Charming Chemistry Creations: Yellow Cake with Creaming Method

Creaming Method: The creaming method is referring to creaming the sugar and butter together before adding to the dry ingredients. The purpose of creaming is to encourage the sugar molecules to cut into the fat to incorporate more air. This air will rise will cooking to give the cake a lighter texture. This is also referred to as aerating the cake, or introducing air in to the mixture. For effective creaming, the butter needs to be at room temperature. A lower temperature will prevent the sugar and from mixing. Higher than room temperature will create a liquid sugar mixture. As in the name, create a cream from the butter and sugar. The batter from a creaming method should be thick and creamy (McGee, 554).

Ideal creaming method batter

Creaming sugar and butter

Creaming end product

Cake Flour	Unbleached Bread Flour
Definition:	Cake flour is a soft, low-protein flour that is finely milled and characterized by the infusion of chlorine gas. The addition of the gas, improves H2O absorption (traditional flour swelling) and fat binding to the starch.	Bread flour is high in gluten proteins and yield light and chewy breads. This high content creates a strong and elastic texture. Bread flour is not desired for baked goods, because the fluffy nature of pastries and cakes is absent.
Ingredient Chemistry:	A cake is a form of a bread, but distinct in its containment of sugar and butter. Cakes are sweet in their taste and spongy in their texture. The taste of the yellow cake stemmed from the addition of granulated sugar and vanilla. The addition of the egg acts as the glue for the batter and initiates the cake structure. Since this a yellow cake, we were looking for a light texture. The addition of baking powder acted as the leavener by releasing CO2 bubbles into the batter. The use of baking powder, eliminated the need for an acidic ingredient to react since baking powder contains the sodium bicarbonate (acidic ingredient). Last, but not least, Vitamin D milk was added for its fat=flavor and to added moisture to the cake.	The recipe for the bread flour was the exact same as the cake flour recipe. Baking powder acted as the leavener since yeast is not added in cakes. The salt added was needed for gluten formation. Granulated sugar was used because this maximizes the potential for the sharp edges of the sugar granule to pierce the fat from the egg. The sugar and egg are also essential for structure formation and for incorporating air in the batter.
Batter:	The method used to create cakes is by mixing a liquid batter and transferring the batter into a cake pan or mold. From the first step of adding cake flour and B.P., the batter was very fluid. Once the egg and milk were added, the batter remained liquid, but had a gritty consistency. The clumps are from the cake flour (starch) absorbing water from the egg and milk.	In using bread flour, the batter was instantly thicker once the egg and milk was added. Since this is a high-protein flour, a dough like thickness developed.The batter was a tan color from the vanilla. The batter needed to be scraped out of the bowl and into the cake pan. This batter in the cake pan did not have as many air bubbles as the cake flour batter did. This batter was not filled with tiny air bubbles. The speculation was made that this cake would rise the same as the cake flour cake.
End Product:	The cake flour cake cooked for 45 minutes. The increase in temperature can be attributed to a lower oven temperature and the type of oven pan used. The shiny cake pan used, could have poorly transmitted heat. The cake turned out to be a very white color, despite the name of the cake. The top of the cake did not fully undergo a Maillard- Browning reaction because the cake was not brown or crispy to the touch. The texture of the cake was chewy and clumped together in your mouth. The lack of structure is due to the mistake in adding sugar after the egg was added. The sugar and fat (egg-lecithin) are responsible for the light texture of the cake. Since the sugar was added after the egg was added to the batter, the structure was not able to set up properly. The increase in cooking time, can also be attributed to the issue with the structure. The crumb of the cake was not as fine as expected with cake flour. There were not air pockets and the cake did not break evenly. The cake tasted sweet from the sugar, but did have a bitter taste, which is common in cake flour cakes.	The bread flour cake cooked for 36 minutes, which is more appropriate for a cake. The length of cooking can be attributed to the same mistake made in the cake flour cake. The sugar was added after the egg which could have influenced the structure of the cake, taking longer for the cake’s structure to set. The cake turned out to be a tan color and vey moist. The top of the cake was crispy and brown. The texture of the cake was again chewy and gummy. This cake tasted sweeter than the cake flour cake. The crumb was large and uneven. Large air bubbles were present towards the top of the cake, but not towards the bottom. The cake did not break evenly and has the consistency of a wet sponge, which is not want was wanted. The cake felt heavier than it should have. The dense nature of the cakes could be due to over use of the baking powder. If too much leavener is added to the batter, the bubbles will collide and pop then the cake sinks. The dense cake is a also a result of a failed creaming attempt. The sugar and butter were not creamed as well as they should have and there was a lack of air bubbles.