Pound cake polymeric ingredients and their impact on product quality Edith Wilderjans, Kristof Brijs and Jan

A. Delcour Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Biochemistry and Leuven Food Science and Nutrition Research Centre (LFoRCe), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. INTRODUCTION The large number of ingredients in cakes and the widely varying production methods result in a wide range of cake types. Pound cake is a common cake type in Europe. Fat, sugar, eggs and flour are used in equal portions and, during baking, transform into a cellular cake crumb with a tender texture and sweet taste. Starch and protein are the key structure forming components of cake, and knowledge of their functionality in cake making holds promise for improving cake quality. We here studied the specific role of the wheat flour constituents starch and gluten, and egg white protein during the different stages of pound cake making. MATERIALS AND METHODS Materials. Wheat gluten [moisture level 6.6%, protein level (N x 5.7): 78% (dm)] and wheat starch (moisture level: 10.9%) were from Syral (Aalst, Belgium). Other pound cake ingredients were those described in Wilderjans et al. (2008). All chemicals, solvents and reagents used were of analytical grade and from Sigma-Aldrich (Steinheim, Germany), unless specified otherwise. Cake batter preparation and baking procedure. Pound cake batter was prepared with glutenstarch blends varying in their gluten to starch ratio (Wilderjans et al., 2008), with gluten-starch blends in which 30% of the dm of the starch fraction was replaced by a same level of modified starches (Wilderjans et al., 2010b) or with egg white treated with oxidants potassium iodate or bromate (Wilderjans et al., 2010a). The baking methods were those described by Wilderjans et al. (2008). Analytical procedures. Rapid viscosity analysis of cake batters and starch blends was as described by Wilderjans et al. (2010b). Determination of the sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) extractable protein levels of defatted batter and cake samples was as described by Wilderjans et al. (2008). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION First of all, a simplified flour model consisting of gluten and starch allowed us to specifically change the ratio of gluten and starch. Increasing gluten levels increased batter viscosity, which,

in turn improved oven rise (Table 1) and ensured a uniform dispersion of ingredients during baking. Protein extractability in SDS containing medium decreased substantially during baking and, for the resulting cakes, decreased with increasing gluten concentrations (Wilderjans et al., 2008). Cakes with higher gluten levels showed higher volumes and less collapse (Table 1). A correlation was found between protein extractability and collapse, which suggested that, during baking, protein aggregation provides the cell walls with structural material and resistance to collapse. These gluten-starch blends were also used to study starch functionality. More in particular, 30% of the total starch in the blend was replaced with either hydroxypropylated or cross-linked starches. Due to an enhanced swelling of hydroxypropylated starches, batter viscosity increased sooner during baking, resulting in earlier structure setting and less oven rise (Wilderjans et al., 2010b). The impact of cross-linking part of the starch on cake baking behaviour was much smaller than the impact of adding hydroxypropylated starch in the recipe. Although hydroxypropylated and cross-linked starch showed large differences in gel formation during cooling, they did not influence collapse in a consistent way (Wilderjans et al., 2010b). During cooling, most of the cake collapse took place during the first hour, i.e. when the cake centre temperature decreased from 105C to 45C. Starch molecules reassociated to a more ordered state and the starch gel formed too late during cooling to inhibit cake collapse but exerted a large influence on initial cake crumb firmness (Figure 1). Furthermore, protein aggregation impacted both cake collapse and cake crumb springiness. These results not only show that protein network formation during baking is important with regard to cake structure, but also that starch gel formation during cooling contributes to final cake structure. As the protein component in cake batter originates not only from wheat flour but also from the eggs used in the pound cake recipe, the impact of egg white properties on cake baking and quality was investigated with oxidants. Oxidants broadened the egg white denaturation peak, which points to an increased heat stability of the egg white proteins (Wilderjans et al., 2010a). During baking, egg white proteins denatured later and the prevention of reactions during mixing resulted in higher levels of reactive thiol groups at the onset of baking and, hence, in more protein reactions (Figure 2). This gives cakes with a higher resistance to collapse and higher volumes.

CONCLUSIONS In this study, we showed that the main mechanisms during baking, i.e. starch gelatinisation and the formation of a protein network, are essential in a cake baking process. During mixing, increasing gluten levels increased batter viscosity because gluten has a high water binding capacity. In the presence of oxidants, egg white proteins were more resistant to denaturation and less reactions took place. The protein component in cake batter originates from both wheat flour and eggs. Protein extractability decreased drastically during baking. Less extractability loss during mixing resulted in more such loss during baking. Protein reactions during baking seem to be more effective at higher gluten concentrations. In the presence of oxidants, egg white denatured later in the baking process and reacted to a larger extent. Structure setting of cakes in the oven results from the combination of starch gelatinisation and egg protein coagulation. Hydroxypropylated starch showed an enhanced swelling during heating, which resulted in earlier setting and less oven rise. During cooling, starch gels from too late to inhibit collapse but exert a large influence on initial cake crumb firmness. Protein aggregation during baking impacted both collapse and cake crumb springiness. All these results show that both protein network formation during baking and starch gel formation during cooling contribute to cake structure. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work is a part of the Methusalem programme Food for the Future at the K.U.Leuven. E. Wilderjans and K. Brijs acknowledge the Research Fund and Industrial Research Fund (K.U.Leuven, Leuven, Belgium) respectively. REFERENCES Wilderjans, E., Lagrain, B., Brijs, K., Delcour, J.A., 2010a. Impact of potassium bromate and potassium iodate in a pound cake system. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 58, 64656471. Wilderjans, E., Luyts, A., Goesaert, H., Brijs, K., Delcour, J.A., 2010b. A model approach to starch and protein functionality in a pound cake system. Food Chemistry 120, 44-51. Wilderjans, E., Pareyt, B., Goesaert, H., Brijs, K., Delcour, J.A., 2008. The role of gluten in a pound cake system: A model approach based on gluten-starch blends. Food Chemistry 110, 909915. FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1: Relationship between cold paste viscosity values of wheat starch slurries containing either native or modified starches, measured with Rapid Visco Analyser and intrinsic firmness

values of gluten-starch cakes prepared with either native or modified wheat starches (Wilderjans et al., 2010b).

Figure 2A: Extractabilities of protein in 2.0% SDS buffer of control batter and batter samples containing potassium iodate or potassium bromate (8, 16, 32, 64 and 128 mol/g protein) (Wilderjans et al., 2010a).
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SDS extractable protein in batter (%)

Figure 2B: The decrease in SDS extractable protein during baking, defined as the difference between extractabilities of protein in 2.0% SDS buffer of the cake samples and of the batter samples. Sample codes as in Figure 2A (Wilderjans et al., 2010a).
Decrease in SDS extractable protein during baking (%)

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Table 1: Oven rise, collapse and density of cakes prepared with five different types of glutenstarch blends. G represents gluten and the digit x refers to the percentage of gluten in the mixture (Wilderjans et al., 2008). G5 Oven rise (%) 25.8 Collapse (%) 10.9 Cake density (g/cm) 0.346 G7.5 25.9 9.88 0.336 G10 25.4 8.70 0.309 G12.5 27.7 8.49 0.291 G15 28.1 7.38 0.294