Creating moist treats from dry powders

As any food technologist worth his or her salt knows, emulsifiers are substances that make it possible to form and maintain an even dispersion of two or more immiscible substances. Using emulsifiers to mix oil and water in cake recipes is a good example, aiding in the aeration of batter, in foam control and in creating a softer crumb structure. Doing so also enables egg dosages to be lowered. In addition, processing can be simplified from several stages to an all-in method for both mixes and industrial cakes.

What some food technologists may not know, however, is the difference it makes when emulsifiers are ‘whipping-active’. Invented and patented close to 40 years ago by Palsgaard, the Emulpals^® range of custom-designed cake mix emulsifiers has set the bar for this type of emulsifier.

Emulpals^® and its industrial cake counterpart, Palsgaard^® SA, offer numerous benefits. Both are made from high-performance emulsifiers and are optimised to achieve powerful functionalities in cake systems. They are activated on starch in a highly sophisticated extrusion process, during which the emulsifier is fixed to the outer surface of the starch particle.

Emulpals® and Palsgaard® SA create a very large surface area. In fact, one 15 kg carton has a surface area equal to four or five football fields. The effect is instant functionality, fast uptake and incorporation of air into the cake batter, which leads to improved stability and superior cake quality, as well as longer shelf-life. 

Create healthier cakes

It is also possible to create healthier cakes with Emulpals^® and Palsgaard^® SA, as the emulsifiers can stabilize even high amounts of liquid oil in both aerated and non-aerated cakes. The result is delicious, soft and moist cakes. Just as importantly, a move can be made from saturated to unsaturated oils, providing significant health benefits.

Being completely plant-based, and free of allergens and trans-fats, not to mention sugar, Emulpals^® and Palsgaard^® SA suit all types of recipes, from vegan to gluten- or sugar-free, simplifying product development.

Simplified recipe creation

Palsgaard has application centers in Denmark, Singapore, the USA, Mexico, Russia and China. These locations enable us to work closely with customers, helping to create new recipes and solutions for cake mixes and industrial cakes that meet a wide range of consumer demands.

Thanks to the versatility and tolerance of Emulpals^® and Palsgaard^® SA, product developers can easily create several types of cakes, ranging from light and fluffy to more dense and moist, with high or low egg and oil content, and with varying crumb structures. And it’s all possible with a single emulsifier.  All the product developer needs to do is adjust the dosage and the recipe’s components.

Practical advantages

Powdered emulsifiers are also more easily dispersed in the mix than non-powdered solutions, making them easier to work with, particularly for dosing. In cake pre-mixes, ingredients don’t need to be added in a particular order, and the all-in method can be more reliably used.

For industrial cakes, Palsgaard^® SA makes production much easier and safer compared with cake gels, shortenings or other emulsifiers in paste form. The emulsifier requires no pre-hydration or preparatory steps. It can also be added directly to the batter in a fully automated process, which leads to simplified production with minimum manual handling, more accurate dosages and more consistent performance. And eliminating emulsifier and cake product waste provides added savings.

Sustainable solutions

Palsgaard is dedicated to reducing its impact on the environment. Our production plants in Denmark, Mexico and the Netherlands are already carbon-neutral, and other plants in Brazil and Malaysia are slated to achieve a zero-carbon footprint by the end of 2020. Palsgaard’s commitment to sustainability is also evidenced by our ability to offer of a full product range made from 100% RSPO-certified segregated (SG) sustainable palm oil and, more recently, by the launch of a series of non-palm emulsifiers suited to manufacturers looking to entirely remove palm oil from their recipes.