FUCHSIA BAKERIES

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Part III Bakery Items Manufacturing Process:
(Cake Manufacturing Processes)
Hamed Ali
18-May-21

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Article Subject Cake Manufacturing Processes.

Data collected by Hamed Ali Mohamed, Master in food science & bio-technology
E-mail Hamed.ali.mohamed1982@gmail.com Address Eastern Provence, KSA

Release Date 18/05/2021 Doc. Ref (FU)/KSA – 2021 – 05 -67

Cakes
What are Cakes?

Cakes are bakery products that are rich in sugar, fat and eggs, and can be accompanied with a wide variety of
inclusions like fruits and flavors such as vanilla extracts.

They represent a very important segment within the baking industry.

• They come in many varieties and are very versatile in terms of flavors, textures, shapes and colors, perfect as
snack or as serving size portions on special occasions.

• They are typically made from soft wheat flour characterized by low protein content and high purity (mostly
endosperm and starch from center of wheat kernels).

Origin

The first kinds were produced by mixing white flour, eggs, fresh butter, and table sugar. These were called pound
cakes, the first known type of batter cakes. The next generation was developed when bakers found that a lighter,
fluffier product could be made by whipping the eggs, and then folding in sugar and flour. This became known as the
foam type.

The layer cake was created in the 19th century, when baking powders were put on the market, allowing a greater
variety of batter types. In the mid-20th Century, an entirely new type of cake that combined the qualities of two
basic types—foam and layer—were created, resulting in the chiffon type.1

Types of cakes

They can generally be categorized into three types, depending on the differences in formulation, processing
conditions and attributes of finished product:2,3

• Batter type: rely on eggs, flour, and milk for structure, and contain high amounts of fat and water which
creates an aerated and chemically-leavened oil-in-water emulsion. Much of the volume of the finished
product is created by baking powder. Batter types are classified into:

o Pound cakes (which rely on eggs and fat for leavening, e.g. butter, pound and snack cake)

o Layer cakes (that rely more on chemical leaveners, e.g. white layer, yellow layer and chocolate layer
cake)

• Foam type: rely mainly on the extension and denaturation of egg protein for the bulk of the final volume.
They can be regarded as “cakes without shortening” given the absence of the oil-in-water emulsion,
characteristic of batter systems. Depending on the egg fraction used, foam type cakes are divided into two
classes:

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o Angel food cake (makes use of egg white proteins to trap air during mixing)

o Sponge cake (makes use of either whole eggs or yolks, or a combination of both)

• Chiffon type: made with a combination of batter and foam to form a modified “foam-type” grain and
texture

How are cakes made?

Typical batter-type cake (yellow layer) formula:

Ingredient Baker’s %

Chlorinated soft wheat flour (air classified, short patent) 100.0

Table sugar (refined, granulated sucrose) 100.0–180.0

Shortening (cake or all purpose) 40.0–50.0

Water 70.0–120.0

Whole eggs (liquid) 60.0–90.0

Natural cocoa, dutched cocoa, chocolate 10.0–20.0

Non-fat dry milk 8.0–12.0

Salt 3.0–4.0

Baking powder 4.0–6.0

Vanilla or lemon flavor 1.0–2.0

Emulsifier 1.0–1.5

Baking soda 1.0–1.5

Yellow color 0.4–0.5

Flour intended for cake making have, typically, the following specifications:4

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• Protein content 7.0–9.0%

• pH 4.5–5.2 (indication of chlorine gas treatment)

• Particle size of 10–40 µm (microns)

• Ash content of 0.30–0.40%

• Class of wheat used: Soft Red Winter (SRW) and and Soft White (SW)

Relevant formula considerations:

• The amount of sugar varies with the type of cake (yellow, white or chocolate cake).

• For optimum air incorporation into the batter, the fat must be hydrogenated, with plastic condition, with or
without emulsifiers added.

• The amount of water added depends on the contribution of moisture from liquid eggs and use of liquid
sweeteners such as HFCS, invert syrup, honey or 42 DE corn syrup.

• The amount of whole eggs as structure building ingredients depends on the amount of tenderizing and
aerating ingredients such as sugars and fat.

• Baking powder can be single or double acting, i.e., it can contain one or more leavening acids to produce
carbon dioxide quickly during mixing or slowly when triggered by heat during baking.5

Application

Commercial production

The manufacture of batter, foam and chiffon cakes follows in general the same steps; each type of baked goods has
its particular processing conditions and dedicated equipment. The basic steps are:

• Ingredient scaling/metering

• Mixing (target specific gravity or degree of air incorporation depends on the type of product)

• Depositing or panning

• Baking

• Cooling

• Finishing (decoration can be optional)

• Packaging

Mixing methods:

• Single stage (all-in method)

• Creaming method

• Blending method

• Multi-stage method

• Continuous mixing (automated and controlled aeration)

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Dough Mixing
What is dough mixing?

Dough mixing is a process in which flour and water are mixed until gluten is developed, a result of the enhanced
interaction between dispersed and hydrated gluten-forming proteins. It’s quite different from batter mixing due to
differences in their respective formulations—specifically, the proportion between dry and liquid ingredients.

The goal is to:

1. Incorporate air

2. Hydrate dry ingredients

3. Homogenize the dough by evenly distributing all the ingredients

4. Knead the dough

5. Develop the gluten

How does it work?

Dough mixing can be viewed as a simple reaction in which the reactants transform into a homogeneous and aerated
dough:1

Flour + Water + Air + Energy (work) → Dough

The mixed dough consists of continuous (gluten) and discontinuous or dispersed (air cells) phases. Ideally, this
mechanical process creates a visco-elastic mass that has optimum dough handling properties and gas retention
capacity, essential for product expansion during proofing and oven spring.

Dough formulation that fall into the “dough mixing” concept should meet the following conditions:

• Use of flour from hard wheat. All-purpose and soft/hard wheat flour blends can also be used).

• Hydration levels of 50–70% depending on the presence of bran, amount of protein and degree of starch
damage in the flour.

• Flour and water (combined) usually represent more than 70% of total formula weight (rich and sweet
doughs) and at least 90% of formula weight (lean doughs).

Relevance

Mixing is a crucial step in all dough systems used for the manufacture of yeast-leavened baked goods. It is critical to
obtain the right rheological properties and consistency of the dough for the production process to run smoothly, as
well as achieve the desired finished product quality.

• In Sponge and Dough Systems: The sponge is mixed first and then ferments. The second mix is dough
mixing, where the objective is to develop the gluten.

• In Straight Dough and No Time Systems: Dough mixing happens only once.

• In Continuous Mixing Dough Systems: The first mixing is a blending step, which is not intensive in nature.
The goal here is to distribute and incorporate ingredients evenly. After a set time in a fermentation and

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holding tank, a second mixing step occurs. This is mechanically intensive, since the goal is to develop the
gluten.

Stages of dough mixing

1. Pick up: dough is sticky, cold and lumpy.

2. Initial development: dough gets warmer, smoother and drier.

3. Clean up: dough is at maximum stiffness and comes together as one cohesive mass.

4. Final development: Dough is at the correct temperature and handling quality (gluten film is visible, and the
dough is ready to be discharged from mixer).

5. Letdown: The gluten matrix begins to degrade. The dough is too warm and sticky, lacks elasticity and has too
much flow.

6. Breakdown: dough is beginning to liquefy. At this stage, the dough is not salvageable and cannot be used to
make bread.

Excessive mechanical energy and shear break-down the relatively stable molecular interactions between gluten-
forming proteins such as disulphide bonds (S–S). This causes depolymerization of large gluten aggregates.2

In this stage the dough becomes a fluid and viscous mass (with minimum or no elasticity) that has lost most of its
water holding capacity. As a consequence, most of the retained water is released and dough becomes excessively
sticky.

Relationship between mixing stages and dough status

Mixing stage Dough status

Ingredients insufficiently dispersed (mixture is not

Pick up
homogeneous yet).

Gluten-forming proteins (gliadins and glutenins) gradually

Initial Dough not ready
become hydrated and start to develop gluten. Kneading and
development (undermixed)
air incorporation initiates.

Gluten is partially developed (too elastic and poorly

Clean-up
extensible).

Gluten fully developed. Dough has optimum handling

Final Dough mixed
properties and gas retention. Air cells are subdivided and re-
development sufficiently
distributed.

Initial stage of
Letdown Gluten starting to become weak.
overmixing

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Effects of Undermixing (dough too cold):

Dough Finished Product

• Low volume (poor gas retention as final

• Stiff and too elastic development did not occur)
• Erratic scaling and poor sheeting and • Collapsed sidewalls or top
moulding
• Dense and firm crumb (poor air
• Proofs slower (yeast activity is slower at incorporation)
lower temperatures)
• Poor symmetry
• Poor pan flow
• Corners are too round

Effects of Overmixing (dough too warm):

Dough Finished Product

• Slack, wet and sticky

• Excessive volume (dough too
• Difficult to process and to prevent doubles
extensible)
• Proofs at a faster rate (yeast activity increases with
• More open crumb grain
temperature)
• Sharp corners (packaging damage is
• Has diminished process tolerance
possible)
• Excessive pan flow

Application

Different mixers can be used in making bread dough. Capacity (pounds of dough per hour), energy consumption,
rpm, acquisition costs, level of process control, hygienic design, are some features that high-speed bakers often
consider buying dough mixing equipment.

