Now, this doesn't fall in line with Alton Brown's way of doing things. The wet ingredients get mixed first and the dry ingredients get sifted together & mixed in another bowl. THEN, add in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.......
just sayin'........
well, yeah, but since she's using liquid shortening or veg oil, there's no need to cream the shortening and sugar together (the real reason for distributing fats throughout the cake batter) if it's already liquid. Eggs are usually put in after the solid shortening/sugar creaming process for the same reason -- but also to keep from whipping excess air into the eggs, which would yield a different texture than you're usually looking for.
All that said, I'd be inclined to mix the flour and cocoa powder together along with the leavening agents before adding to the mixture, just because the cocoa and leavenings can clump up.