Friday, September 25, 2009

Happy First Birthday, Foodspiration! … and It’s Food Science Friday!


We are celebrating our first year of Foodspiration! (This was Justin's 2008 birthday cake, right about the time we started Foodspiration and my former baking blog--click here for the past post.) We are so excited to celebrate this past year of sharing our passion for food and our desire to inspire everyone to engage with cooking and eating in small daily ways.

We also wanted to say thank you for reading and commenting and trying our suggestions and ideas for yourself. Nothing makes us happier than to get an email or a comment that you tried a recipe or went to a foodie spot that we recommended. It’s all about the little things!

So in honor of our year of Foodspiration, we are each going to reminisce and link to our favorite posts for the next few days. You may have noticed that we’ve upped our posting frequency and added One Word Wednesdays and Food Science Fridays. We hope you like them!


And for today’s Food Science Friday . . . a fun fact about cake mix!

Do know what one of the most common reasons behind a failed cake from a cake mix is? Old-age! That’s right, even cake mixes have an expiration date. The leavening system (i.e. baking powder) which produces gas bubbles that create the rise and fluffy structure in cakes, can slowly react over time. Cake mixes that are past the expiration dates are likely to have problems rising due to reacted leavening.

Next Friday we’ll talk about the difference between baking soda and baking powder, why they can’t be substituted, and why you should pay attention to the expiration date.