Michelle Darmody: Baking with vinegar

Vinegar may seem like an unusual ingredient in cakes and buns but it is one of those slightly magic ingredients that adds to the mysterious alchemy of baking.

Vinegar changes and influences other ingredients it comes into contact with. It can be used to react with baking soda, in place of buttermilk, helping to create the air bubbles that make cakes so light and tasty.