WEBVTT - Cake: So Great. So, So Great 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.600 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from house stuff Works 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:14.200 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:17.439 and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, there's Jerry. Three of 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:19.840 us are together, which means it's time for stuff you 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:25.439 should know about. Cake. Cake, cake, gake, gake, cake, gake, gake, gake, caccake, cake, cake, 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:32.120 cake cake. Uh. This made me I just frankly want 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:37.520 to put my face in a cake sheet. Caking. Oh man, Yeah, 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:40.040 I know. We had a discussion about cake or pie 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:42.720 quite a while ago. I don't remember exactly where you 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:45.080 landed on that. I'm surprised you can only think of 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:51.640 one one time we've done that. Yeah, cake or pie? Both? Yeah? 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:55.600 Same here? Why choose between two wonderful things that you 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:59.200 don't have to choose between? Agreed? As a matter of fact. 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:01.280 Every once a while you hit like the birthday party 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:04.480 Jackpot where they'll have like cake am pie and you're like, 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:09.520 looks like I'm in heaven. But today, today, Chuck, we're 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:11.920 not talking about pie. Although we can't talk about one 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:14.480 pie in particular, because we're talking about cake. It turns 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:19.080 out I saw this somewhere that Boston Cream pie is 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:24.759 actually a cake. Yeah, surprise, Boston, sorry to ruin your day. 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:27.920 They're probably the ones that are like that are saying that. 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:32.880 Oh yeah, probably maybe, I don't know. The article on 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:38.520 it was written in a thick Boston accent. Yeah it 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:40.680 is a cake. I'm not sure why, but I just 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:42.399 know it's a cake now. And I want to give 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:45.520 a hat tip here. Um. I mean we both worked 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:47.840 off of the house Stuff Works article. But I also 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:50.120 found a lot of good stuff on a site called 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:54.640 What's Cooking America? Did you run across them? They are 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:59.080 good man. They they have, you know, clearly their niches cooking, baking, 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:01.960 all things like ulinary. But they're They've got some really 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:05.440 well researched articles on their site about like the history 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:07.800 of cakes and things like that. Yeah, that's good stuff. 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:13.079 Kudos to you, remember kudos. They're gran Oli bar. Those 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:17.880 are great. Oh yeah, are those not around anymore? No? No, no, 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:21.360 those are gone. And then r I p also Bonkers candy, 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:25.120 So kudo went the way of the Dodo M. I 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:28.320 never heard of bonkers. They were like a fruit chew, 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:31.720 but like really had some chew to it, not like starburst. 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:35.120 You know, it's just disintegrates. These were like they were chewy. 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:37.040 They were good. They're about as good as it gets 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:39.400 really candy wise. Yeah, they need I know, you've noticed 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:42.240 they need to chill out here with the sweets at work. 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:46.600 Oh dude, Like they have little Debbie Star crunches and 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:49.200 Swiss cake rolls and stuff all over the place. I know, 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:51.440 we don't need that in here. There's like three or 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:56.120 four people who are like walking around toothless now, just 0:02:56.280 --> 0:03:00.399 rotten right out of their heads. Well and also not you. 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:07.040 My toothlessness is for different reasons. Here's this from a Christini. Uh. 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:09.120 And I've also noticed that there's this weird mix in 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:12.600 our office now because they try to get super healthy. Yeah, 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:14.639 so there will be like Swiss Swiss cake rolls next 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:18.120 to a bag of like clam chips or something what chips? 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:21.440 I don't know. Clam chips sound kind of good. Seeweed uh, 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:23.720 seaweed strips. Oh yeah, yeah, I know, I know what 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:27.720 you mean. Or like just figs. Yeah, you know, it's 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:30.720 like a fig Newton without the good tasting part around. 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:33.200 We take figs and we mash them up, then we 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:35.120 wrap them in sell of fane and you eat them 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:37.800 for five dollars a piece and your child spits them 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:42.520 out because they know better, right. Uh no, today, Yes, 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:44.920 I'm with you. I do think it's gotten a little 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:47.720 out of hand, Like it's basically just a huge test 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:51.640 of willpower at the office, like every moment. You know, Yeah, 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:54.120 I don't, I don't indulge. I'm not getting into those 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:56.520 Swiss cake rolls. But it is tough to walk by 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:59.440 the miniature candy bar section and not be like, well, 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:01.640 just one of those little guys. Look how tiny it is? Right? 