On Mon 24 Jan 2005 04:58:45a, Roy wrote in rec.food.baking:

>> Creaming requires some body to the fat to hold the air and
> suspend the sugar.
> That was the generally accepted way to make such cake nothing else,
> unless you are aware of industrial cake baking technology. where
> creaming becomes less important and such cakes can be made with single
> stage method( all in mixing) which is best suited with vegetable oils.
> BTW...
> Yellow layer cake evolution.
> Tehnically Yellow cake was originially made with butter t hen with
> oleo margarine then with shortening as the fat base, then as the amount
> of sugar in the cake was increased as well as the liquid , the use of
> emulsified shortening comes to picture. Then after world war II the
> popularitiy of cake mixes carried the yellow cake under its wings and
> reformulation continued right in the 1960s where there occured a
> radical change in the perception of batter cakes.
> the most notable was the employment of the different emulsifying agents
> to atain the best quality cake. with shortening.. Then the invention of
> fluid shortening( a mixture of vegetable oil and a few percent of hard
> fat) in combination with emulsifiers came to the picture.
> Then further as emulsifier purity was improved as well as its
> performance,
> Then by late 1960's to the early 1970[s came the discovery that such
> batter type cakes ( including white, yellow and chocolate and devils
> food cake ) can be made with vegetable oil in the combination with
> special emulsifiers.. This was one of the subject of my cake baking
> research more than a several years back.
> .Indeed that is the genuine batter cake of the high ratio category
> where the quality is superior(, better volume, texture crumb grain,
> eating quality and cake stability.. Cakes made with such liquid
> shortening( emulsifers dissolved in soya oil) produced a virtually
> transfat free cakes!
> Meanwhile the other forms of batter type cakes( using vegetable oil)
> commonly made by hobbyist is just and extension of the muffin recipe
> and the cake is heavier and had higher batter specific gravity than
> the ordfinary yellow layerr cake made with shortening..
> Therrefore technically they cannot be considerred to within the same
> classification as the yellow layerr o r even white layer nd devils food
> cake)..
> In conclusion based on my experience to get the best quality yellow
> layer cake using vegetable oil is to add cake emulsifer and it will
> come out really good.
> A good product to apply would be half a teaspoon Texture Lite
> emulsifier( per 1-1/2 to 2 cups cake flour and use only vegetable oil
> at at two thirds of the quantity of solid shortening, add the other
> ingredients of the yellow cake . and mix altogether unitl
> combined..Low speed for 2 minutes then high speed for 3-4 mintues then
> medum speed for 1 -2 minute. , Place the batter on the cake pan and
> bake.
> you can also apply any suitable paste type cake emulsifier( a teaspoon
> of emulsifier) for such flour quantity.
>
> Roy

Thanks, Roy. That's a fascinating history and good information.

I did a little checking on Texture Lite and it appears to only be available
commercially and in large impractical quantites. Do you know of a source
where I might order a rasonable amount?

Failing that, do you know of any other emulsifiers that a home baker could
obtain? I have occasionally used lecithin and guar gum when making low-fat
ice creams. Would either of these be practical for use in a cake batter?

TIA
Wayne