Cherry(?!) Cake Fail

[jeffg]

If anyone saw the piece on Huffpo today about cake disasters, some of them are pretty funny imo. Especially #3, it was supposed to be a cherry cake and the guy decided to use cherry juice instead of water. "I thought it would come out pink."

Another guy claimed the recipe calls for 3 cups of cigarette ashes.

Anyone know the chemistry of this? Why does red cherry juice produce something that looks like the world's most epic cannacake?

 

[mrb627]

Wondering...

Did it taste as good as it looked?

Cause it looks like blown in insulation material in my parents attic.
Malcolm

 

[jeffg]

According to the photo caption: "Tastes great but looks a bit odd..". Talk about understatement.

 

[whirlcool]

I was looking for the cigarette butts inside the cake. That color is awful

 

[sudsmaster]

It's probably the xanthocyanins reacting to a pH change during the baking process. The baking powder is basic, which raises the pH, and as we all know from our high school chemistry classes, this turns ordinary pH paper from red to blue. In the case of the cake, the yellow of the flour and other ingredients probably makes the blue look greenish gray.

I bet it does taste a whole lot better than it looks, though.

One might try dropping some vinegar on a piece of cake and see if it turns pink or red...

 

[sudsmaster]

Turns out my educated guess was right. Found this on the net just now...

"A chemical reaction between cherries and alkalies such as baking powder causes a blue discoloration in a baked product. This can be prevented by using sour cream instead of milk in the recipe or by adding an acidic liquid."

Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/cherry-fruit-facts.html

 

[jeffg]

Rich, thanks. Apparently even the article publishers didn't know that.

 

[sudsmaster]

Well, if it were me, I'd pass it off as an exotic "Jade Cake" and let the guessing begin.