Process Analysis Essay on Baking – Free Essay Example

The Chemistry of Cake Making

Introduction/Procedure:

Chemistry is apparent in everything we do from brushing our teeth to driving our car, or even making a cake! There are a plethora of chemical reactions involved in the methodical and technical process that is baking a cake. As a group, we felt that the best way to demonstrate the chemistry of cake making would be to bake an actual cake! The ingredients used to bake a cake are butter, sugar, eggs, cocoa powder (if the cake is chocolate like ours was), flour, baking powder, salt, milk, and vanilla extract. Also, cakes are traditionally served frosted, so our cake used a buttercream frosting which is a combination of powdered sugar (which is normal sugar and cornstarch combined), butter, milk, vanilla extract, and cocoa powder for taste. In order to make the perfect cake a strict procedure, and recipe should be followed, almost like a chemistry lab. First, the butter and sugar should be creamed. Creamed is a culinary technical term for whisking rapidly, usually with an electric mixer. The eggs should then be beaten one at a time, and at this stage, the chef should notice a change in the texture of the solution. The creamed butter and sugar will be granulated in appearance, while the addition of the eggs creates a light, fluffy, and almost homogeneous mixture. The next step should be to slowly mix in the cocoa powder. T, and the chef also should be sure to not want to overbeat his or her eggs as the mixture would then fall. The flour, baking powder, and salt should all be sifted together into a bowl on the side in order to avoid inconsistency in the texture of the batter. Next, the dry ingredients should be added to the mixture alternately with a mixture of vanilla extract and milk. In order to prevent the cake from sticking to the pans, make sure that they are greased with butter, and if the chef desires, a parchment paper circle can be cut and placed on the bottom of the pan to prevent even more sticking. The chef, also known as a chemist of food, should bake the cake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for thirty minutes. Let cool and then frost and serve! Throughout this paper, we will follow this step-by-step procedure and examine the chemical structures and reactions that occur.

Chemistry:

The first two ingredients added are sugar and butter. Sugar is sucrose and adds sweetness to the cake. It is a type of disaccharide made from the combination of the monosaccharides glucose and fructose. The chemical or molecular formula for sucrose is C12H22O11. Sugar undergoes a reaction when the cake is placed in the oven. When the baking temperature reaches 300 degrees Fahrenheit, sugar undergoes what is known as a Maillard reaction, a chemical reaction between amino acids, proteins, and reducing sugars. The result is browning which results in a darker outer layer of the cake. Next, butter was added. Butter is a fat consisting of mostly triglycerides. The five primary factors responsible for butter’s flavor are fatty acids, lactones, methyl ketones, diacetyl, and dimethyl sulfide. Fats are included in cakes because they trap air when creamed which makes the cake lighter and fluffier.

Building off the topic of consistency and structural integrity, eggs are an integral part of any successful cake. The beaten egg white, which is comprised of proteins collectively called albumen, gives the cake an airy texture. This is possible because within the albumen is a protein called lecithin. Lecithin coats the air bubbles during the mixing process, preventing the cake from falling while baking. Furthermore, lecithin is responsible for holding the cake together. Essentially, lecithin’s main role is upholding the structure of the cake. The albumen is also a protein source for the Maillard reaction. An egg is made up of egg white (10% albumen and 90% water) and a vibrant orange-yellow yolk. The color of the yolk is due to two carotenoid pigments, lutein, and zeaxanthin.

Specifically, the 10% of the egg white that is albumen is 54% ovalbumin, 12% conalbumin, and 34% ovomucin, all proteins. Ovalbumin provides nutrients to the developing chick, conalbumin binds different minor proteins to protect against infections, and ovomucin thickens the egg white, however, the main protein active in cake making from the albumen is lecithin. Next, cocoa powder is added to the wet ingredients. Cocoa powder adds flavor to any recipe but is not an essential ingredient. Unsweetened Cocoa Powder is treated with an alkali to neutralize its acids. Because it is neutral it does not react with baking soda and therefore is used in recipes such as this one that use baking powder.

In a separate bowl, the dry ingredients are combined. Flour, an essential ingredient in any cake, is composed of starches and is a polysaccharide. The chemical formula of flour is (C6H10O5)n. The “n” means that the formula refers to multiple polymers of the same formula. Flour also contributes sugars and proteins that along with sugar and eggs react during Maillard reactions.

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One of the vital dry ingredients is baking powder. Baking powder is baking soda with the addition of an acidic salt. The purpose of baking powder is the release of carbon dioxide (CO2). Carbon dioxide is released from baking soda twice during the baking process. CO2 emission in the cake also works towards a light, fluffy texture. The first time carbon dioxide is released during the baking process is when it reacts with water in the cake batter. While water (H2O) is not actually an ingredient, it is present in other ingredients like milk and eggs. The second time CO2 is released is when the oven reaches 300 degrees Fahrenheit and the Maillard reaction occurs. This carbon dioxide release in the oven from baking soda contributes to an increase in the height of the cake as well. As previously mentioned, baking powder is baking soda and an acidic salt. Baking soda is made of soda ash, which is sodium carbonate (Na2CO3). Sodium carbonate is obtained by passing ammonia and carbon dioxide through a concentrated solution of table salt (NaCl). The equation for the reaction of baking soda (which is a component of baking powder) and other acidic ingredients is 2NaHCO3 → Na2CO3 + CO2 + H2O.

Next, table salt, formally known as sodium chloride (NaCl) is added to the dry ingredients. The purpose of salt in a cake is to awaken the other flavors and make the cake more flavorful. Salt enhances other flavors because at higher concentrations it suppresses sweetness and enhances umami, which is good for savory things. It’s also easily obtained in a pure form without any interfering flavors.

Milk is added directly to the dry ingredients and is meant to dissolve sugars and activate the gluten. Milk hydrates proteins, starches, and/or leavening agents which allows the chemical changes needed to change the consistency of the cake and develop its structure. The proteins in the milk strengthen the batter or dough in terms of stability. Since milk is a liquid, it vaporizes during the baking process, creating steam that expands the air cells and the volume of the cake. This helps make the cake moist and fluffy and improves its overall texture.

Vanilla is responsible for flavoring the cake. However, for vanilla extract (the baking ingredient) to be made, the vanilla bean needs to go through a refining process. At the end of the process, the main extract of the bean is vanillin. Vanillin has a chemical formula of C8H8O3 and enhances all other flavors. Without vanilla, a cake would be almost tasteless.

A cake must be baked in order to be eaten! At 300 degrees Fahrenheit, a cake’s flavor is enhanced via a Maillard reaction. This is a complex three-step reaction. The first step is a carbonyl group from a sugar reacts with a protein or amino acid’s amino group and produces a glycosylamine (glycosyl and amino group attached to each other) and water, the water reacts with the baking powder to produce the second round of CO2 bubbles in the cake. The glycosylamine changes to a different isomer called ketamine (a ketose functional group and an amine functional group), this process is called Amador rearrangement. The ketamine will then continue to react and rearrange based on what food it is in. Below is a chart of different possible products and their flavors. We would infer that most cakes have furanone as they produce a sweet, caramel flavor.

Sources

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