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:03.080 And then the next thing, you know, you get like 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:05.800 ten rappers laying around your desk thinking like what have 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:09.200 I done? I know it's post Halloween stuff too, it 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:11.600 so maybe it'll die down. I I don't. I don't 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:15.040 think that's gonna happen. But yeah, but again though, today, 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:19.440 I guess if if you replaced all of those candy 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:21.760 bars with cakes that were just sitting around, you get 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:24.960 zero complaints from me. Well, and at my house at Halloween, 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:27.880 we gave away two things. We gave away whole slices 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:33.039 of pound cake and just pigs. That's the worst house 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:35.360 in the block. Did you? Uh you have a a pound 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:41.200 cake fan? Um? Not? Typically like I would never order 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:44.520 a pound cake or say hey, can someone bake me 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:46.800 one for my birthday? You wouldn't say, like, clark me 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:49.200 a pound cake. I would never ask one to clark 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:52.680 me a pound cake. But occasionally, like in my life, 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:55.200 someone has had pound cake and said, would you like 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:59.120 some pound cake? And it's you know, it's good, it's good, 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:02.280 sugary and dent stuff. Yeah. I like it because you 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:04.920 can just eat it with your hand. Sure, just pick 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:06.560 it up and eat it. Yeah, it's like cake on 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:09.600 the go. Yeah. Um. I am not a fan of 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:13.159 lemon cakes. Oh really, so like a lemon pound cake 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:16.640 I'm not into. Well, okay, let's just get it out there. 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:22.359 What's your favorite cake of all time? Cheese? I'm gonna 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:27.359 toss it up between a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:33.000 That's Bill Clinton's favorite. Well, you know, as Bill goes 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:38.440 so it goes chuck, which is not true? Um that 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:45.360 the carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, or um, I 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:50.560 like a red velvet cake. Really? Yeah? Well that's the 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:55.960 cream or cream cheese frosting. Yeah. Yeah. Emily's favorite of 0:05:56.000 --> 0:06:00.160 all time, hands down is the Waldorf Story of Red 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:04.720 Velvet cake, which is red velvet cake with a frosting 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:09.600 that is basically only like shortening, vanilla and sugar. Oh 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:11.960 that sounds nice. It's not a cream cheese thing. What's 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:17.040 what's your favorite favorite of all time? Well, everybody knows 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:21.719 that cake perfection was achieved sometime in the twentieth century 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:26.880 when Public's grocery stores started selling their yellow cake with 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:30.800 butter cream frosting. There's no better cake on the planets 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:35.280 like a yellow sheet cake. It's simple, but it's tasty. 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:37.400 It doesn't need any dress enough, but if it does, 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:40.080 we'll just put like some add some more frosting in 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:44.440 the shape of balloons on top. It's just it's just perfection. 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:46.400 It's a perfect cake. I love it. I can eat 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:49.240 it morning, noon, and night. I can eat stale stuff 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:52.160 I found in the dumpster behind Publix. I can eat 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:54.960 the fresh stuff right out of the oven, so hot 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:57.599 that it burns my mouth. I would eat it anyway 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:01.600 that it was given to me. Uh. I'm a big 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:05.160 frosting and icing guy too, So a corner piece of 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:09.440 sheet cake is pretty much heaven. Yeah, that's that is 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:13.000 the tops. What what is you me's favorite cake? You 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:15.200 mean's is actually the same as mine. We both are 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:18.680 junkies for Public's cake, to tell the truth, although I 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:20.880 have to say she introduced me to the wonder of 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:25.800 um Japanese cakes. And there's this little known fact about Japan. 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:29.240 It loves to take I shouldn't say it's a little 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:30.600 I'm probably a lot of people know this, but it 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:33.160 loves to take things that other cultures came up with 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:36.840 and then improve them ten percent. And one of the 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:39.720 things that they've done that with is the French bakery. 