Baking – it’s a chemistry thing

An image showing Neil's cute kids mixing the batter for a cake

Source: © Neil Withers

Anyone can bake, but can everyone do chemistry?

Never trust a chemist who can’t cook – or bake. It’s a bit of a cliché that chemists make good cooks – and I haven’t got where I am in science journalism without embracing clichés whenever I see them. Being able to accurately measure liquids and powders, paying careful attention to arcane lists of instructions – both are useful skills for successful experiments in the lab and the kitchen.

But does it go deeper than that?