Now tell me more But Maggie just gave him a blank stare Kiki’s hand was still way up Kiki loved cake and she loved science She was absolutely bursting to give the answers Mr G turned back to Kiki and let out a sigh Okay Ms Booker why don’t you explain to the class what you think I’m looking for Kiki cleared her throat How was it possible that no one else had a clue These questions were well a piece of cake When you bake she began every ingredient has a different job Flour is the base Baking powder makes the cake fluffy Eggs which are not a liquid or a solid but a colloid are like the glue that binds everything together Sugar makes it sweet of course Mr Galipeau smiled and nodded Go on Mixing dry and wet ingredients Kiki continued has to be done in a certain order so the ingredients respond or react the way they need to The proteins in flour bond and make gluten The baking powder releases carbon dioxide which makes the batter bubble The bubbles make the cake expand The heat in an oven turns the goopy batter which is another colloid into something solid How do you know all these things someone whined from the back
Kiki smiled This lover of all things baked was on a roll I like cake okay she joked Anyway I haven’t even gotten to the best part Okay Ms Booker Mr Galipeau interrupted Let’s give some other students a chance to speak Does anyone else have anything to add Eduardo’s hand shot up I wanna know what the question said What’s the difference between fudge and carrot cake besides the gross factor I mean who would put vegetables in a cake Everyone in class laughed But Mr Galipeau turned to Kiki again Ms Booker Kiki flipped her braids Totally So obviously those kinds of cakes are different because they have different ingredients Putting carrots in a cake can make it denser And the texture can change if you don’t add liquid gradually or if you mix too long And Okay time to wrap up Mr Galipeau said Psssst said the kid sitting directly behind Kiki Do you memorize the textbook or what Of course that voice had permission to tease It belonged to Kiki’s best pal Jesse Gordon When Kiki looked back at Jesse he swished his brown bangs back with a flick of his head Brainiac he mouthed
the words and stuck out his tongue comically Kiki didn’t mind He was just being Jesse Some people thought it was funny that her closest friend was a boy and hilarious that he happened to be the coolest boy in the whole grade But Kiki and Jesse had bonded way back in preschool over play dough and Popsicles and they’d been inseparable ever since Unlike Kiki Jesse was no science whiz but he was smart He teased her because he couldn’t help himself He was born a practical joker Kiki rolled her eyes at Jesse and turned back to the teacher That brings us to this month’s project I want you all to think more about chemical and physical reactions in the kitchen Are you ready for a little food chemistry Mr Galipeau passed out a yellow sheet of paper Molecules in Motion Changing State Evaporation Condensation Freezing or Melting Forming a Precipitate The Rate of a Chemical Reaction temperature catalysts chemical change Using Chemical Change to Identify an Unknown endothermic vs exothermic
Energy Changes in Chemical Reaction pH and color changes I want you to look over this list carefully During the next few weeks I want you to experiment in your kitchens Record your ingredients measurements and methods Use these scientific concepts to write a report about how your chosen recipe is prepared And it has to be edible Mr Galipeau looked directly at Eduardo Aw man Eduardo complained Everyone groaned They wanted an excuse to eat food not to write about it But Kiki was excited This was easy She could do this work with her eyes super-glued shut The only thing I’ll cook up is a disaster joked Eduardo Kiki laughed Actually that’d be cool if you could make a cake that explodes A sly grin spread across Eduardo’s face Or a soup tsunami Class was interrupted abruptly by the lunch bell Kids jumped up from their seats and moved quickly to the door to head downstairs to the cafeteria Kiki hurried there too All that sweet talk had made her absolutely ravenous Eyes searching the lunchroom Kiki found an
