Ohmic versus conventional heating for studying molecular changes during pound cake baking

Ohmic or electrical resistance (ER) heating of pound cake batter results in a crumb only cake that corresponds to the center of conventionally baked cake. ER heating in an ER oven (ERO) excludes significant temperature and moisture gradients during pound cake baking and was here combined with a proportional integral derivative (PID) controller imposing a predefined temperature-time profile corresponding to that in the center of a batter/cake during conventional (CONV) baking. As a result of this homogenous baking, in contrast to what is the case in CONV baking, there is no cold front in the batter where water condenses. Therefore, the sucrose concentration in ERO batter can be lower than in CONV batter while still obtaining similar extents of both starch gelatinization and protein network formation. This study also provides the insights that during the metamorphosis of batter into cake a primary role is to be attributed to protein network formation and that starch gelatinization only contributes in a later phase. Ohmic heating is thus an interesting method to study the mechanisms involved in cake baking.

Publication year:2019

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BOF-publication weight:1

CSS-citation score:2

Authors from:Private, Higher Education

Accessibility:Open