So at the bus stop this morning my DD decides to tell me that she now has to do anscience fair project. Instead of going into how she decides to tell me NOW -3 weeks before it’s due- I ask her if she’s thought of any ideas....her response “I don’t know inkinda wanna do something with cake”. So now I’m trying to rack my brain of something that SHE could do easily on her own/mostly on her own.....”with cake”. I was thinking of maybe doing store bought frosting vs homemade buttercream and which would hold up better on cupcakes....but wasn’t sure how to word it or propose the idea/explain to her or how to work the scientific process with it. Any ideas?
could do baking time and temp comparisons... use box mixes and change up the time to temp ratio to see if it makes a difference in taste and texture
could do ratio comparisons with differing flour to sugar to butter to eggs ratios... I would keep three of the four ingredients the same and see what happens when you change the quantity of one
could also do cookie comparisons... baking powder vs baking soda or refrigerated vs unrefrigerated dough
Make sure all of the guidelines are laid out before hand and an educated guess is made as to the expected result. Keep as many variables the same as possible (I would bake or complete all on the same day to make sure temp/humidity is the same, unless that's another thing she wants to test). I hope you all have fun!
If you chose to do the buttercream test, you could take it a step further and do store bought vs all butter buttercream vs crusting buttercream vs cream cheese butter cream. Could explain how each one reacts to warm temperatures and send her to school with a hairdryer to demonstrate.
idk -- but my son did a velocity test with different types of ramps -- he just used a little toy car-- a match box type car I think is the term -- so he took sections of race car track and covered them with different things, ice was one -- I can't even remember but we used skittles too to mimic cobblestones -- and then just measured which one went farther -- it was fun and pretty easy -- but maybe that will help spark an idea for you --
making icing like a swiss meringue with the aquafaba is pretty interesting -- the juice from canned garbanzos -- so what about the difference between using aquafaba for an angel food cake versus egg whites?
another idea using angel food cake is to test the power of different leavenings -- where the angle food only has egg whites and a bit of cream of tartar to hold it versus baking powder cakes versus gateau which is just egg leavened -- note the different amount of rise in the product --
oh I gotta good one -- shelf life of cake -- box mix versus scratch made -- then put them both in the fridge -- and the scratch cake made from butter will not be as soft after you refrigerate it but the box mix will still be soft if made with oil --
you don't say how old she is so -- idk -- just tossing out ideas
oh y'know what else is cool -- sugar -- what happens to sugar when it is cooked -- in water, it turns crystal clear from a cloudiness -- in fudge -- in icing -- in panorama eggs it hardens without any heat --
how about the difference between royal and buttercream
oh how about buttercream made with confectioner's sugar from beets and with confectioner's sugar made from cane -- grit versus smooth --
what about the difference in amounts of fat in the icing -- crusting versus non crusting -- how long it takes to crust
what about the hazardous nature of cream cheese icing and measure the bad bacteria growing or not growing
I heard of an experiment where the student made a fresh hamburger and brought a hamburger from some fast food chain. Sat them out for a period of time, sorry, don’t remember how exactly how long. The homemade hamburger obviously went moldy, and the fast food hamburger was perfectly fine. So what about doing the same with a store bought cake vs a homemade cake? I am assuming the store bought cake will last a lot longer than the homemade. Then experiment chemical filled cake vs fresh ingredient homemade cake.
OMG my daughter's nickname is DD. I am currently doing the same project with my 4th grader (not DD). I have tapped the two maple tree's next to my house. We are measuring the correlation between the average temperature and sap output. Since one is a silver and the other a sugar we are keeping the data separate and will see how they stack up against one another at the end. The only downside is that its been so cold the last week barely anything is running.
OMG my daughter's nickname is DD. I am currently doing the same project with my 4th grader (not DD). I have tapped the two maple tree's next to my house. We are measuring the correlation between the average temperature and sap output. Since one is a silver and the other a sugar we are keeping the data separate and will see how they stack up against one another at the end. The only downside is that its been so cold the last week barely anything is running.
cool! now we've got two science projects -- love them both
I am not sure if your school is set up for this or not but if it is you could culture the molds/bacteria that grow on the cakes and see if there is any difference in the store bought v's homemade and fridge v's bench cakes with regards to what grows on them.
@bubs1stbirthday-I was just honking how cool her “IB school” would be if they had this kind of technology available this morning before dragging myself outta bed lmao
@k8memphis-ikr. My son was offering up cake at the bus stop. I think I may have to frost the left overs and serve it when he comes home before my kindergarten becomes known as “the cAke dealer” lmao
as far as the project goes the only thing different I’ve noticed and she’s noticed is that the store bought is obviously more preserved and is “dryer” frosting wise but the homemades frosting-at lest on the counter, I haven’t checked the fridges ones tbh- is that the frosting has started to “melt” a little and made the cake “slide” a bit, oh and “a sprinkle or two have melted and dyed the cake in spots”
Its is SLOWLY going. lol. Both the store bought and homemade cakes have hardened completely to rock. The home made cake on the counter is starting to mold underneath the cake, where as the store bought is fine. The home made cake from the fridge is starting to form condensation in between the two layers, where as the store bought is fine. And at the moment it seems as if I'm doing more of her project than she is.
nothing smells worse than rancid cake -- yoiks gahg
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