Background:
We chose to make chocolate cake recipe vegan because veganism is a growing trend as people are realizing the impact animal agriculture has on their health, the environment, and the animals themselves. By removing the animal products, the recipe is lower in saturated fat and cholesterol, and is suitable for those with an egg or dairy allergy.
Recipe Preparation:
While preparing the two cake batters, we noted how similar they were. The batter consistency between both the modified cake and regular cake was very similar after all ingredients were mixed together. We did not notice any differences in the thickness, color, or odor. The only difference we observed was the flax seeds were visible in the modified recipe if we looked closely enough.
The vegan batter preparation
Mixing the dry and wet ingredients
The original recipe preparation:
Mixing the dry and wet ingredients
Observed Recipe Outcomes:
The most notable differences we observed were visual. The original recipe cake came out a lighter brown after baking. The original recipe also had more volume and appeared lighter and fluffier. The flax seeds were more visible in the modified cake once it was baked than they were in the batter. 67% of taste-testers said vegan was super moist, compared to the 55% of people who rated the original recipe as super moist. 30% of people said the vegan cake had perfect volume, compared to the 55% who said the original cake had the perfect volume. 80% of people said the appearance of the vegan cake was good or perfect. 80% also thought that the original cake’s appearance was good or perfect. Overall, 55% preferred the original cake and 45% preferred the vegan cake.
We originally theorized that the vegan cake made with flax instead of eggs would be more dense and moist. This turned out to be true when we compared the two recipes. The vegan cake was more dense and it rose much less than our original recipe. We theorized that the eggs in the original recipe would provide more structure. When we made the original and vegan recipe in lab, we did not think that the original recipe had more structure. However, this conclusion might be inaccurate because we took the cakes out of the pans while they were still too hot. This resulted in crumbling of both cakes, making it difficult to make an accurate comparison. We predicted that the texture would be the same between our two cakes. This was not true. The vegan cake felt heavier and denser in the mouth. The original cake was fluffier and lighter in the mouth. There was no real distinguishable difference in taste between the two cakes.
Describe the scientific principles for why the observed changes occurred:
The modified vegan cake was more moist. We believe this is because we substituted eggs from the original recipe with flax. We learned that eggs add moisture to baked goods. However, we read that flax is an egg substitute that forms a gummy gel-like paste is formed when the flax is mixed with water. This may be a reason that the modified cake was so moist. The modified cake was more flat than the original recipe because it had more moisture from the flax substitute. The flax held on to the excess moisture more than the egg would have. As the modified recipe retained more water and moisture, this limited how much the cake rose.
Nutritional Comparison:
For a slice (1/24 of the cake)
Original: 123 kcal, 9g of sugar, 1g of fiber, 217mg of sodium, 6g of total fat, 1g of saturated fat, 14mg of cholesterol
Vegan: 121 kcal, 9g of sugar, 1g of fiber, 212mg of sodium, 5g of total fat, 1g of saturated fat, 0mg of cholesterol
The nutrient compositions were very similar. There was negligible differences between the calories and sodium. The original and modified recipe only had 1 additional gram of fat. The main difference was in the amount of cholesterol. The original recipe had 14mg of cholesterol, whereas the vegan recipe had 0mg, as it was plant-based. Overall, the nutritional value between the vegan and original cakes is very small and would likely not have any biological significance.
Future changes to improve the modified recipe:
Our improved modified recipe would advise baking both cakes and for an additional 10 minutes. The recipe stated to bake for 30-35 minutes, but when we checked the cakes at the 30 minute and 35 minute mark, they were both still semi-liquid in the center. The toothpick did not come out clean and we could see they were both still too liquidy.
After seeing how flat our modified vegan cake was, we thought about potential ways to make our recipe more light and fluffy. Adding extra baking powder is a “vegan trick” to getting baked goods to rise more. We would try doubling the amount of baking powder that is called for and see if that helped the modified recipe rise more and become less dense.
Enjoying a piece of the modified cake!
Citations:
Brown, Alton. “Sugar Cookies.” Food Network. N.p., 16 Jan. 2014. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.
Shirleyo. “One Bowl Chocolate Cake III Recipe.” Allrecipes. N.p., May 2007. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.
Vulkovic, Diane. “7 Vegan Egg Substitutes for Baking.” PlenteousVeg. N.p., 11 Apr. 2017. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.