Baking Powder Vs Baking Soda: Which Ingredient Is Best For Making A Cake?

Folks making stir-fries and boozy steak marinades are allowed a certain freedom as they create their appetizing fare that bakers can't enjoy. Any ingredient that seems like it would elevate the dish is up for grabs, but baking is more scientific. Confections like cakes require a definite amount of specific ingredients to come out of the oven just right. Baking soda and baking powder are commonly used to help these tasty treats rise, but determining which to use without studiously following a recipe can be confusing.

The education content coordinator at Wilton Sweet Studio, Casey Nunes, clued us into the difference between the two and why one might work better than the other in certain situations. "Baking soda is used when you have an acidic ingredient (like lemon or sour cream) since it's pure sodium bicarbonate — its chemical reaction with the acidic ingredient produces the lift in your baked goods," she said. "Baking powder contains baking soda and cream of tartar as ingredients, so it can create a rising reaction all on its own." This is why a red velvet cake, which typically calls for acidic buttermilk, uses baking soda to help it rise, whereas baking powder is usually used for things like scones that don't include acidic ingredients in the recipe. So, what about other cakes? According to Nunes, your decision of baking powder or baking soda depends on what else is in the recipe.

The reason recipes call for one leavener or the other (or sometimes both) comes down to how each interacts with the other ingredients in the mix. Nunes said, "Generally, when you're baking a cake from scratch you'll be using baking powder or both baking powder and baking soda to help your cake rise during the baking process, but it really depends on what other ingredients are in your cake." Baking soda helps cakes to rise by creating carbon dioxide when it comes in contact with acid. Baking powder can be made at home because it is composed of just three ingredients: baking soda, cream of tartar, and cornstarch. The baking soda and cream of tartar create carbon dioxide without the assistance of another acid being tossed into the mix.

Some cake recipes call for both leaveners to be included because the baking soda will offset the acidic ingredients in the batter, while the baking powder helps it rise more in the oven. Excluding one from a recipe that calls for both will ultimately change how the cake comes out, just as substituting one for the other in recipes that only call for one can also dramatically affect the outcome. Generally, experimentation is a great way to figure out how different ingredients react, but with baking soda and baking powder, Nunes recommends against forging your own path. "Unless you have lots of experience with baking or majored in chemistry, stick to the tried-and-true recipe," she said.