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Introduction to Cake Making A cake is a baked good containing one or more edible substances, created by a baker. Cakes are made in a kitchen, using appliances,
by stillkicking 9y ago
Introduction to Cake Making
A cake is a baked good containing one or more edible substances, created by a baker. Cakes are made in a kitchen, using appliances, implements and utensils. An appliance is a powered mechanical device used to augment the baker's abilities, different from an implement and a utensil. Implements and utensils are unpowered tools used by hand to produce batter from ingredients. A batter is a mixture produced in stages, consisting of a base starch, proteins and flavoring agents.
For a concrete example of a cake, consider a cake containing one or more fruits. The fruit may be uniformly distributed among the cake's contents or clustered in toppings. This produces the cake's characteristic flavor and color, though color may also result from artificial coloring agents.
Through prolongued exposure to heat, we can transform batter into a cake. Molds may be used for this. Any bowls, spoons or whisks used in the process may contain residual batter suitable for direct consumption. [1]
In some ways I've stopped just when things were about to get good, but now you should have a solid understanding of the fundamentals.
[1] Licking is actually quite natural in this context.
- TuringTest 9y agoThis would actually be a very good introduction for a race of alien visitors who'd never heard of cakes, baking, or kitchens.
- bbcbasic 9y agoIf they are Vulcans or androids.
- shmageggy 9y agoNo it wouldn't for the same reason the article isn't a good introduction -- it relies on concepts that a naive reader doesn't understand. In your example the aliens are unfamiliar with kitchens, but the text mentions kitchens without any explanation. Similarly the article mentions and uses "sort" without any explanation. It seemed to be a fundamental concept but without any idea what a sort was I gave up. Every article on category theory does this.
- jjaredsimpson 9y agoThis isn't true. >Sorts and function symbols are just symbols. Something is a sort if it is in the collection of sorts. Nothing else is required. If you gave up before reading this, then you didn't even read the 4th paragraph.
- MichaelBurge 9y agoThere are 2 sentences between the first use of 'sort' and its explanation, which is that they are symbols with no interpretation. It looks like he defines function symbol before sort, presumably because function symbols are more important than sorts.
- Xophmeister 9y agoMore recipe books should be written by mathematicians ;)
- 1001101 9y agoEuginia Cheng, a category theorist, has written Cakes, Custard and Category Theory: Easy Recipes for Understanding Complex Maths, and How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoFascinating! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenia_Cheng https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenia_Cheng She even appeared on the late show (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mA402F5K47o https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mA402F5K47o).
- andrzejsz 9y agoThis first title disappeared in favor of the second that is "How to bake Pi" I guess pure marketing move
- gumby 9y agoAfter the proof that one may substitute slivered almonds for chopped crystalized fruit, I have a lemma that says one may substitute slivered almonds for a subset of the chopped crystalized fruit.
- danidiaz 9y agoIndeed, like "Burritos for the Hungry Mathematician" http://emorehouse.web.wesleyan.edu/silliness/burrito_monads.pdf http://emorehouse.web.wesleyan.edu/silliness/burrito_monads....
- vanderZwan 9y agoSo basically, the Guy Steele approach to cooking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ahvzDzKdB0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ahvzDzKdB0
- diyseguy 9y agohar! please do keep going
- TeMPOraL 9y agoThis is Actually Good, and I'd love more stuff written that way! No, seriously. Just look what this example does - it recursively provides a short description for each of the important concepts in the process of baking cakes. After reading this, I now feel I have a decent map of the topic - both what the things / processes involve and what they don't involve. I've also been introduced to domain terminology that will help me understand other sources. -- As for original question, why definitions - I believe it's good to have precise definitions next to casual explanations of the same things, just so that the reader can quickly connect the casually discussed aspect with the precise definition, and answer some of their own questions (which authors can't predict) through thinking.
- justifier 9y agoYou may enjoy: http://www.cookingforengineers.com http://www.cookingforengineers.com
- stillkicking 9y agoNo it's terrible, and the fact that you don't notice is exactly the problem. See also: monads. If you understand the basic process of what's going on (preparing food) and what it's meant to do (produce a delicious treat), formalizing your understanding in this way feels like concise and clear insight. If you don't yet know anything, it will be meaningless word salad where each 'answer' produces a multitude more questions. Note e.g. that I never once cited an actual cake, I merely provided an example of a category of cakes. This too is a problem with mathematics, so in love with their abstractions, they no longer notice the lack of the concrete.
- wfisher 9y agoAmazing. I couldn't agree more this is obviously a useless way to learn baking at first.