Nailed It Cake Baking - Chemistry? - Problem Solving?

Have you seen the cake baking show on Netflix called Nailed It? If not imagine selecting three average people, showing them a gorgeous cake and challenging them to make it. They are given internet access, supplies and a time limit. As the three bakers compete against each other to recreate the best cake, three experts watch and comment among themselves discussing interesting ideas of the bakers as well as things they should probably have done differently. Some people do quite well, but most end up doing some improvisation. All use their best problem solving skills to attack the given challenge.

The results are hilarious, especially when time is in short supply and plans do not go as expected. What would you do if your cakes overflowed? How do you make melted chocolate look like mud? Have you ever made fondant?


This show has inspired our latest series of educational activities. Earlier in the year we made bread for science and then we learned to make candy. In both cases a recipe was both given and followed for every activity. Thinking scientifically in terms of chemistry, students are typically given an experiment to follow which is much like a recipe.

In more advanced chemistry classes, students are given only basic instructions and asked to design an experiment which will solve a problem. These cake baking challenges are more in-line with advanced baking because they involve using problem solving skills. Whether or not they are considered chemistry is up for debate, but they are excellent activities for middle school children. Nailed It was such a natural inspiration.

Because I wanted the kids to be successful in the challenges, I made a few alterations to the rules. First, we did not have a time limit. In fact, they were given the challenge several days in advance and asked to come up with a plan which included a shopping list. They were given internet access which they could use to find a recipe or directions or examples of items they were trying to recreate. Secondly, they were asked to work together. Since they are siblings, they are constantly competing. I wanted these challenges to be fun and cooperative.

For the first challenge, they were asked to recreate the emoji cakes created on Nailed It.

They had watched the episode and heard the experts suggest using butter to grease the pans and did so themselves. Despite this fact, their cakes still stuck to the pans. We still haven't discovered the problem.

The kids have never made fondant before, and had to learn how. On the emoji episode, some of the bakers had never used fondant and that proved to be an issue. One added too much food coloring ruining the fondant. Therefore, icing was used as a last minute substitute. The result was acceptable, but fondant would have been much better.

Here are the cakes my kids made. Keep in mind, I didn't help in this activity at all. Bonus!

Their biggest issue was creating black fondant. I think you can purchase black food coloring? That however wasn't on their shopping list. Instead, they mixed all the colors and were able to come with a shade of grey. I think it looks pretty good.

The cake tasted good too. Now I'm no expert, but love a little sweet every now and then.