A new kind of cupcakes

In the second unit of the course Food we studied cooking, specifically the chemical reactions that happen when you mix the ingredients. The first thing we did was look at the 5 essential ingredients used in baking. We studied the purpose of each ingredient in baking, the product of their chemical reactions and how when they mix together they make bread. For our action project we made cupcakes, following the recipe in the control group and replacing baking powder in the experimental group. The reason why we did this was because there was a cooking magazine that was focusing on the Passover. Passover is a time when Jews don’t eat certain food because their was a plague that destroyed their crops like leavening agent (baking powder), to symbolize that they didn't have time to let their bread rise because they had to make a hurricane escape from egypt. Therefore we had to submit a cupcake recipe without baking powder. We had to pick two ingredients that would substitute baking powder. During this project I learned how to put the proper amount of ingredient to put into each cupcake. I am proud of how I baked the cupcakes and how they tasted so delicious.

     

                    JV. Experimental group.2014.                                                                          AC. Controlled group.2014 


                      

Title of your Lab Report

Substitution of baking powder.

1. Introduction

This lab report contains the data from our cupcake experiment. We worked in groups to find ingredients to substitute the baking powder for the experimental group. My team and I chose lemon juice and olive oil. The way that baking powder works is by having an acid mix with a base. The way a acid-base reaction happens is when the acid gives a way a hydrogen and the base obtains it. By mixing together they neutralize, make salt, co2 and water. Which then helps the dough rise. Therefore we substituted lemon juice is the acid with a pH level of 2 and the olive oil is the base with a pH of 8. What we did was put different amounts of lemon juice and olive oil in the six cupcakes to see which one of them will rise the most. For the controlled group we just followed the recipe. It was an interesting experiment to test to see. 

2. Research Question

Will an acid and base mixture in a cupcake rise as high as leavening agent?

3. Hypothesis

If we replace baking powder with lemon juice and olive oil in a cupcake recipe then my cupcakes will rise as high.

4. Materials

Lemon juice
Olive oil
1/12 cups of sugar
1/48 cups of flour
1/24 cups of butter
1/24 cups of milk
⅙ eggs
⅙ tsp of vanilla extract
⅓ tsp of baking powder

5. Procedure

For Control Group:

1. We preheated the oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Melted the butter for 10 seconds. 
3. Mix together the sugar and butter in a medium bowl. 
4. In another bowl we beat the eggs, then we added vanilla and mixed it. 
5. Then we added the flour into that same bowl and mixed it using medium force. 
6. After mixing we added baking powder and mixed it again. 
7. After mixing we added milk into the mixture. 
8. Combine sugar and butter into the mixture. 
9. Grease a muffin pan with a nonstick spray. 
10. Mix all the ingredients until it is smooth. 
11. Finally pour the dough into the pan. 
12. Bake cupcakes for 20 minutes. 

For Experimental Group:

1. We preheated the oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Melted the butter for 10 seconds. 
3. Mix together the sugar and butter in a medium bowl. 
4. In another bowl we beat the eggs, then we added vanilla and mixed it. 
5. Then we added the flour into that same bowl and mixed it using medium force. 
6. Add the milk into the mixture and mix it. 
7. Combine sugar and butter into the mixture 
8. Grease a muffin pan with a nonstick spray. 
9. Mix all the ingredients until it is smooth. 
10. Pour dough into the pan. 
11. Add the measurements of lemon juice and olive oil into each cupcake.
12. Bake for 20 minutes. 

6. Data

Controlled group

After baking our cupcakes for 20 minutes they were light brown, dark or burned from the bottom. It smelled like vanilla and it was soft.

Chart of experimental group

After baking each cupcake with different measurements of lemon juice and olive oil. The first on tasted a little bit like flour but good, the second one doesn't have the lemon flavor but it did have the vanilla flavor so it was good. The third one tasted almost the same as the first cupcake, in the fourth cupcake you can taste the lemon juice more than the others so it has the strongest flavor. The fifth one you can taste the lemon flavor a little bit more it taste more like the first cupcake and the sixth didnt really taste like anything it was just bread no flavor in specific.

Ingredient	Cupcake 1	Cupcake 2	Cupcake 3	Cupcake 4	Cupcake 5	Cupcake 6
Lemon Juice (tsp)	1/16	0	1/8	3/32	1/64	7/64
Olive Oil (tsp)	1/16	1/8	0	1/32	7/64	1/64

7. Graph

This graph shows the difference between controlled group and the experimental group in terms of height.





                               





8. Recipe in Metric

Ingredient	Amount in cups/tsp	Amount in mL
Lemon juice	7/64 tsp	0.49 mL
Olive oil	1/64 tsp	0.07 mL
Sugar	1/12 cups	20 mL
Butter	1/24 cups	10 mL
Flour	3/24 cups	30 mL
Milk	1/24 cups	10 mL
Vanilla	⅙ tsp	1.22 mL
Eggs	⅙ egg	1.22 mL

9. Conclusion

In conclusion my cupcakes did rose but not as high as the ones in the controlled group. In the experimental group the highest cupcake reached 3.5 cm, 0.5 cm less than the controlled group which was 4 cm.The reason why the cupcakes didn't rise as well was probably because we didn't use an ingredient had a high level of base.The controlled group cupcakes had a base of 8.5 and the experimental group had a base of 8, so the 0.5cm missing is because we didn't have enough base.The cupcake in the experimental group that almost reached 4 cm was cupcake 1, cupcake 4 and cupcake 5. My hypothesis was wrong because the experimental cupcakes weren't the same height as the controlled group. I will submit cupcake 3. Although its height is 3 cm, this cupcake has more flavor than the other cupcakes and it is delicious. It was my favorite.