kind of chocolate is to be used.
Fats In the standard method for making pound
and layer cakes, the cook beats fat and sugar
together to incorporate air bubbles, until the
mixture reaches the fluffy consistency of
whipped cream. Solid fats retain air bubbles
thanks to their semisolid consistency: the air
carried along by the sugar crystals and beater
becomes immobilized in the mixture of
crystalline and liquid fat. Butter is the
traditional cake fat, and is still the fat of
choice for bakers who value flavor more than
lightness of texture.
But modern vegetable shortenings do a
better job of incorporating air bubbles into the
cake batter. Animal fats — butter and lard —
tend to form large fat crystals that collect
large air pockets, which rise in thin batter and
escape. Vegetable shortenings are made to
contain small fat crystals that trap small air
bubbles, and these bubbles stay in the batter.