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Tag: recipe

  • Raindrop Cake, Not a Cake?

    Have you ever wondered what a raindrop would taste like if it was transformed into cake form? Look no further! Raindrop cake, albeit very different from your typical, traditional cake, will let you have a truly magical experience.

    IMG_1885                                                         My first attempt!

    Screen Shot 2018-11-01 at 8.50.37 PM

    My second attempt!

    I’ve always loved scrolling through food reviews and videos. One trend that emerged in recent years caught my eye. It was a clear, beautiful jelly bubble resembling a raindrop. It seemed so unique that I set out on a journey to try creating it myself, and it was definitely not an easy task. Being able to set the cake while trying to keep it light, soft, and bouncy and to where you’re able to feel like you’re eating a drop of water took many trials and errors. Keep reading to discover more about the secret ingredient and how you can make your own raindrop cake!

    Raindrop cake, also known as Mizu Shingen Mochi, was first created by the Kinseiken Seika Company in Japan, using two main ingredients: fresh, mineral water from the Japanese Alps and agar. This light, refreshing delicacy resembles a jiggly, blob of jello, but will melt in your mouth and fill it with a hint of sweetness and nuttiness when paired with brown syrup and roasted soybean flour. But beware! If not eaten immediately, this dessert will dissolve and vanish within 30 minutes as recipe calls for the minimal amount of agar.

    The key ingredient that solidifies water into a raindrop cake is a polysaccharide known as agar-agar. Agar is made from seaweed or red algae, Gelidium amansii. It was first introduced in Japan over 350 years ago, in 1658, and is still commonly used to this day due to the hydrocolloid properties and agarose composition that allow it to form gel-like substances using hydrogen bonding in the presence of water. Agar is also unique in that its thickening properties are reversible; disintegration occurs when temperatures are varied.

    IMG_1883The structure of agar.

    Due to agar’s gelling ability and the ease at which substances can be gelled, melted, and reformed, agar has numerous uses. One of the most common applications of agar can be found in the food industry. Agar is used in canning foods and is also tasteless, making it a perfect addition to foods and desserts that need thickening such as ice cream, icings, puddings, cookies, jelly, and pie fillings. It can also be found as an agar jelly or as a crystal boba topping in many bubble tea drinks. It has also been used as a laxative and in diets due to its ability to stimulate fullness using low calories.

    bubbleAgar jelly used as a topping for bubble tea.
    This was the first time I’ve ever had agar jelly, and I haven’t looked back since! Yum!

    Application in biology labs as a medium to breed insects like silkworms and fruit flies or to culture bacteria and yeasts is also common.

    IMG_1118     Here an agar plate was used to culture Serratia marcescens, a Gram-negative bacteria. 

    Agar is a valuable ingredient for many reasons such as being extremely low in calories and containing fiber. Agar also does not require sugar to solidify, which is highly beneficial in food preparation for diabetics. It is also known as a vegan and vegetarian gelatin substitute, and best of all, it is an environmentally friendly product.

    Here’s how you can make your own raindrop cake that has swept the internet in recent years!

    Ingredients

    DSC_0452

    • 1 cup of mineral water
    • 1/4 tsp agar-agar
    • 3 tsp of granulated sugar (optional)

    Optional toppings

    • 1 tbsp roasted soybean flour
    • brown sugar syrup (1 cup of brown sugar + 1/2 cup of water)
    • flowers, petals, fruits

    flowers

    1. Dissolve agar and water in a small pot.
    2. Allow mixture to come to a boil over medium-high heat. Continue boiling over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes.
    3. Pour mixture into any round-bottom mold. (Optional: Add light fruit/flower toppings to the mixture.)
    4. Let mixture cool and place in the fridge overnight or until it sets.
    5. To make syrup, dissolve the brown sugar in water over medium-high heat until mixture boils. Maintain a rolling boil for 1 minute.
    6. Remove mixture and let cool. Serve with raindrop cake along with optional soybean flour. *Consume your raindrop cake upon taking it out the fridge. May melt if left out for over 20-30 minutes.

    References

    Giant Raindrop Cake Recipe by Tasty. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://tasty.co/recipe/giant-raindrop-cake

    K. (2018, September 15). Raindrop Cake. Retrieved from https://kirbiecravings.com/raindrop-cake/

    Maitland, H. (2017, August 02). Everything You Need To Know About Raindrop Cakes. Retrieved from https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/everything-you-need-to-know-about-raindrop-cake

    National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Compound Database; CID=71571511, https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/71571511 (accessed Sept. 28, 2018).

    Phillips, G.O. Williams, P.A.. (2009). Handbook of Hydrocolloids (2nd Edition).Woodhead Publishing. Retrieved from
    https://app.knovel.com/hotlink/toc/id:kpHHE00002/handbook-hydrocolloids/handbook-hydrocolloids

     

  • Chemical Secrets Behind Dragon Beard Candy

    The Georgia Tech STEMcomm VIP team had the Taste of Science festival on March 12, 2018.  During this event, my group (members from Georgia Tech SASE) and I decided to make dragon beard candy. Now let’s see the steps of making it and some science knowledge behind it.

    Materials:

    corn starch, corn syrup, white sugar, vinegar, peanuts and sesame

    Step 1

    Pour 1kg white sugar, 100 g corn syrup, 2 cup of water, 2 tea spoon of vinegar into the pot and boil in medium fire for 30-40 min, do not stir!

    Step 2

    Pour the caramelized syrup out and wait until it gets cool down. Put the candy into corn starch and start pulling. First of all, drill a holein the enter of candy to make it look like the shape of donut. Then make the hold bigger and start folding and double the strands.

    Step 3

    Tear down 5 cm of candy strands, put peanuts and sesame inside of the candy strands and wrap it up.

    During the process of making dragon beard candy, the most difficult step is the boiling part. Our first time, we didn’t understand the purpose of making caramelized syrup. Also, we didn’t know the function of the vinegar so we only used less than 1 teaspoon so we didn’t make our candy too sour. Then we boiled about 20 minutes and poured the sugar syrup out even though it didn’t change color. We even put it into refrigerator for 5 hours, but it was still too soft and sticky to make it into any shape.

    After discussion, we decided to boil it for a longer time than the first time and surprisingly, we found the color of the syrup slowly changed to gold and yellow after 30 minutes, and then it turned into red and brown. Then we suddenly realized that the purpose of this step is to let the white sugar get caramelized.

    WechatIMG175

    White sugar is actually sucrose. When we heat sucrose solution, it first gets boiling. Keep heating, thermal decomposition reaction happens. Sucrose decomposes into glucose and fructose. At a high temperature, caramelization happens.  According to the science of cooking, “ Caramelization is the oxidation of sugar and a type of non-enzymatic browning reaction. As the process occurs, volatile chemicals are released producing the characteristic caramel flavor. The reaction involves the removal of water (as steam) and the break down of the sugar. The caramelization reaction depends on the type of sugar. And the caramelization temperature about 160 C, 320 F. ” [1] Thus, the reason why we failed the first time is that we didn’t boil for long enough.

    What’s more, based on the sugar property study, the inversion reaction is accelerated by the presence of acids (low pH) or by some enzymes. This reaction will accelerate with increasing acidity and increasing temperature. [2] This tells us why we should put 2 teaspoons of vinegar in order to accelerate the chemical reaction.

    Caramelization

    Citation

    [1] http://www.scienceofcooking.com/caramelization.htm

    [2] Knecht, R. L. “Properties of sugar.” Sugar (1990): 46-65.