RECIPES & READS

Recipes and Reads: Culinary Labs

Culinary Lab workshops serve up comprehensive, culinary literacy programs that include hands-on demonstrations of food and nutritional literacy; food acquisition methods; food handling, hygiene and safety; culture and history of food; and consumer cost-saving techniques and meal stretching. Each of the culinary lab workshops may include the use of fully stocked mobile, kitchen carts to aid in these food-related demonstrations. The labs are strategically located at library branches throughout the county and serve all ages. Registration may be required, at some locations, for Recipes and Reads: Culinary Lab workshops.

Chemistry in Baking

Everyone enjoys fresh baked breads, cakes, and cookies but did you know baking can be a way to showcase some basic concepts in chemistry? Baking a cake can be a great way to observe the concepts of aqueous solutions, chemical reactions, and the Maillard reaction.

An aqueous solution is created when solids dissolve in liquids. In the case of cake batter, the solids (flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder) dissolve in liquids (eggs, butter, milk and/or water). As one stirs the ingredients together in a bowl, the cake batter forms.

Why is cake batter thick? Wheat flour contains glutenin and gliadin and when stirred with liquids like water, a reaction occurs that binds glutenin and gliadin together into long stretch strands known as gluten. The gluten sticks together and thickens the cake batter.

Why does a cake rise in the pan? A light and fluffy cake is a result of a chemical reaction which occurs when heat is combined with baking powder. Baking powder is a mixture of carbonate, starch, and a weak acid. The carbonate and the acid react to each other and produce bubbles of carbon dioxide gas. The gas is trapped in the batter as it is stirred. In the oven the bubbles of gas expand pushing the cake batter up and outward. As the moisture in the batter evaporates due to heat, the cake structure solidifies and is held in place by the gluten strands.

Most recipes give the direction to bake a cake “until golden brown”. The light brown crust is the result of a chemical reaction between sugars and proteins known as the Maillard reaction. Named for Louis Camille Maillard, the reaction is the result of the combination of heat added to the sugars and the amino acids (in the eggs, butter, and gluten). Both the amino acids and the sugars break down and recombine to form an aroma and the golden-brown color. The same reaction occurs when someone browns meat, toasts bread, or toasts marshmallows.

Yellow Cake Ingredients

1 cup (two sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
1 tbs baking powder
1-1/2 cups plus 3 tbs sugar
1/4 tsp salt
8 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1-1/4 cups whole milk, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Place oven rack in top third of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Prepare two 9” round cake pans by greasing with butter and dusting with flour. Line the bottoms with a round of parchment paper for easier removal.
Sift the AP flour and the cake flour with the baking powder and set aside.
In a large bowl (or stand mixer) beat the butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy (about four minutes).
Add the egg yolks one at a time to the butter mixture, making sure to fully incorporate each yolk before adding the next. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then slowly add in half of the sifted flour mixture.
After half the flour mixture is worked in, add half of the milk and all of the vanilla. Stop to scrape the sides of the bowl, and then add the remainder of the flour. Scrape the bowl to ensure there is no dry flour in the bowl before adding the remaining milk.
Divide the batter equally between the two pans. Smooth the tops with a rubber spatula or spoon and tap the pans against the counter to remove any air pockets.
Bake in oven until the internal temperature reaches between 207 and 210 degrees Fahrenheit – about 30 to 35 minutes. The cakes should be golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan will come out clean.
Remove from oven and place on a wire rack for 15 minutes to cool, then de-pan onto the rack and allow to cool to room temperature before frosting.

Photo Credit: Image by Larry White on Pixabay