Paper No.

09
Paper Title: Bakery and Confectionery Technology
Module No. 15
Module Title: Technology of cake manufacture

Cakes are sweet baked products characterized by high level of sugar in the formulation and
hence are foods of high calorific value. Among the various ingredient used flour, sugar,
shortening and egg are the essential ingredients for cake manufacture. The optional
ingredients are baking powder, milk, fruit etc. For cake manufacture the selection of
ingredients is of paramount importance.

In general the cake formulation includes the following:

S. N. Ingredient % of flour
1 Flour 100
2 Sugar 90
3 Shortening 50
4 Milk 65
5 Egg 65
6 Sodium bicarbonate 1.11
7 Sodium acid pyrophosphate 1.35
8 Monocalcium phosphate 0.2
(Lebesi and Tzia, 2012)

For cake manufacture flour of the below mentioned quality needs to be selected:

 Low protein flour is usually preferred for cake manufacture. This is so because the
rise in cake is dependent on the aeration rather than on gluten development.
 The flour should be finely ground because in batter formation the flour particles do
not disintegrate to the same extent as in mixing of dough.
 In case of high ratio cakes, the sugar increases the gelatinization temperature of starch
causing problem in crumb-setting which ultimately cause the cake to collapse
immediately after baking. In such case chlorinated flours are preferred.
 Shortening is responsible for a more tender structure and preventing the dry mouth
feel of cakes. While selecting shortening for cake manufacture the following points should be
taken into consideration-

 Fat should be plastic in nature. It should be solid at room temperature as well as

during creaming process.
 Granular fat should be avoided as it has very poor whipping quality.
 In order to acquire specific characteristics in cakes, a combination of fats like
hydrogenated shortening, butter or margarine may be used.
 The texture of the fat should neither be too hard nor too soft as very hard shortening
will not cream up well, while too soft shortening will not be able to retain aeration.

The cakes are leavened either by mechanical aeration of fat and sugar leading to
entrapping air cells in the mixture or by using leavening agents. For cake manufacture usually
double-acting baking powder is used. Eggs, egg white (ovalbumin), and to a lesser extent
milk proteins are important foam stabilizers, which slow down the coalescence of air bubbles.

Emulsifiers and egg proteins reduce the foam-destabilizing effect of fat in foam type
cakes by keeping the emulsified fat particles well-dissolved in the aqueous phase and
preventing from destabilizing the thin foam lamella between the gas bubbles. These also
enhance the incorporation of air into the batter during mixing by reducing surface tension.

Broadly, there are two types of cakes - shortened and unshortened. Shortened cakes
contain shortening or butter as an essential ingredient which aid in leavening along with
baking powder. Examples are chocolate, cake, pound cake etc. Unshortened cakes do not
contain fat as a basic ingredient. They are leavened by air or steam. Example is sponge cake.
There are different methods manufacturing cake-

1) Sugar batter method

2) Flour batter method
3) Blending method
4) Boiled method
5) Sugar water method
6) All in process
Sugar batter method

Creaming of sugar and fat

Addition of dry ingredients

Addition of liquid ingredients

Pouring into baking pan

Baking

Cooling

Fig: Process flow chart for sugar batter method

Creaming: In case of using different shortenings, these should be first creamed together in
order to blend them thoroughly. Sugar is then added gradually avoiding the adverse effect in the
aeration process. Very light texture and brighter appearance of the mixture indicates that the
adequate aeration has been achieved.

Addition of dry ingredients: The well mixed blend of flour, baking powder and other dry
ingredients is added to the mixture in portions. To avoid toughening of gluten, after addition
of dry ingredients there should be minimum possible mixing action. Hence mixing of batter
at low speed is essential for retaining the entrapped air as well as toughening of gluten.

Addition of liquid ingredients: When mixing of dry ingredients complete the liquid
ingredients are added. Addition of liquids enhances the fluidity of batter to an optimum level
required for gradual and uniform leavening of cake during baking operation.

Baking: The batter is poured on baking pan and baked at oC for minutes. The baked cake is
then cooled and packaged/consumed.
Flour-Batter Method
The flour batter method is specially suited for making lean cakes which do not contain
much fat or egg and most of aeration is achieved through baking powder.

Creaming of equal quantity of fat and flour

Addition of whipped mixture

of egg and sugar

Addition of liquids

Addition of remaining flour

Pouring of batter into baking pan

Baking

Cooling

Fig: Process flow chart for blending method

Creaming of fat and flour: Fat and equal quantity of flour is creamed together till a light
and fluffy mixture. During creaming the flour is added gradually. The advantage of this
step is that as a major portion of the flour is coated with fat before addition of any liquid,
the gluten development is avoided when the flour is mixed with liquid. Due to the same
reason slightly strong flour may also find use in cake manufacture.
Addition of whipped mixture of egg and sugar: Egg and an equal quantity of sugar are
whipped to a stiff froth. This is added in small portions to the creamed mixture of fat and
flour to avoid the curdling of batter and after each addition, mixed thoroughly.
Addition of liquids: The remaining sugar is dissolved in milk or water and added to the
mixture. Any colour or flavour is also added along with this liquid.
Addition of remaining flour: The properly mixed blend of remaining flour and baking
powder is added and mixed gently. At this stage vigorous mixing may induce knocking out
of air cells resulting into poor cake volume.
Blending Method
The blending method is used for manufacture of high sugar to flour ratio cakes.

Whipping of shortening,
flour, baking powder and salt

Addition of mixture of
sugar, liquid, colour and
flavour

Addition of eggs and

mixing

Pouring of batter into baking

pan

Baking

Cooling
Fig: Process flow chart for blending method

Boiled Method Melting of shortening in a bowl

Addition of a portion of flour

Addition of properly whisked

egg-sugar sponge in parts

Addition of remaining flour

Pouring of batter into baking pan

Baking

Cooling
Fig: Process flow chart for boiled method
Sugar-Water Method
The cake from sugar-water has more aeration and better emulsification resulting into
better texture and longer shelf life.

Dissolving sugar in half of the

quantity of water

Addition of remaining ingredients

(except egg) and agitation for aeration

Addition of egg and mixing

Pouring of batter into baking pan

Baking

Cooling
Fig: Process flow chart for Sugar water method

All in Process
Mixing all the ingredients together

Aeration of mixture with control

on mixer speed and time

Pouring of batter into baking pan

Baking

Cooling

Fig: Process flow chart for All in process method

After adding all the ingredients, the mixing is controlled as follows:

Half a minute at low speed: This is done so that all the dry ingredients are moistened
without flying off from the bowl.
Two minute at fast speed: All the ingredients break and are incorporated evenly hroughout
the mass. The batter is also well aerated.
Two minute at medium speed: Aeration achieved during the second stage is not evenly
disturbed in the batter. By mixing at medium speed the large air cells break up into smaller
cells and the aeration of the mixture becomes even.

One minute at low speed: This is done in order to eliminate any possible large air pockets
and still finer breaking down of air cells.

Reference
Lebesi DM and Tzia C. 2012. Use of endoxylanase treated cereal brans for development of
dietary fiber enriched cakes. Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies. 13: 207-
214.