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:42.360 So if you go to Japan, you'll see all these cute, 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:47.360 little kind of um Provence style French bakeries everywhere. That's 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:51.760 still the best baked goods you've ever had in your life. Right, yes, 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:55.920 oh by far, by far. That's very controversial, it is, 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:58.320 but I'm telling you you would you would just be like, 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:02.080 Josh's right, this is better. I'm not kidding. They've they've 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:04.800 improved on it, and they're all they're they're very deferential still, 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:07.360 they're like, oh, well, this is this is crap compared 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:09.520 to the what the French are making. However, you would 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:13.400 say that in Japanese, but they're actually wrong. It actually 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:15.720 is better. But one of the things that they make 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:18.480 that's just top notches. This um what they call cheesecake. 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:20.640 It is not what you or I will call cheesecake 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:24.400 at all. Um, it's more like a yellow spongy cake. 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:27.720 I don't know where the cheese thing comes in. Maybe 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:30.760 there's a little cream cheese in there. I'm not quite sure. 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:33.079 But um, you and I would call it like kind 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:36.000 of a dense yellow sponge cake. But it is very, 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:38.920 very tasty. And that's a kind of a Japanese tradition 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:40.680 that I would guess Umi would say is one of 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:43.760 her favorites. And just a little shout out, there's a 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:46.480 place in Toronto. Uh, next time we're there, I'm going 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:49.400 to take you there. Actually, that's not true. I brought 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:53.600 you a cake from there from Uncle Tetsus Cheesecake Bakery. 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:57.200 That's a Japanese cheesecake. Oh that was good. Yeah, they're 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:00.520 the bomb. All I know is get out of my 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:05.080 face with any coconut or any pineapple. I'll take that, you'll, you'll, 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:07.360 I'll just slide that over to your desk. Then. Yes, 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:11.360 I don't even like German chocolate cake. Really, I love 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:14.280 German chocolate al right, Well, have you ever heard that 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:17.120 German chocolate cake and red velvet cake are the same. 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:21.079 It's actually not true. I haven't heard that. I had 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:23.320 heard that many times. It's not true. But that German 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:27.560 chocolate frosting is like, Man, that's good. I'm not into that. See, 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:29.760 I think that's what it does. That's what it is 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:33.160 that I don't like. I like sort of a tradish 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:37.200 butter creamy or just good old fashioned birthday cake icing 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:42.640 type thing. Yeah, and and surely you agree. Public is 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:44.400 the pinnacle of that. I don't know if I've ever 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:47.280 had a public's cake. I go to public three times 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:49.559 a week, So next time, I'm just gonna well, now 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:51.320 that you say that, it might be best that you 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:54.240 stay away because you're gonna start adding as They sell 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:56.800 it by the slice, which is dangerous. Oh they do, 0:09:56.880 --> 0:09:58.920 because that was that's the only way I would want 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:00.920 to do it. They sell up by the slice, chuck, 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:02.720 Like I can't bring a whole cake in my house. 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:06.680 Be sure you look closely, because they have. Yeah, it 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:10.040 would be they They sell also the same kind with 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:12.400 like a cream cheese frosting. You want yellow cake with 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:16.079 buttercream frosting, just give it a shot and let me 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:17.680 know what you think? All right? The funny thing is 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:19.880 we really haven't even started yet. No, do you want 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:22.760 to take a break? No, let's let's at least give 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:25.240 out like three facts first. Okay, well, I think we 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:27.280 just give a lot of facts about what the greatest 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:29.280 cakes in the world are. All right, how about this? 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:33.319 Then I'll start you out with the word cake apparently 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:37.240 is an old Norse word, uh coca, which is kind 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:40.040 of funny because here I don't know where it came from, 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:43.400 but you're in America. Coca can mean do do yeah. 