Chemical leavens are used in quick breads and cakes, as well as cookies and numerous other applications where a long biological fermentation is impractical or undesirable.
This effect is typically used in products having one large cavity, such as popovers, Yorkshire puddings, pita, and most preparations made from choux pastry.
Using a whisk on certain liquids, notably cream or egg whites, can also create foams through mechanical action.
This is the method employed in the making of sponge cakes, where an egg protein matrix produced by vigorous whipping provides almost all the structure of the finished product.
to be an effective way to deal with the soft wheat flours characteristic of British Isles agriculture, it is controversial[according to whom?]