Dr. Oetker Spectacular Science Squashable Jelly Bubbles Cupcake Mix, 325 g

Product Information

Queen Victoria was reportedly a huge fan of one chemically leavened sweet treat in particular: a plain sponge filled with jam and sometimes cream or buttercream. This recipe became known as the Victoria sponge or the Victoria sandwich. In this article, a mixture of chemists, professional bakers and food manufacturers tells Chemistry World more about the science behind what is today still one of the UK’s most popular cakes.

If solid fat, such as butter, is being used it should be at room temperature to make it more pliable and ‘easier to mix evenly throughout the cake batter’, explains Ali Bouzari, culinary scientist with a PhD in food biochemistry at the food development consultancy Pilot R+D in California, US. Add the eggs Making cakes like these might seem like an ageless tradition, but actually this type of light, airy cake is a relatively new invention. It is the starch pectin, a polysaccharide naturally present in fruit, which enables this mixture to set into the colloidal gel that we recognise as jam. It is released from the fruit at the setting point of jam – about 104°C. Its long chains then bind together through intermolecular interactions, and form the gel framework that then traps the sugary liquid and supports suspended fruit pieces.

Our newsletters

The gentle folding action used to incorporate the flour avoids breaking the bubbles you have worked so hard to put into the mixture. It also reduces gluten formation because although this is vital to the structure of the cake, excessive beating creates too much gluten, resulting in a cake with a heavy, bready texture. Modern cake flour is made from "soft" wheats with a low protein content, as opposed to bread flour which is "hard" with a high protein content. Creaming can be hard work. In 1857 Miss Leslie (an American author of popular cookbooks) described a technique that would allow cooks to beat eggs "for an hour without fatigue" but then advised: "to stir butter and sugar is the hardest part of cake making. Have this done by a manservant."

Perfect for parents who want to introduce a fun learning experience when baking with their children, the Solar System mix comes with everything needed to bake 12 cupcakes and decorate them to look like the planets in our solar system.Jen Brown, Head of Marketing, Cake & Dessert at Dr. Oetker UK, said: “While space as a theme is part of most children’s curriculum at school, at home it’s a fantastic topic for activities, particularly when it comes to home baking. It’s fun and exciting for the kids, and it also means parents can add an educational element to after school activities, stimulating their imagination and encouraging creativity. Once cooked, the cake should be left in the tins for a few minutes to allow the framework to fully harden. ‘This is because during those first two to four minutes when a cake comes out of the oven is when it’s at its least supported and most jiggly. You want to try to manipulate it as little as possible until it’s had a couple of minutes to cool down and solidify,’ says Bouzari. There are few things better than sitting in a kitchen as it fills with the smell of baking. So make a cup of tea and relax for the next 30 minutes, letting the warm smells emanating from the oven envelope you. The smell of warm butter; the slightly sulphury smell of the eggs as they coagulate; the dark caramelising smell of the browning reactions (and, if you get distracted, the acrid smell of burning).

The purpose of a chemical leavener – or raising agent – is to execute an acid–base reaction in a batter producing carbon dioxide bubbles that help the cake to rise. Bakers first experimented with this idea in the 1830s, using a combination of the base sodium bicarbonate (baking soda, NaHCO 3) and lactic acid (in the form of sour milk) in their recipes. It was during the 17th century that eggs became the dominant ingredient for raising cakes, gradually replacing yeast. This was before chemical raising agents, so all of the air in the cake had to be added by vigorous beating. One early recipe states that four eggs should be "beaten together for two hours" to lighten a fine biscuit bread. These air bubbles were then trapped during the baking, a little like in a soufflé, to produce a light and fluffy cake. A classic of risen cakes is the English pound cake, on which the Victoria sponge is based. These cakes generally contain equal weights of the four major ingredients: structure-building flour and eggs; and structure-weakening fat and sugar. This recipe provides the perfect balance of these ingredients. With any more fat or sugar the delicate scaffold of egg and flour collapses, making a dense, heavy cake (like a fruit cake). RecipeIt was another chemist, Eben Horsford of Harvard University in the US, who produced the first all-in-one baking powder containing sodium bicarbonate, acidic calcium dihydrogen phosphate and corn starch (to absorb any moisture present during storage). Baking powder recipes have been tweaked over the years but this three-component design – base, acid and a moisture absorber – has held firm. Separate children into teams of 2 or 3. Distribute materials so that 2 teams are sharing a set of ingredients. Suggest to children that they first measure the dry ingredients into a bowl (including the butter, if using), and then add the wet ingredients. They will measure everything in spoonfuls, or with measuring spoons. Allow children to use whatever proportions of ingredients they think are appropriate, but show them a cupcake tin, and let them know that however much batter they make, they’ll only use ¼ cup of it to make their cupcakes with. While they are mixing their recipes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Another key parameter is the boiling time. It’s shorter than many people think, explains Walter Scott. The mixture needs to be boiled long enough for the pectin to form, but not so long that it burns. At home, and at the Tiptree jam factory, jam is boiled at atmospheric pressure. ‘This results in a degree of caramelisation,’ says Walter Scott, and the same reaction pathways occur as for the cake itself. At Hartley’s, however, the boiling is conducted at a lower pressure and therefore lower temperature, resulting in a different flavour profile. Discussion and conclusion Using an electric mixer beat the butter into a creamy (frenzy). Then gradually add the sugar mixing in between. Also notice how the fat coats the inside of your mouth. It is this coating ability that allows the fat to play another crucial role, that of a "shortener". The fat coats the starch and protein of the flour with an oily film, and in so doing reduces the formation of tough (bready) gluten. Fruit purees can also take on this role. This leads to a cake that has a tender and "short" crumb.