Wayne Boatwright wrote:

> 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?
Duh!
Wayne ,I am afreid that I got carried away by my memory of industrial
cake baking experience,<g> that I did not take into consideration the
difficulty of getting such item in small quantities. I am sorry about
that.
I remember the smallest amount (that I was allowed by the supplier ) to
buy from them was a 25 kg bag for pilot scale cake baking trials....and
that was several years ago.But during the product evaluation
/feasibility tests.
I was able to get a series of 500-1000 grams samples for product
evaluation for free and they even provided me a 5 kg sample for scaled
up baking trials.

> Failing that, do you know of any other emulsifiers that a home baker
could
> obtain?

I am not sure about that....but if you can find a bakery ingredients
supplier near your area you can try contacting them.there are many
types of these products.
Many of them are willing to retail such item to individual cake
makers.Just tell them a cake emulsifer which is suitable for batter
type cakes. Be reminded that these cake emulsifiers are specific for a
particular cake type; whether foam or batter type cakes.
But in recent years there is a multipurpose product that can be used
for both type of cakes.Be sure to ask from them for product application
brochures on how to effectively apply such ingredient in cake baking.
The productgs can come in tubs and packets ranging from a 5 to 50 lb
sizes.

>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?

Guar gum is a thickener and lecithin is a weak emulsifier.
Lecithin will make the cake pore structure a little bit finer due to
better dispersion of the fat in the cake batter emulsion in the same
line how a mono and diglyceride acts .It also improves cake symmetry by
providing better batter flow during the baking process.
The principle of using oil in cakes is technically different if
compared to using solidified fats; hence the emulsifier types are more
functionally important.
These can contain either containing Propylene glycol
monoesters(PGME),glycerol lactoesters(GLP), Acetylated
monoglycerides(Acetem) polyglycerol esters(PGE) some combined with ,
sorbitan monostearate(SMS), monoglycerides and polysorbate 60.
Here ,these emulsifiers tend to disperse the fat and oil globules and
coat them with a sub micron thickness of emulsifier to prevent it from
affecting the aerating effect of egg proteins in the cake batter during
mixing.
Hence even if you just dump all ingredients in the bowl and mix the
cake batter ,it will still come out satisfactorily( and even better) as
if you are using the traditional procedures with multi step methods
and solid fats.

Roy