“I think you might be good for this show.” Those 8 words, emailed to me a few months after my sister and I opened our gourmet bakery in Washington DC, shifted the course of my life in ways I could never have imagined. The casting directors at Food Network loved my sister and I for their new show, Cupcake Wars. The only problem was, they just gave us 2 weeks notice before we had to start filming and I didn’t have much baking experience. Sure, I had cranked out a box-cake here and there but definitely not anything of note while filming a high stakes reality competition.

My sister, who was the brains of the operation, gave me a crash course in the Do’s & Don’t of Baking and surprisingly enough, I realized that I had quite the knack for it. Baking really is the sweetest science there is. Precision is paramount and it turns out that I had already honed a lot of the required skills tinkering with beakers and bioreactors as a chemical engineering major in MIT’s basement laboratories.

Competition day arrived and our strategy was that I, with my 2 weeks of practice, would bake all the cakes and my sister would hold down the decoration fort. There were some nerves, to say the least. But as we progressed throughout the rounds, on our way to winning the Cupcake War, I surprised myself, and the judges, who raved about the quality of our baking. I attribute some of this, of course, to my sister, who had taught me everything I knew about baking up until that point. But I know that a lot of it is also due to my science/engineering background that gave me a keen understanding of how to combine ingredients and monitor the baking process with laboratory precision.

This summer camp, 15 years removed from that film studio in Los Angeles, is my first opportunity to impart some of the Cupcake Chemistry lessons I’ve learned to the next generation of young bakers. As a STEAM educator, I’ve often heard kids question the relevance of the science and math they’re required to learn in school. This summer is sure to be fun, but also eye-opening in illustrating how STEAM literally gives rise to one of the desserts we all love the most.

Day 1 Recipes:
Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
Swiss Meringue Buttercream

You’ll learn stuff such as:
-What important chemical reaction does baking soda and vinegar cause in cake batter?
-How does the protein structure of egg whites affect meringue stability?
-How do you prevent cupcakes from sinking during baking?
-Why is having a functional oven light essential to a perfectly baked cupcake?


Day 2 Recipes:
Lemon Cupcakes
Lemon Curd
Cream Cheese Buttercream

You’ll learn stuff such as:
-How does lemon juice act like an acid-base indicator?
-Why should you mix egg yolk and sugar well before adding lemon juice in a lemon curd?
-How does the fat and water content of cream cheese sold in a tub vs. sold in a block vary and how does this affect their use in cream cheese buttercream?

Day 3 Recipes:
Madagascar Vanilla Cupcakes
Pastry Cream

You’ll learn stuff such as:
-Why is yogurt and vinegar a good substitute for sour cream?
-How is vanilla extract made and what differentiates it from vanilla essence?
-Why do you place plastic wrap directly on the surface of a batch of freshly made pastry cream?

Day 4 Recipes:
Dark Chocolate Ganache
Chocolate Fudge Drizzle
Salted Caramel

You’ll learn stuff such as:
-How does cooking temperature affect the viscosity of salted caramel?
-Why is chocolate ganache such a great example of a chemical emulsion?
-How does corn syrup inhibit sugar crystallization in chocolate fudge?

Day 5 Recipes:
Meringue Frosting
S’mores Cupcake with Graham Cracker Crust

You’ll learn stuff such as:
-What is one ingredient that makes exothermic fireworks when heated with sugar?
-Why is it dangerous to have an open flame in an area where there are lots of airborne starch particles present?
-Why is it important for your mixing bowl to be completely free of water and egg yolk when whipping egg whites to make a meringue?

You’ll be able to make 5 of Timothy’s signature gourmet cupcakes:

Death by Chocolate: Timothy’s signature chocolate cake with 5 decadent layers of chocolate - 60% Belgian chocolate cake dipped in a 70% chocolate ganache. Filled with a house-made chocolate fudge and topped with chocolate buttercream and a Valrhona chocolate swirl.

Chocolate Salted Caramel: 60% Belgian chocolate cake dipped in a 70% chocolate ganache. Filled with a house-made salted caramel and topped with a Swiss meringue salted caramel buttercream.

Lemon Cream: Citrusy lemon cupcake filled to the brim with lemon cream and topped with a lemon cream cheese topping

Boston Cream Pie: Pure Vanilla cake infused with Madagascar vanilla beans, dipped in 70% chocolate ganache. Filled with a rich house-made pastry cream and topped with a vanilla bean Swiss meringue buttercream.

S’mores: 60% Belgian chocolate cake filled with dark chocolate chunks and marshmallows over a buttery graham cracker crust and topped with a marshmallow meringue frosting.