Liquid shortening has been developed for ease in bulk handling
and metering at room temperature. The designation “liquid” covers
all fluid suspensions that consist of a small amount of hard fat,
usually the beta-tending crystal form, and emulsifiers dispersed in
liquid oil (O’Brien, 1998). Few publications have assessed the
performance of liquid shortenings in cake baking systems. In general,
liquid cake shortenings function much like solid shortenings in
baking systems, but they offer the user certain advantages. First, as
a liquid shortening is a fluid at room temperature, it is pumpable,
which leads to great savings in labor cost. It is easier to handle and
there are no boxes or liners to unpack or dispose of (McGill, 1973).
Second, it has no trans- fatty acids and much lower saturated fatty
acid content. For this reason, there has been interest by the baking
industry in new pumpable shortenings (Anonymous, 2007).
Compared to plastic shortening, liquid shortening would significantly
reduce the dependence on solid fats for their performance.