the American standard; and hydrogenated shortening and chlorinated flour became standard kitchen supplies for cakes made “from scratch.” An Early English Pound Cake Recipe In the centuries before electric mixers and preleavened shortenings, filling a dense cake batter with many fine air bubbles was hard, prolonged work! To Make a Pound Cake Take a pound of butter, beat it in an earthen pan, with your hand one way, till it is like a fine thick cream; then have ready twelve eggs, but half the whites, beat them well, and beat them up with the butter, a pound of flour beat in it, and a pound of sugar, and a few caraways; beat it all well together for an hour with your hand, or a great wooden spoon Butter a pan, and put it in and bake it an hour in a quick oven — Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, 1747 The Disadvantages of Modified Fats and Flours Hydrogenated vegetable shortenings and chlorinated flour are very useful, but have drawbacks that lead some bakers to avoid them Hydrogenated shortening does not have the flavor that butter does, and has the more serious disadvantage of containing high levels of trans fatty acids (10–35% compared to butter’s 3–4%; seep 38) Chlorinated flour has a distinctive taste that some bakers dislike (others find that it enhances cake aroma) And the chlorine ends up in fat-like flour molecules that accumulate in animal bodies There’s no evidence that this accumulation is harmful, but the European Union and the United Kingdom consider the safety of chlorinated flour unproven, and forbid its use The U.S FDA and the World Health Organization consider chlorinated flour a safe ... harmful, but the European Union and the United Kingdom consider the safety of chlorinated flour unproven, and forbid its use The U.S FDA and the World Health Organization consider chlorinated flour a safe... some bakers to avoid them Hydrogenated shortening does not have the flavor that butter does, and has the more serious disadvantage of containing high levels of trans fatty acids (1 0–35% compared... has a distinctive taste that some bakers dislike (others find that it enhances cake aroma) And the chlorine ends up in fat-like flour molecules that accumulate in animal bodies There’s no evidence that this accumulation is harmful, but the