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LOW CALORIE CAKE: THE IMPACT OF STEVIA APPLICATION IN BAKING

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 An International Multi-Disciplinary Graduate Conference of Terengganu (GraCe 2016)

LOW CALORIE CAKE: THE IMPACT OF STEVIA APPLICATION IN

BAKING PRODUCT
Amirul Hakim Zulkifli1, Wan Rusni Wan Ismail2, Sabaianah Bachok3, Noradzhar Baba4
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Faculty of Hotel & Tourism Management, 13500 Permatang Pauh,
Pulau Pinang , MALAYSIA.
Corresponding author: amirulhakimzulkifli88@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Bakery and confectionery industry and other sweet foods, lead the demand of sugar and consumption of
baked goods in Malaysia is considerably high. Packaged and unpackaged bakery industry post stronger
value growth in retail. Hence, the sugar is one of the main sweetener ingredients in bakery and pastry
products, desire for sweetness foods but for those who are really concern about carbohydrates and calories
intake will lead to find out the alternatives sweetener in food and beverages, which have made possible to
offer the same quality of sweetness with low calories. This study is to determine the effect of
physicochemical properties of Stevia application in butter cake in place to sugar at four varying levels.
Stevia is derived from the scientific name of Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni, a family of Asteraceae, was a
native to the Amambay region in the north east Paraguay and widely used for sweetener for diabetic diet
as it provides low calorie. This study was determine the effect of Stevia on physicochemical of bakeries
product by using stevia sweetener in place of sugar .Analytical testing on nutrients, calorie content,
texture, color and percentage of mass sucrose were carried out scientifically. The study found that
different level of stevia content resulted in different calorie content.

Keywords: Stevia , Health concern, Low calorie.

INTRODUCTION
Sugar holds a primary position in the Malaysian cuisine especially in traditional Malaysian delicacies
including beverages due to its rich taste. Rapid economic growth, increasing number of population, and
disposable income in recent years has triggered the bakery and confectionery industry and other sweet
foods, leading to an increased demand of sugar (Kamarulzaman, Jamal, Vijayan, & Ab. Jalil, 2014).

Euromonitor (2014) reported that sweeteners including sugar used in production of bakery products in
Malaysia are about 30%. Hence, the sugar is one of the main sweetener ingredients in bakery and pastry
products, desire for sweetness foods but for those who are really concern about carbohydrates and calories
intake will lead to find out the alternatives sweetener in food and beverages, which have made possible to
offer the same quality of sweetness with low calories. Therefore ,demand in society for more sugar
substitute is increasing (Aranowski, 2009; Ng, Slining, & Popkin, 2012)
 An International Multi-Disciplinary Graduate Conference of Terengganu (GraCe 2016)

Scope of Study

This research is conducted to study the range of four different products formulations in which contain
stevia sweetener in place of sugar in baked cakes. The scope of this research includes the analysis of
calorie and nutritional content (proximate analysis). People who are really concern about health may
consume Stevia as a sugar replacer in diet. Thus, this study was explored the usage of stevia as a sugar
replacer in foods; particularly on pastry and confectionery product.

Significant of Study

People who are really concern about health may consume Stevia as a sugar replacer in diet. Stevia can be
classified by high intensity non nutritive sweetener, and only small amount of stevia is sufficient to
sweeten the foods products. This study is explored the usage of stevia as a sugar replacer in foods;
particularly on cake product and to investigate the potential either fully or partially replacing sugar /
sucrose content in butter cake with Stevia as a natural low caloric sweetener but remains the quality of
butter cake

Research Objectives:

1) To determine the effect of Stevia on calorie of bakeries product by using stevia sweetener in place
of sugar.
2) To identify the nutritional value in bakeries as affected by Stevia usage.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Stevia as a sweetener

Scientifically, Stevia is derived from the scientific name of Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni, a family of
Asteraceae, was a native to the Amambay region in the north east Paraguay. Stevia is formerly called as
Eupatorium Rebudianum but its name changed to Stevia Rebaudiana (Bertoni) by year 1905.It is also
cultivated in the neighboring part of Argintina and Brazil and recognized for its sweet taste since year
1899.

