Can I substitute bicarb soda in a recipe for baking powder? Its a cake recipe?!
Answers: I would try some Dr Scholl's foot powder instead
Try this, you really need cream of tartar for it to work properly
Baking powder has baking soda in it, but it also has a couple other ingredients: cream of tarter and starch. The recipe calls for baking powder because it needs the cream of tartar in addition to the soda in order for the end product to turn out right. It has to do with needing a base (soda) plus acid (cream of tarter). You can make your own baking powder by mixing one part soda with two parts cream of tarter. The starch is not mandatory, but if you want, you can add a little cornstarch.
Edit: If you do not have any cream of tarter, you can use soda, but only half the amount it calls for in baking powder, and add something acidic, i.e., replace a little of the sugar with honey, or use a little buttermilk in place of the water or milk, or add a teaspoon of vinegar. Good luck. :)
Although some baking powder brands contain both baking soda(bicarb soda) and cream of tartar, in order to substitute you would need to add an acid reagent such as cream of tartar or lemon juice and get it in the right proportion to make a suitable substitution.
This would either take a lot of testing or you could probably find some good ingredient substitution formulas in various recipe books.
One formula which I use calls for 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar.