Improved process stability for cakes
22 March 2011 – Ulrick & Short can now offer improved process stability of cakes and even distribution of inclusions with two speciality starches.
Plant bakeries have struggled over the years to translate test bakery concepts to mass production. Longer processes mean that different disciplines have had to be adopted and getting the thickness, texture and crumb structure of batter just right to suspend particles such as fruit pieces and chocolate chips, without effecting the quality of the finished product, remains challenging.
However, with Ulrick & Short’s Synergie ingredients, bakers can control batter viscosity from start to finish and achieve an even distribution of inclusions, without effecting the overall cake density or moistness over life, whilst using the superclean ‘cornflour’ declaration.
The clean label Synergie starches can be used separately or in tandem during the baking process. The first activates immediately and is used at low levels to control and maintain batter viscosity ensuring inclusions do not sink to the bottom of mixing vessels, without causing unwanted side effects such as dense or chewy cake. The addition of Synergie will also ensure that batter is at the optimum viscosity to handle mixing in of fruit without colour bleeding into the cake mixture.
Only stimulated during the baking process, the second new Synergie ingredient allows the cake structure to form but gives enough viscosity to hold inclusions while the batter sets so that they do not fall to the bottom of the cake, which is particularly beneficial for cake batters that have higher expansion levels due to the increased amount of water vapour produced.
These ingredients can be used independently or together, depending on the type of cake being produced as they each react at different stages.
An example of where both ingredients may be used is in a cherry cake, where the dough needs to be thick enough during the production process to stop the cherries from sinking to the bottom of the baking dish, and the batter light enough to not draw out any colour pigment from the fruit whilst producing a moist, fluffy sponge.
