On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1054

flouronly,andnowheatflouratall.
StandardCakeProportionsandQualities

Inchocolatecakes,cocoapowdertakeson
some of the water-absorbing and structural
dutiesofflour;it’saround50%carbohydrate,
including starch, and 20% nongluten protein.
Cocoapowdersmaybe“natural”andacidicor
“dutched” and alkaline (p. 705), a difference
thataffectsbothleaveningandflavorbalance;
cakerecipesshouldspecifywhichkindtouse,
andthebakershouldnotsubstituteoneforthe
other.Ifchocolateratherthancocoaisused,it
must be melted and carefully incorporated
into the fat or eggs. Different chocolates
contain widely varying proportions of cocoa
fat,cocoasolids,andsugar(p.704),soagain,
bakersandrecipesshouldbeclearaboutwhat


kindofchocolateistobeused.
FatsInthestandardmethodformakingpound
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
carriedalongbythesugarcrystalsandbeater
becomes immobilized in the mixture of
crystalline and liquid fat. Butter is the
traditional cake fat, and is still the fat of

choiceforbakerswhovalueflavormorethan
lightnessoftexture.
Butmodernvegetableshorteningsdoa
betterjobofincorporatingairbubblesintothe
cakebatter.Animalfats—butterandlard—
tendtoformlargefatcrystalsthatcollect
largeairpockets,whichriseinthinbatterand
escape.Vegetableshorteningsaremadeto
containsmallfatcrystalsthattrapsmallair
bubbles,andthesebubblesstayinthebatter.