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Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Chemistry in the Kitchen



Here is an extract from the Bake a Chemistry Cake  project:
Next time you bake a cake, consider this. The cake dough is not really a cake, but when it’s heated in the oven, a chemical reaction occurs and new bonds are formed. How does heat change things? When it comes to heat changing a chemical reaction, there are two types. One is “exothermic,” a reaction that produces heat, and the other is “endothermic,” a reaction that takes heat in. When you make a cake, you a producing an endothermic chemical reaction which changes batter to baked!
A few things can happen when you bake a cake. Some chemical reactions to keep in mind while doing this tasty experiment are:
  1. Heat helps baking powder produce tiny bubbles of gas, which makes the cake light and fluffy.
  2. Heat causes protein from the egg to change and make the cake firm.
  3. Oil keeps the heat from drying out the cake.
 So the experiment is about doing it right and then doing it wrong.

Ingredients

  • 6 tablespoons flour
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 2 or 3 pinches of baking powder
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 2 tablespoons cooking oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
  • butter knife|
  • 1/3 of an egg (*)
(*) Break the egg into a cup and beat it until mixed.  Pour the amount equally into the McDonalds ketchup containers.

Method

We made 4 little cakes as follows:  
  1. One with all ingredients
  2. One without the baking powder
  3. One without the egg
  4. One without the oil.
The batter pretty much all the same. The No Egg one looked more pale. The others were more yellow and it was white.  The No Oil one was harder to mix.

What did they look like?

 
  1. The one with all the ingredients looked as expected … like a cup cake!
  2. The one without the oil was a surprise. It had a nice hard oval top!
  3. The one without the egg was paler and did not rise as high as the others.
  4. The one without the baking powder did not look so bad?

What did they taste like?

  1. The one with all the ingredients tasted OK
  2. The one without Oil had a crunchy top and was dry like bread
  3. The one without the Egg tasted floury
  4. The one without Baking Powder tasted the same as the one with all ingredients?
So why was the one without the baking powder OK?  Because we’d used Self Raising Flour that already has baking powder in it instead of All Purpose (Plain) Flour which doesn’t.  So while it did not rise quite as high as the others it was pretty close.  Duh!  Have to try that one again!
check out these parties where we shared this great post
funtastic friday

42 comments:

  1. I never thought of it like this. I have a few that I am going to try out now!

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    Replies
    1. yes, I was always taught that if it did not go together correctly it would not work but you never know so yes let me know how it turns out on your experiment
      thanks for your visit excited to see your outcomes

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  2. This is fun. My kids would enjoy it if I did this with them.

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    Replies
    1. my kids always did enjoy the experiments in the kitchen and now my grand kids do as well.
      thanks for your visit if you and I would love to hear if you and your kids do this

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  3. That is crazy awesome!! Makes me want to try this!

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    Replies
    1. I hope you do you will be even more fascinated
      thanks for your visit today

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  4. That's really neat. I'm always hearing from my mom the necessity of some ingredients and not so much on others. Sometimes I look harder for recipes without eggs. I am not a real cook I only follow recipes so I can't just decide what to skip.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. well, this experiment sounds perfect for you to find out exactly what will or will not happen
      thanks for visiting

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  5. I loved science experiments like this as a kid! My mom made things so fun. This is a great one!

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    Replies
    1. thank you for your visit and comment yes, I love to share these with my grand-kids now and in the past my kids really loved them

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  6. I've never even thought about why baking powder is added to cakes! Duh I feel silly now. Thank-you for enlightening me :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. you are welcome I think we sometimes do not think about the ingredients that go into many of the dishes we make thanks for visiting, reading the post and commenting

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  7. Replies
    1. thank you for visiting and had lots of fun making them that is for sure

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  8. Oh! What a brilliant experiment, I think the #4 is the better.

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    Replies
    1. it was most definitely interesting results
      come see us at http://shopannies.blogspot.com

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  9. Very cool!! I love experimenting like this so fun!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. exactly no better reason to do anything in life than to have fun and having fun helps us learn as well
      thanks for your visit

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  10. Great post and experiment! Thank you for sharing!

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  11. This is such a fun and educational activity! Thanks for sharing :) I will do this with my niece and nephew

    KatrinaJeanCarter.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. loved sharing it I hope your niece and nephews love it as well
      thanks for stopping by and leaving comment heading over to your blog now

      Delete
  12. Am going to do this with my kindy children at work, they love science and cooking!

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    Replies
    1. they will for sure love this then you will be the hero for sharing it with them and you are a hero for me for stopping by here and leaving a comment

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  13. What a fun little experiment! I bet kids would love this too!

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    1. you are so right fun for adults and kids as well helps us all understand the concept of baking
      thanks for stopping by and leaving a great comment

      Delete
  14. Looked like you had fun experimenting. I would have been nervous to taste it. I do love to bake though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. perhaps your nervousness would have come about because you all ready know by your experience what it would taste like. We did have fun though and especially the kiddos because they had no idea what would happen
      thanks for stopping by and leaving a great comment

      Delete
  15. This was a fun kitchen experiment and it's nice to learn how the our favorite treats will turn out if you change an ingredient or eliminate it from the recipe.

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