Chemical Leavenings

Leavening butter cakes chemically has its place, too. Some bakers simply want their cakes to have that feathery-light quality baking powder and/or soda can impart. Some put in baking powder and/or soda as an extra assurance that the cake will rise, in the event that not enough aeration was built in when the batter was formed. Sometimes these leavenings are used for the sake of pure economics—you can use less butter with the addition of baking powder and/or soda and still get a light butter cake.