How to create cake mixes for all cakes with just one emulsifier

Can one emulsifier really do it all?

Imagine the requirements of the unique cake emulsifier possessing all the desired properties highly valued by the cake pre-mix producers, the cake industry and the end-users:

• A product with a unique, uniform performance in all types of cake mixes and a minimum of two years of optimal functional shelf-life which would secure a uniform and long functionality in the cake mixes, leading to satisfied end-users
• A fast and efficient product with a high tolerance to difficult ingredients such as egg-powder, cocoa and oil – in other words, a very versatile and robust cake emulsifier
• A smart emulsifier composition which would open up the possibility to create cakes with lower amounts of saturated fats and at the same time result in a shorter list of ingredients
• A cake emulsifier which could facilitate the production of almost all types of cakes by recipe engineering and result in high-quality cakes even with an improved cost in use calculations

Palsgaard has matched these requirements by developing and fine-tuning a cake emulsifier that more than meets these demands.

The product is named Emulpals® 110 – also known as “The safe choice”.

It possesses three major and very important benefits:

• Superior stability over a minimum of 24 months
• Stable batch-to-batch performance
• Superior tolerance

The development of Emulpals® 110 has been followed by intensive performance- and shelf-life tests which have been carried out both in-house in our application labs at Palsgaard as well as at several production sites. The results of the various tests resulted in a number of performance benefits which, when put together, paint a perfect picture of a unique and special product – a product that can do it all.

Apart from the three major benefits, several others should be mentioned in order to paint the full picture of a truly unique product:

Recipe engineering and product development

Using only one cake emulsifier in various mixes makes the declaration easy and simple – and when the components in the emulsifier is limited to two emulsifiers and one activating medium (rice starch) it can hardly be more simple. Contrary to protein and sugars which are components in other powdered cake emulsifiers, rice starch will not add any colour to the finished cake.

This benefit opens up for convenient and easy dosage changes in recipes without having to worry about a potential colour change and therefore this contributes to making Emulpals® 110 a very versatile product. This and the stable performance of Emulpals® 110 over a big dosage range makes it possible to make fluffy and light cakes, more dense and moist cakes, various crumb structures and cakes with cocoa, high amounts of eggs and oil – all with one cake emulsifier and only by adjusting the dosage and the components in the recipes.

Being free of allergens, completely vegetable and free of trans fats, not to mention sugar, Emulpals® 110 fits in all types of recipes from vegan to gluten- and sugar-free which makes product development so much easier. As part of Emulpals® 110 is starch this part can be taken out of the recipe and replaced with e.g. flour and this way balance the recipe and at the same time achieve cost-savings on the total recipe without changing the nature of the cakes.

Reducing saturated fats in cakes

The emulsifier tolerates high amounts of oil in both aerated and non-aerated cake systems. In aerated systems such as the typical Asian sponge cake which is a highly aerated sponge cake with an addition of 10% of liquid oil, Emulpals® 110 has proven to be a highly valued ingredient as it creates a very stable aerated cake batter able to absorb and stabilize high amounts of liquid oil, resulting in a very soft and delicious cake.

Non-aerated cakes such as pound cakes are often based on margarine or shortening which contain high amounts of saturated fats. With Emulpals® 110 as a cake emulsifier, all the solid fat can be replaced by liquid oil without changing the nature of the pound cake – apart from the possibility of achieving a softer and more moist cake and an easier production process, that is.

In general, this opens up the possibility of reducing the overall fat content, and just as important changing the composition of the fat in a more healthy direction. Utilizing the properties of Emulpals® 110 it is possible to replace 90% of the saturated fat in a traditional pound cake with the healthier unsaturated fats and in addition to this, an overall fat reduction is possible. Read more about how to create better-for-you cake mixes in this article.