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:46.360 But k a k a is where the original word 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:50.640 supposedly came from. Right, Um, And a lot of English 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:53.560 words have like Germanic or Norse origin. Did you you 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:57.160 know that? Yeah? So cake, the word cake is is 0:10:57.320 --> 0:11:02.760 of English origins. So's bread And apparently the um bread 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:05.560 and the cakes from back in the day, say, during 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:10.200 the medieval era. Um, they were very very similar. Probably 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:13.319 the only difference was the cake might be slightly smaller 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:16.760 and it was definitely sweeter. So cake was like a 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:19.079 sweeter version of bread back then. Yeah, they'd had a 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:20.800 little honey to it, but it's not like what we 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:22.959 think of his cake today. But that's not where the 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:26.400 first cake's originated. They actually go way, way, way further 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:32.520 back than that, right, Is that true? Yeah, it's true. Uh, 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:34.559 that may be a little too far back, Yeah, I 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:39.520 think so so. But basically around the time, um, I 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:45.000 believe Egypt, the Faronic Egypt, they were making cakes using 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:49.240 hot stones and honey and some sort of grain mashed up. 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:52.960 It seems like I bet the Chinese were doing it too. 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:55.800 Didn't say in here, right, but it seems like anytime 0:11:55.840 --> 0:12:00.480 you're talking about who did stuff first, it's like Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:04.480 and Romans pretty much. I mean, you know, ancient civilization, 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:07.040 but maybe not China because it doesn't seem like a 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:11.800 very cakey culture. No, I'm not sure about Chinese cakes. 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:13.400 I don't think I've ever had one. I bet you 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:16.000 if someone knows, though, and I bet you there's like 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:17.599 one of the best things the world, it's probably a 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:19.640 Chinese cake. You know. One of the other things too 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:22.240 that I didn't realize that I learned from this article, Chuck, 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:24.760 was that, um, a lot of the cakes you see 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:27.480 around the world that you would mistake for you know, 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:31.960 customary or traditional cakes for that culture, they're actually relatively 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:35.360 new that the cake that we know and love and 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:39.719 understand is is very much a nineteenth century American invention 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:44.600 that came out of the Industrial Revolution. That's right. I 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:47.680 mean clearly, like in Germany, like you talked about in 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:51.120 the fifteenth century, they were making cakes. They were actually 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:55.079 even serving cakes at birthdays, and by all accounts that's 0:12:55.120 --> 0:12:58.520 probably the first people to start the birthday cake at tradition. 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:02.880 But um, and I think they even put candles on top. Well, 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:05.320 none of the Greeks put candles on top, but it 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:09.679 wasn't like happy birthday cake. It was more like, hey, 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:12.480 this cake is round like the moon, and we're gonna 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:14.160 put candles on it to make them glow. And they're 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:16.679 probably huge candles now they think about it. Yeah, the 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:20.480 Greeks gave us the round cake and putting candles on 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:23.240 the cake to honor Artemis, to make the cake look 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:26.160 like the moon. And Artemis was the goddess of the moon, right, 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:28.000 so they were like, look, Artemus, what do you think 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:30.840 of this cake? She'd be like, it needs some frosting, 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:33.640 that's right. And then the Germans and the four hundred 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:36.880 started doing birthday cakes, and then the seventeen hundreds were 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:41.760 full on like it's a kid's birthday party, it's got candles, 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:46.120 it's a cake, and we'll sing some depressing German song. Right, 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:50.160 it makes you reflect on your own existence, that's right, 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:55.080 and it's eventually and but um there. So by the 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:59.079 time people were making birthday cakes in Germany, there was 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:02.080 a long, long, long tradition of cakes already, um, And 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:06.400 the word cake had started to originate in medieval Britain. 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:10.240 But um, there was such a thing as a cheesecake already. 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:17.160 The Romans created that and called it placenta. Yeah, Greeks 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:20.080 had created something that was basically a prototype of the 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:23.480 fruit cake, plock plock house. I believe they called it 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:27.760 feces right. Um. So there were all these kind of 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:30.360 cakes and breads and things that we're starting to to 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:33.480 be developed. And I think even that that pound cake 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:37.120 that you're not so hip on, um came before the 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:40.600 Industrial Revolution too. So there's stuff that you would kind 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:42.960 of recognize as cakes. But the idea of a cake 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:46.120 what Americans call it cake and no one loves a cake, 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:50.560 that came out of the Industrial Revolution. The show sponsored 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:54.840 by Cake Cake Eat Them Today, Alright, so let's take 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:57.880 a break. We definitely gave way more than three fags. Yeah, 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:00.200 we have earned our keep. Then we're going to come 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:02.480 back and talk about a little chemistry right after this. 