Publication no. C-1998-0604-07R |  VIEW ARTICLE

Factors Affecting Cake Firmness and Cake Moisture Content as Evaluated by Response Surface Methodology.

S. Lahtinen (1,2), M. Levola (1), K. Jouppila (1), and H. Salovaara (1). (1) Department of Food Technology, University of Helsinki, Finland. (2) Corresponding author. Phone: 358-0-7085245. Fax: 358-0-7085212. E-mail: <seppo.lahtinen@helsinki.fi> Cereal Chem. 75(4):547-550. Accepted April 27, 1998. Copyright 1998 American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc.

Values of initial fat temperature, mixing intensity, mixing time, and mass ratio of fat and sucrose (F/S ratio) were varied in the preparation of fat-sugar cream. The dependence of cake firmness and cake moisture content on these values, the size of sucrose particles, and storage time were studied using response surface methodology. The logarithm of storage time and F/S ratio proved to be the best predictors for both cake firmness and cake moisture content in the creamed cake. An interaction between fat temperature and F/S ratio had a notable influence and size of sucrose particles had a slight influence on cake firmness. Besides logarithm of time and F/S ratio, mixing intensity was the only factor that affected cake moisture content significantly.