How does sugar act in specific baked products?
Shortened cakes, like butter cakes and devil’s food, are usually leavened with baking powder, or with baking soda used in combination with an acid-containing liquid such as sour milk. Sugar tenderizes the gluten network of such cakes, permitting optimum expansion of the gases produced by the leavening agents before oven heat firms the cellular structure. Sugar acts, too, through creaming, to incorporate air into the relatively high fat content of these cakes. Tests show that in hand-mixed cakes, the conventional method (described in paragraph 2 above), produces shortened cakes of superior texture and volume. Sugar also contributes a pleasingly sweet flavor and tender caramelized surfaces to shortened cakes, as well as to all other types. Pound cakes, although they are prepared with shortening, usually contain no leavening agent other than air. The air is incorporated into the batter through a relatively large quantity of beaten eggs. Again, creaming the sugar with the shortening which