• Continuous mixer

• Horizontal mixer (batch-mode operation)

• Spiral mixer (batch-mode operation)

• Tweedy or Chorleywood bread mixer (batch-mode operation)

The addition of salt, sugar and fat should be delayed to reduce dough mixing time. This helps gluten proteins hydrate
and develop quickly (clean-up stage takes much less time), and provides maximum friction against mixer bowl.

Mixing is an intensive mechanical operation that produces heat from friction. This is evidenced by the temperature
increase in the mass being transformed into dough. For proper machining during makeup, a final dough temperature
should be close to 76–82°F (25–28°C).

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To assess if the dough is properly developed, perform the gluten film test. A small portion of dough is stretched
between the hands into a thin, smooth, translucent film to test its extensibility and elasticity:

Oven Baking Parameters

What are Oven Baking Parameters?

Oven baking parameters cover five key variables that are involved in transforming dough or batter into a finished
product. These parameters can be measured and controlled during the baking step. Understanding their interactions
and role in producing high quality products is considered both an art and science. The parameters include:

1. Temperature

2. Air velocity or air flow

3. Heat flux

4. Process time

5. Humidity

Origin

Baking parameters control has become a common practice as more high-speed bakeries serve bigger bread and bun
markets. Advances in instrumentation and automation technology made it possible to control and regulate on a
real-time basis variables. For example, temperature in multiple-zone ovens and air flow throughout continuous
convection ovens.

How they work

Various chemical and enzyme-mediated reactions and subsequent physical changes to the product during baking are
a result of the interaction of time, temperature, heat transfer and product moisture migration.1,2

Temperature of baking chamber

Temperature in oven zones determines the rate of heat transfer from and to the product. So that’s also the timing
of thermal events such as yeast kill, starch gelatinization, protein denaturation, moisture extraction and crust
browning. All these events ultimately determine the quality of bread. Baking temperature is perhaps the one
parameter that is most understood and easiest to control.

As a rule of thumb, the higher the temperature, the shorter it takes for the product to fully bake to its geometric
center.

Air velocity

The term air velocity implies the flow of hot air inside the baking chamber, usually expressed in m/sec or ft/min. In a
convection oven, air velocity directly controls the amount of heat delivered to the product. It also influences the
baking time, weight loss as a consequence of water extraction, and color of baked products.

Even distribution of airflow across the width of the oven chamber is vital for even heat distribution and optimum
product bake. The higher the air velocity, the faster the product loses water and hence the shorter the bake time
needed to achieve full bake.

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Heat flux

Heat flux is the amount of energy transferred per unit area per unit time from or to a surface. It has three
components: radiation, convection and conduction. It can be expressed in Btu/hr·ft2 or W/m2. Both the total
amount of heat flux and the ratios of the three components influence the baked product’s quality.

This parameter is probably less commonly measured. It’s controlled on a real-time basis in the normal operation of a
high-speed oven. However, it is very important during the oven design phase, such as prior to equipment onsite
commissioning.

In pan bread production, convective and radiant heat is absorbed by the pan, which also serves as the conduction
mechanism to the product. It can be said that heat flux is a direct consequence of how the heating mechanisms
work. For example, ribbon burners in direct gas-fired ovens.

Processing time

Bake time is governed by the timing of thermal events and baker’s experience. It should only be established via
thermal profiling and not by how the crust looks. In continuous ovens, bake time is controlled by conveyor speed.

Humidity

Oven humidity influences moisture migration from the product’s interior to its surface and thus, evaporation. Drier
oven conditions promote faster water extraction due to increased mass transfer moisture gradient.

Humidity inside the baking chamber can be expressed as % moisture by volume or as absolute humidity mass ratio
(lb water/lb dry air or kg water/kg dry air).

Application

By monitoring baking parameters, bakers can tell if their oven is operating as expected. Oven auditing can be
performed using thermal profiling equipment with sensors that are capable of measuring baking parameters.

In most high-speed bakeries, only temperature and time are monitored and controlled on a real-time basis. Human
machine interface (HMI) screens are usually placed next to the oven for operators and plant engineers to modify
temperature profile per zone, compare actual vs set point temperatures, check if burners are lit and observe other
process variables, such as air/gas pressure in the combustion system.

References
- www. Bakerpedia.com

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