Question: When you're making a cake, what's the difference between shortening and butter? Is one better than the other for texture or flavor?

Answer: Besides the obvious taste differences, butter and vegetable shortening do give different results in baking.Cookies made with shortening, for instance, tend to be softer than cookies made with butter, which usually are crispier.Some cookie recipes use a combination — shortening for that soft texture, butter for unbeatable flavor. (Sorry, but I don't think butter-flavored shortening is a good substitute. It just tastes like fake butter.)Cakes are more complex than cookies, so it can be risky to substitute one for the other. A cake recipe that was formulated to work with shortening wouldn't turn out the same if you substituted butter.Shortening does tend to hold more air bubbles when you beat it, so it can give cakes a lot of lift. But if you use too much of it, it has a flatter flavor and can give a cake a heavy or greasy mouthfeel.