# A baking/physics (maybe) question... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 22, 2004, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-baking-physics-maybe-question/251664 "2004-06-22T16:57:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OneYogini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b9e5f3/32.png) [@OneYogini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneYogini)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-baking-physics-maybe-question/251664/1 "2004-06-22T16:57:19Z")
I think this could be a physics matter. Isn’t the breakdown of materials discussed in physics? I’ve never taken a physics class in my life. (Some Dopers won’t be able to get past that line. lol.) For the rest of you, with information regarding baking then, my question is about baking a cake that has chocolate chips in the batter. How does the batter cook while leaving the chips intact? Why don’t the chips melt? If I put chocolate chips in an oven safe bowl for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees, they’ll melt. But not in the batter mix? Why is that? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-baking-physics-maybe-question/251664/2 "2004-06-22T17:02:08Z")
IANAP, but I would suspect that it has to do with material heat conductivity and the density of the materials. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-baking-physics-maybe-question/251664/3 "2004-06-22T17:10:34Z")
IANAC(ook), but there are two differences when the chips are in the batter rather than a bowl. One is they are submersed in the batter, so there isn’t as much pressure for them to change shape. The other is that fat can migrate into the batter as the cake bakes. ---
**Author:** ![OneYogini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b9e5f3/32.png) [@OneYogini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneYogini)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-baking-physics-maybe-question/251664/4 "2004-06-22T17:17:15Z")
So you’re both saying…the consistency of the batter vs. the consistency (make-up) of the chocolate chips in the batter, differ so greatly that the batter can change shape (and become cake-y) and the chips won’t change shape (and stay…lol…chip-y…JK…solid chips instead of melting into the cake). Right? The batter has sugar and fat, the chocolate chips have sugar and fat? What makes them so different that one morphs and the other doesn’t? The fact of “density” of the chip vs. the less dense batter? (Heh. I had to laugh at myself…dense batter. If this were a sports/physics related thread, I’D be the dense batter. lol.) I think I get it… Thanks 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-baking-physics-maybe-question/251664/5 "2004-06-22T17:20:44Z")
My observation is that while the batter is baking and becoming more or less solid, the chocolate chips are melting, but are held in place be the surrounding batter (the works with chocolate chips both in cakes and in cookies). Then the cake/cookie cools down, and the chocolate re-solidifies in more or less the same shape. ---
**Author:** ![Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mercury)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-baking-physics-maybe-question/251664/6 "2004-06-22T18:14:32Z")
I’m with **Giles** on this one. The chips do melt, but they don’t have as much freedom to move as they would in a bowl. Also, they are slightly insulated by the batter, and will probably melt less in a cake in the oven than in a bowl in the microwave. IME, when they cool off, they’re still mostly chip-shaped. ---
**Author:** ![OneYogini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b9e5f3/32.png) [@OneYogini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneYogini)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-baking-physics-maybe-question/251664/7 "2004-06-22T18:29:31Z")
Thank you all for your input. Now I’m printing these out to show a friend I work with (who oddly enough worked in the restaurant business for many years and is an excellent cook, but didn’t have the foggiest idea about this when I asked her this morning). 😃