Baking powder in the context of Alfred Bird

Sodium bicarbonate (IUPAC name: sodium hydrogencarbonate), commonly known as baking soda or bicarbonate of soda (or simply "bicarb", especially in the UK), or salaratus, is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO₃. It is a salt composed of a sodium cation (Na) and a bicarbonate anion (HCO−3). Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid that is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slightly salty, alkaline taste resembling that of sodium carbonate ("washing soda"). The natural mineral form is nahcolite, although it is more commonly found as a component of the mineral trona.

As it has long been known and widely used, the salt has many different names such as baking soda, bread soda, cooking soda, brewing soda and bicarbonate of soda and can often be found near baking powder in stores. The term baking soda is more common in the United States, while bicarbonate of soda is more common in Australia, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. Abbreviated colloquial forms such as sodium bicarb, bicarb soda, bicarbonate, and bicarb are common.

Ammonium carbonate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula [NH₄]₂CO₃. It is an ammonium salt of carbonic acid. It is composed of ammonium cations [NH₄] and carbonate anions CO2−3. Since ammonium carbonate readily degrades to gaseous ammonia and carbon dioxide upon heating, it is used as a leavening agent and also as smelling salt. It is also known as baker's ammonia and is a predecessor to the more modern leavening agents baking soda and baking powder. It is a component of what was formerly known as sal volatile and salt of hartshorn, and produces a pungent smell when baked. It comes in the form of a white powder or block, with a molar mass of 96.09 g/mol and a density of 1.50 g/cm. It is a strong electrolyte.

Cake is a baker's confectionery usually made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate and which share features with desserts such as pastries, meringues, custards, and pies.

The most common ingredients include flour, sugar, eggs, fat (such as butter, oil, or margarine), a liquid, and a leavening agent, such as baking soda or baking powder. Common additional ingredients include dried, candied, or fresh fruit, nuts, cocoa, and extracts such as vanilla, with numerous substitutions for the primary ingredients. Cakes can also be filled with fruit preserves, nuts, or dessert sauces (like custard, jelly, cooked fruit, whipped cream, or syrups), iced with buttercream or other icings, and decorated with marzipan, piped borders, or candied fruit.

Eben Norton Horsford (July 27, 1818 – January 1, 1893) was an American scientist who taught agricultural chemistry in the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard from 1847 to 1863. Later he was known for his reformulation of baking powder, his interest in Viking settlements in North America, and the monuments he built to Leif Erikson.

A flour tortilla (/tɔːrˈtiːə/, /-jə/) or wheat tortilla is a type of soft, thin flatbread made from finely ground wheat flour. Made with flour- and water-based dough, it is pressed and cooked, similar to corn tortillas. The simplest recipes use only flour, water, fat, and salt, but commercially made flour tortillas generally contain chemical leavening agents such as baking powder, and other ingredients.

A scone (/skɒn/ SKON or /skoʊn/ SKOHN) is a traditional British and Irish baked good, popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In the US, Scones are a different baked product from the rest of the world, usually sweeter, triangular in shape and served on their own. Scones are usually made of either wheat flour or oatmeal, with baking powder as a leavening agent, and baked on sheet pans, or fried in a frying pan. A scone can be either lightly sweetened or savoury, and can be occasionally glazed with egg wash. The sweetened scone is a basic component of the cream tea, and the afternoon tea. It differs from teacakes and other types of sweet breads that are made with yeast. Scones were chosen as Ireland's representative for Café Europe during the Austrian presidency of the European Union in 2006.

Sponge cake is a type of light cake made with egg whites, flour and sugar, sometimes leavened with baking powder. Some sponge cakes do not contain egg yolks, like angel food cake, but most do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated during the Renaissance.

The sponge cake is thought to be one of the first non-yeasted cakes, and the earliest attested sponge cake recipe in English is found in a book by the poet Gervase Markham, The English Huswife (1615). The cake was more like a cracker: thin and crisp.

A scone (/skɒn/ SKON or /skoʊn/ SKOHN) is a traditional British and Irish baked good, popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In the US, scones are a different baked product from the rest of the world, usually sweeter, triangular in shape and served on their own. Scones are usually made of either wheat flour or oatmeal, with baking powder as a leavening agent, and baked on sheet pans, or fried in a frying pan. A scone can be either lightly sweetened or savoury, and can be occasionally glazed with egg wash. The sweetened scone is a basic component of the cream tea, and the afternoon tea. It differs from teacakes and other types of sweet breads that are made with yeast. Scones were chosen as Ireland's representative for Café Europe during the Austrian presidency of the European Union in 2006.

A pancake, also known as a hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack, is a flat type of batter bread like cake, often thin and round, prepared from a starch-based batter that may contain eggs, milk, and butter, and then cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or frying pan. Archaeological evidence suggests that pancakes were probably eaten in prehistoric societies.

The pancake's shape and structure varies worldwide. In England, pancakes are often unleavened and are thin. In Scotland and North America, a leavening agent is used (typically baking powder) creating a thick fluffy pancake. A crêpe is a thin pancake of Breton origin cooked on one or both sides in a special pan or crepe maker to achieve a lacelike network of fine bubbles. A well-known variation originating from southeast Europe is palatschinke, a thin moist pancake fried on both sides and filled with jam, cream cheese, chocolate, or ground walnuts, but many other fillings—sweet or savoury—can also be used.

Tartaric acid is a white, crystalline organic acid that occurs naturally in many fruits, most notably in grapes but also in tamarinds, bananas, avocados, and citrus. Its salt, potassium bitartrate, commonly known as cream of tartar, develops naturally in the process of fermentation. Potassium bitartrate is commonly mixed with sodium bicarbonate and is sold as baking powder used as a leavening agent in food preparation. The acid itself is added to foods as an antioxidant E334 and to impart its distinctive sour taste. Naturally occurring tartaric acid is a useful raw material in organic synthesis. Tartaric acid, an alpha-hydroxy-carboxylic acid, is diprotic and aldaric in acid characteristics and is a dihydroxyl derivative of succinic acid.

Bisquick is a baking mix sold by General Mills under its Betty Crocker brand, consisting of flour, shortening, salt, sugar and baking powder (a leavening agent).

In the United States and Canada, a biscuit is a variety of quick bread with a firm, dry exterior and a soft, crumbly interior. It is made with baking powder as a leavening agent rather than yeast, and at times is called a baking powder biscuit to differentiate it from other types. Biscuits are often served with butter or other condiments, flavored with other ingredients, or combined with other types of food to make sandwiches or other dishes.

Biscuits developed from hardtack, which was first made from only flour and water, to which lard and then baking powder were added later.

Shortbread or shortie is a traditional Scottish biscuit usually made from one part white sugar, two parts butter and three to four parts plain wheat flour. Shortbread does not contain leavening, such as baking powder or baking soda. Shortbread is widely associated with Christmas and Hogmanay festivities in Scotland, and some Scottish brands are exported around the world.