From the Lexicon, Creaming, Foaming & Cake Structure
Cakes rise on air you built before the oven. CREAMING: beating butter and sugar until pale: sugar crystals literally cut air pockets into the fat, which chemical leaveners then inflate (butter cakes, cookies where the long cream = lift). FOAMING: whipping eggs (whole: genoise; whites: meringue, angel food, chiffon) into a protein foam, the sponge family's entire structure. RIBBON STAGE: whole eggs and sugar whipped until the batter falls in a slowly-dissolving ribbon, the doneness test for sponges and molten cakes alike. The corollary rule: once air is in, FOLD, never stir: every rough stroke is height surrendered.
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