Thursday, June 9, 2022

Small vs. big


 

Blueberry cinnamon snack cake is on the menu for next weekend.  My last post talked about the choices I made regarding blueberries for this cake.  Today something else is on my mind which is also connected to this cake:  small vs. big.

Sometimes I will experiment with a recipe to see what kind of size options I have.  When I was preparing to add this snack cake to the full menu long ago, I thought about what sizes I wanted to offer.  Certainly, a full-sized 9-inch diameter cake was going to be one of the options.  But I also wanted to offer smaller sizes.  I experimented with different sizes and even with loaves.  But in each case, the finished cake wasn't quite the same as the original full-sized cake.  There was something slightly different in how it baked which altered the texture enough that I noticed it.  And adjusting baking times didn't eliminate that difference.  I like the full-sized version a lot so I wasn't about to accept something that was even a little less good just because I wanted to offer a smaller size.  This is why both a full-sized cake and also individual slices are on the full menu -- slices instead of a small version. 

I find this fascinating.  The same cake, the same batter, the same recipe, but a different result depending on what size baking option is used.  This doesn't occur with my Swedish visiting cake.  The 4-inch size and the full 8-inch size are identical.  (Note:  The full-sized Swedish visiting cake is not on the full menu, but I make in on request sometimes.) Brownies?  No difference.  But there are some things for which it seems that the final size affects the final baked result in a way that is easy to discern.  Why is that exactly?

I haven't made a list of items where this happens, but perhaps over time I will start keeping track.  I am always interested in trying to answer these sorts of questions.

That's all for today.  Have a great day and a great weekend.  


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