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:23.520 All right, so we're back, and uh, we promised talk 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:26.680 of chemistry, and I think we talked about this briefly 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:30.240 on one show. I have tried to bake. I did 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:32.200 a birthday cake for Emily a couple of years ago, 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:36.120 Red Velvet waldor Story of Cake, and it was okay. 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:39.920 It wasn't pretty, though, what do you mean like it 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:43.520 like it was lopsided or there's an out of it. 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:45.280 It just you know, it didn't look like a cake 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:48.120 you would buy in a store. But it tasted really good. 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:50.160 I bet it was made with a lot of love too, 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:53.760 Oh of course. Um. But my deal is is I'm 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:57.200 not a great baker because baking requires you to be 0:15:57.360 --> 0:16:01.400 very precise with your green dance, because it is chemistry. 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:04.440 I'm a much better cook because I'm a fly by 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:06.040 the seat of my pants and throw a little of 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:08.160 this in there, throw a little that in there, and 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:10.480 there's a much you cann't do that with. No, there's 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:13.880 much more forgiveness in general cooking than baking. Yeah, cookings 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:16.280 and art baking is a science for sure. Yeah, that's 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:18.280 what they say, right, Yeah, well that's what I say 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:20.960 to you. Know, you didn't make that up, right, I 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:25.840 think I did. Okay, So, uh, with a with a cake, right, 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:28.560 what you're doing is producing a chemical reaction, and I 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:32.840 knew that, but I had no idea um on this 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:37.320 granular level that this article gets into, just how much 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:41.280 of a chemical reaction baking a cake is the understanding 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:44.040 of it too to me. So you want to start 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:47.280 with a levening agent, right, that's right. That's how you 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:50.880 get from batter which is kind of flattened, soupy and wet, 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:55.120 to a nice tall cake. The reason it rises is 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:58.800 because of a levening agent. And way way way back 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:01.320 in the day, they used to use yeast. They use 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:03.240 yeast for everything. They would make some beer, they would 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:05.840 make a cake, they make some bread, um, they would 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:08.879 throw it into the eyes of their enemy. They would 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:13.960 in a fight, the dirty fight um. And then eventually, uh, 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:16.439 yeast kind of fell to the wayside a little bit 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:20.760 as they realized that there's other ways, um, two make 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:24.280 a cake rise. One of the big ways is to 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:29.159 actually introduce air into it. And if you say, you know, 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:33.040 beat some eggs, um, what you're doing. You're not just 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:36.119 breaking the eggs down into their their kind of components 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:38.880 are like a mishmash of all of their components. You're 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:42.719 also introducing air into that mix, which will eventually, as 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:46.080 will see, transfers into the cake to make it rise. Yeah. 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:48.199 And like when you're when you're following a recipe, if 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:50.960 you've never baked a cake before, and it says cream 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:54.240 the butter and sugar or sift the flour, you can't 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:57.880 just say, like, I don't have a sifter, so I'll 0:17:57.880 --> 0:17:59.600 just throw the flour in here, like your cake is 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:02.760 screwed it, yeah, because it's not just like that makes 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:06.680 a flour pretty Yeah. The sifting flour introduces air into 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:09.560 the whole mix too. Yeah, this is all very important stuff. 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:12.560 So you can't. You can't cheat any of these steps. No, 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:14.840 you can't. You really need to follow a cake recipe 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:16.720 pretty closely. I mean, I guess if you're a master 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:18.399 baker and you know what you're doing, you can do 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:21.399 something in lieu of something else. But if you're just 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:26.160 an ordinary, uh non professional baker at home, just follow 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:28.080 the recipe and do what they say. Yeah, because you 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:31.280 couldn't say, well, I'm going to substitute um this flour 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:34.320 for a bunch of salt, like not only would it 0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:38.640 would it tastes radically different, like you're affecting the chemical 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:42.360 composition of the mixture. True, unless you're making a traditional 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:45.840 south toward of salt cake, right, which you can also 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:49.200 use on those snowy days to clear the road. That's right. 