Stevia, with extensive roots system has more than 200 species in the sunflower family (Asteraceae). It
will grow up to 1 m tall and the leaves are 3-4 cm long shape with blunt tipped, notch margin from
middle to the tip. It is slightly granular at the upper surface of the leaf. It grows well on a wide range of
soil and must be cultivated as annual plant in mid -to high – latitude region as the longer days the plants
are left uncultivated, more leaf yield (Lebedev, 2010). One planted hectare of stevia can produce up to
1200kg of dried stevia leaves that contain between 60kg to 70kg of stevioside. Since it is 200 times
sweeter than sugar it equal to yield of 21 000kg of sugar per hectare (Lemus-Mondaca et al., 2012;
Thomas & Glade, 2010)
Stevia was calculated an energy value 2.7 kcal/g on dried weight basis. This means that Stevia can be
considered a status as very low calorie sweeteners. This intense sweetness of stevia is only use for small
amount to yield sugar in food products, thus enabling the manufacturer to label them as “sugar free” or
“non-caloric” (Shankar, Ahuja, & Sriram, 2013).

Human safety and medicinal importance of stevia

Paraguayan Guarani Indians were used dried Stevia leaves as a sweetening agent in beverage such as tea
and as medicines by chewing the fresh stevia leaves. They often to drink stevia tea in a day but there was
 An International Multi-Disciplinary Graduate Conference of Terengganu (GraCe 2016)

no side effects. (Ahmed, Hossain, Islam, Kumar Saha, & Mandal, 2011). Therefore, safety and health
issues have been extensive consideration and major attention in the US. Insulin abnormalities can caused
metabolic syndrome such as diabetes mellitus and become the foremost public health concern in the
present world (Raz et al., 2013). Hence, Stevia products (stevioside) could be used as the herbal or
alternative sweeterners. Indisputably, stevia extracts have been widely used for diabetes treatment in
South America. According to (Mishra, 2012) confirmed the hyperglycemic effect of stevia on
11 0.5 g % of stevioside and 10 g % of products of stevia leaves in similarly high carbohydrate and fat
diets showed a significant reduction in glucose level at the following 4 weeks of treatment in rats. Stevia
has been used for years globally as a natural non-nutritive high intensity sweetener as the alternative to
sugar and other nutritive variants (Mohammad, 2014). Literature reviewed during this study revealed that
stevia as a compound that is non-carcinogenic, non-toxic, and safe for human consumption. It appears that
stevia is not absorbed in the small intestine. However, it is metabolized by human micro flora in the large
intestine and is found to be excreted in urine and fecal matter (Mohammad, 2014).

A study done by Williams and Burdock (2009) tested on Wistar rat discovered that the highest dose of
5000µg/ml did not produce any significant increase in the occurrence of polychromatic immature
erythrocytes. This indicates stevia was found as non-mutagenic. Additionally, Stevia was shown not to
cause toxicity effects in male Wistar rats after being administered a dose of 2000 mg/kg of body weight.
A Research conducted by Carakostas, Curry, Boileau, and Brusick (2008) found that Stevia dosed
hamsters at 2500 mg/kg body weight daily showed have no effect on reproduction. There was no effect
either male or female hamsters on fertility, or on reproductive tissue.

Synthetic and Non-Nutritive Sweeteners in Baking

According to Mariotti and Alamprese (2012), non-nutritive sweeteners can be used as sugar replacers in
baked goods but it may have an effect on tenderness, color and flavor of the final product. The reduction
of sugar can cause visible losses in texture, appearance, flavor and mouth feel. Sweeteners such as stevia
rebaudioside-A can be used in bakeries to replace the sweetness of sugar. Non-nutritive sweetener does
not participate in Maillard reaction or caramelization resulting in food products lighter in color after
cooking. According to (Gallagher, O’brien, Scannell, & Arendt, 2003; Lin, Lee, Mau, Lin, and Chiou
,2010) in the study on Evaluation of sugar replacers in
short dough biscuit production reported a significant lighter in color of biscuits as the higher level sugar
replacement. Sugar alcohols have low humectancy and do not retain moistness as compared to sugar
(Murano 2003).Non nutritive sweeteners such as acesulfame-K, sucralose, and aspartame have been
successfully used in bakeries to partially or fully replace of sugar. Since these compounds are
substantially sweeter than sugar, a bulking agent includes dextrin, and non-digestible carbohydrates are
normally used in conjunction when replacing the weight of sugar in the formula (Baeva, Panchev, &
Terzieva, 2000).

MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY

Sample Preparation

This study is conducted in different formulations of baked product products. Ingredients, batter and
preparation of baking of reference cakes have been described previously (Gisslen, 2012). After baking the
cake in a baking tray, they will allow to cool at room temperature and keep in tightly wrap until analysis
(18-24 H after baking).
 An International Multi-Disciplinary Graduate Conference of Terengganu (GraCe 2016)

Formulations
Each of these categories will be divided in to three (3) different formulations in term of sugar content.
The research in meant to study either stevia as a main sweetener to replace sugar. Therefore the
formulations starts from 50% of stevia content in butter cake; 0% stevia butter cake as a control item; 50
% stevia butter cake as formulation 1 , 75% stevia butter cake as formulation 2 and 100% stevia butter
cake as formulation 3.

Proximate Analysis
The analysis to determine the calorie value are being done in triplicate to achieve higher reliability,
validity and yet more significant.

Statistical Analysis
The data collected were analyzed using a computer equipped with the Statistical package Social Science
(SPSS) program version 22.0. The null hypothesis was that there were no differences among cakes
prepared with or without stevia. A different percentage of stevia were measured in three (3) formulations
of each treatment (0%, 50%, 75% and 100%). Results were examined to determine if significant
differences exist. The physicochemistry data were analyzed by using the software package used for
statistical analysis (SPSS) version 22.0 by conducting Analysis of Variance method (ANOVA) and the
Duncan Multiple Range Test to see the significant difference observed that follows the subject studied at
the level of confidence 95% (p<0.05).

FINDINGS

Analytical testing on cooking lost content, moisture, differential scanning calorimeter and nutritional
analysis was conducted on the four cake formulations.

Proximate analysis (Calorie and Nutritional analysis)

Caloric and nutritional results by treatment for butter cake formulations containing partially and fully
stevia as replacement for sugar at different levels (0, 50, 75 and 100%) can be found in Table 1. Results
per 100 gram sample were showed as below:

Table 1: Proximate composition and calorie value for cake ( 0%,50% 75% and 100% Stevia)

Proximate Control (0% Formulation 1 Formulation 2 Formulation 3

composition Stevia (50% stevia) (75% stevia) (100% stevia)
Calorie 461 429 400 350
Protein 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5
Total Fat 20.1 20.1 20.1 20.1
Carbohydrate 68.0 56.6 44.5 37.0
Ash 3.08 3.08 3.08 3.08
Fiber 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7
Moisture 5.82 5.76 5.29 4.08

Based on the result, as the replacement level of stevia increased, the caloric level of butter cake decreased.
The 0% stevia (control) was the highest with 461 calories per 100 grams of cake and the 100% stevia
butter cake had the lowest with 350 calories per 100 grams of cake.
 An International Multi-Disciplinary Graduate Conference of Terengganu (GraCe 2016)

According to Food and Drug Administration regulations, the term “ lower calorie”, “reduced calorie”,
“reduced in calories”, “calorie reduced”, “lower in calories”, or “fewer calories”, can be claimed on a
food label if the product contains at least 25 percent fewer calories from the reference food (Food &
Administration, 2012). Therefore both the 75% and 100% stevia butter cakes qualify for such a claim.
The 50% stevia butter cake sample allows for the reduction in calories about 15% as compared to the
control without compromising its quality but reduction of sugar in cakes as the replacement stevia, there
is no any other changes in nutrients content were observed.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrates that is a possible to incorporate stevia into cake formulations at different level
(0%, 50%, 75% and 100%). The partially or fully substitution of stevia in cake used led to pursue the
research objectives. Analytical testing on nutritional analysis were determined on four (4) different butter
cake formulations. Proximate analysis showed a significant decrease in carbohydrates as well as calories
as the sugar decreased but the other nutrient components were remained unchanged among formulations.
Recommendation for future research should focus on investigating the application of stevia in other types
of local Malaysian traditional delicacies, dessert or confectionary could be investigated. Apart from the
stevia sweetener in cooking and baking, potential research on stevia-honey would also be one of the
further studies. This could be utilized for new food product development to replace sugar in food and
beverages.

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