CAKES ON THE RISE

What makes a cake perfectly tender and moist? What gives cake their rise and how do fats create texture? Lydia Gwin shares her baking nerdiness with the science behind cakes. Lydia shares the hows and whys of baking cakes with proper measuring and mixing techniques, and the role that leavening agents, flours, fats, acidity, flavorings, chocolates, and sugars play in the outcome of a cake, as she bakes angel food cake with seven-minute frosting, Amaretto-olive oil cake, plus a two-layer dark chocolate cake with pistachio-cherry buttercream frosting.