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:52.520 So you've got yeast as a living levening agent. You've 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:56.080 got introducing air through like whipping something. And I found 0:18:56.080 --> 0:19:00.479 this mention of a recipe that called for four eggs 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:04.040 to be beaten for two hours. Holy gal. So you 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:08.400 can imagine that everybody was pretty psyched when chemical levening 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:12.280 agents were introduced in the mid nineteenth century. So that 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:15.000 was an old recipe, yes, yeah, And so in other words, 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:16.720 you couldn't just put the mixer on with your eggs 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:20.399 and leave and go get on social media. No, this 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:25.120 was with your arm, and yeah it was not. I mean, 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:27.760 I imagine if the person you were working for asked 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:30.280 for a cake, You're just like, this is a bad day, 0:19:30.600 --> 0:19:34.160 this is gonna be a bad day. For three hours right. 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:36.280 And the whole reason again you're doing this is to 0:19:36.320 --> 0:19:40.200 introduce some air, right. But if you could use something else, 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:44.080 say like sodium bicarbonate also known as baking soda, and 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:46.720 you mixed it, which is a base, and you added 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:49.440 another ingredient in there, which is like an acid, say 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:53.800 like buttermilk or yogurt or vinegar, right, like in a 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:58.359 vinegar cake. Um, that sodium bicarbonate, that base and the 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:02.639 acid are gonna mix together and form a chemical reaction 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:08.040 and release CEO two. And this is how modern cakes rise. 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:12.560 C O two is released through this chemical reaction and 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:15.879 it goes and bubbles up through the cake and makes 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:18.560 the cake rise with it. That's what levining agents do, 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:21.680 is they take air and they expand it and make 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:24.520 it the cake. Yeah, Like when you slice a piece 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:27.840 of cake. Um, not not so much pound cake because 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:30.560 it's way more dense or other non flowered cakes, but 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:33.600 your standard birthday cake. You slice it up and you 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:37.680 see those it's you know those pockets, those holes that 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:40.520 you know, those are air holes. Those were where the 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:42.960 bubbles were. And we'll we'll we'll get to that a 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:45.560 little more. But it's that's very important stuff. That's a 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:49.800 that's a famous chef's apron. Baker's apron asked me about 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:57.360 my air holes. Um, fat source very important. Uh. Fats 0:20:57.400 --> 0:21:01.040 improve the texture of a cake, allow it to be moist, flavorful, 0:21:01.080 --> 0:21:03.879 because we all know if that tastes great. Uh. And butter. 0:21:04.920 --> 0:21:07.480 You know, people can use shortening, which is good, Margarine 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:10.240 is good, cooking oil, this can all be used. But 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:13.960 for me, just get some real butter. And and I 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:16.400 say that for all foods. I went on a butter 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:22.200 uh uh, not a kick, No, no, no, I am 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:24.720 on a butter kick. I went on a butter a 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:28.680 boycott of sorts for a while. Uh, like real butter. 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:31.960 But now I'm back on butter. Oh yeah, yeah, I 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:34.520 know what you mean. I tend to think butter is 0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:38.480 healthier of all of them too. Um, although olive oil 0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:41.960 has it beat. It's just such a radically different taste, 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:44.320 especially when you're baking with it. Although I have you 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:47.679 ever had an olive oil cake? I don't think so. 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:49.880 I don't remember where I had it. But man, they 0:21:49.920 --> 0:21:54.200 are good, yes, surprisingly good. But it is definitely it's 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:57.000 a distinct thing, you know what I'm saying, Like subbing 0:21:57.040 --> 0:21:58.800 olive oil out for butter is gonna give you a 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:02.240 weirdo recipe no one's going to like. But they might 0:22:02.280 --> 0:22:06.120 pretend they do if they like you, but they don't 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:09.399 really like that. Uh. And all these fats sources they 0:22:09.440 --> 0:22:13.440 can be used sometimes together um or swapped out for butter. 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:15.399 But but again, you gotta know what you're doing. You 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:17.040 can't just say, well, I'm not gonna use butter. I'm 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:19.760 gonna just use the same amount of cooking oil as 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:22.840 melted butter. Right, And then one of the reasons why 0:22:22.840 --> 0:22:25.320 he's swapping something out for butter in particular too, I mean, 0:22:25.320 --> 0:22:28.159 butter gives it its richness, it's it's it helps improve 0:22:28.200 --> 0:22:31.520 it's moisteness and texture. Right, butter is great. But butter 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:36.320 also has a tendency to um incorporate air when you 0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:39.720 cream butter, when you start to mash it around. That's 0:22:39.720 --> 0:22:41.359 the whole reason. Like they're not telling you to cream 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:43.879