Red Velvet Cake

Experiment
Brittany Williams
INSY 7300 Advanced Engineering
Statistics

Background
Red velvet cake is considered a
Southern delicacy
Hard to describe
Many variations

Common misconception: a chocolate

cake with red food coloring

Experimental Design
Full factorial design
3 factors, 2 levels = 8 experimental runs
(8 cakes!)

Completely randomized
Fixed effects
Crossed factors

Between subjects
Screening:
Participants must like and be familiar red velvet cake
Can ask about preference (heavy chocolate taste vs. red velvet
flavor) although the preference should be indicated through the
experiment

Gender isnt important

Experimental Design
Dependent
variable
Overall preference
(rating on a scale
from 1 to 10)
Taste
Appearance
Texture

Independent
variables
Amount of cocoa
Low: 2 teaspoons
High: 2 tablespoons (6
teaspoons)

Amount of food
coloring
Low: 1 fl oz.
High: 2 fl oz.

Type of fattening agent

Low: Butter
High: Vegetable oil

Experimental Design
Questions
Would blocking be necessary?
All factors are of interest
Cocoa affects taste
Food coloring affects appearance
Fattening agent affects taste and texture

Or rather is the effect of the block

important?
The participants are screened to like red velvet
cake
Block-treatment interaction is expected to be
negligible

Possible Nuisance Factors

Oven time
Pan placement
Mixing speeds
Pan material

Design Matrix
Numb
er
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Cocoa

Food
coloring

Fattening
agent

+
+
+
+
-

+
+
+
+

+
+
+
+

Experimental Design
Null hypotheses:
H0-1:
H0-2:
H0-3:
H0-4:
H0-5:
H0-6:
H0-7:

there
there
there
there
there
there
there

is
is
is
is
is
is
is

no
no
no
no
no
no
no

difference in the means of factor A

difference in the means of factor B
difference in the means of factor C
interaction between factors AB
interaction between factors AC
interaction between factors BC
interaction between factors ABC

Alternative hypotheses:
H1: The means are not equal