet, wintry days!
That looks excellent! I have a stocking filler for my dd now! :D
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