Cake ingredients and processing influence batter rheology, cake volume and texture

Batter ingredients and mixing process parameters determine the flow and viscoelastic properties of the batter. These structural changes impact the baking performance and thus the quality of the final baked product in terms of cake volume and texture. A complex experimental design was performed to study a cake batter system, using a limited number of observations. Flour type, leavening acid type and one process variable, namely mixing time, were varied. Two flour types (standard and pregelatinized flour) and three leavening acids with fast to slow action (Monocalcium Phosphate, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate 28 and Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate 10) were used. Three responses were measured in this experiment: rheological properties of the batter, cake volume and cake texture. The flow and viscoelastic properties were obtained using rotational and oscillatory tests, respectively. The linear viscoelastic region was determined by an amplitude sweep for each batter and the apparent viscosity was determined as a function of shear rate. To study the properties of the batter during baking, a temperature sweep was performed. To characterize cake texture, hardness was calculated by Texture Profile Analysis. Long mixing times resulted in a decrease of both apparent viscosity and cake volume. In general, viscosity was positively correlated to cake volume. However, the replacement of standard flour with pregelatinized flour caused an increase of viscosity and a decrease of cake volume. This outcome was attributed to the larger elastic component of the viscoelastic behavior. Although large proportions of pregelatinized flour led to harder cakes, small proportions, improved the cake properties. Batter apparent viscosity decreased with large proportion of fast acting leavening acid. Moreover, the temperature sweep indicated that the batter involving a large proportion of slow acting acid set later at higher temperature during baking. Therefore, these cakes were able to rise for longer time, resulting in a higher cake volume.status: publishe