Sharing the secrets of functional cake ingredients

He contrasts this with shortening-based emulsifiers which are still commonly used, despite being more time-consuming to work with: “Mix producers need to cream up the mixes, or spray oil into them, and then blend in the rest of the ingredients. It’s a complex process that can change depending on the temperature and the equipment you’re using, and there’s a risk of ending up with lumps. When you’re working with powdered emulsifiers, you get better results more quickly and more consistently, even with the same equipment.”

He says Emulpals’ great tolerance also creates opportunities for mixes with a longer shelf-life: “With shortening in a mix, shelf-life might be something like six months. If you can extend that to twelve, that’s a big advantage, especially now that food waste is such a critical issue.”

A new taste-neutral solution for vegan cakes

Palsgaard’s newest solution for cakes is Palsgaard® SE 8102, a combination of plant-based proteins, fibres and gums. Unlike most of the company’s products for baking, it’s not an emulsifier, but it does work perfectly with Emulpals. While the emulsifier incorporates air, Palsgaard® SE 8102 delivers structure and stability. It has particular value in egg-free cakes, and Jakobsen explains that one of the reasons Palsgaard developed it was to help meet the growing demand for vegan products.

“There are a lot of plant-based cakes on the market now and also a lot of solutions for them,” he says. “But very often when you taste them, they have an off-flavour. One of the things that makes me especially proud of Palsgaard® SE 8102 is that it’s taste-neutral ― there’s no unpleasant flavour of soy, for example.”

Palsgaard® SE 8102 was the result of joint working between Nexus and Jakobsen’s team, which set itself an ambitious goal: “We could have just created something for plant-based muffins, but instead we gave ourselves the target of a sponge cake. That’s where there the greatest challenges of aeration and stability are, and our thinking was that if we could create a great plant-based sponge cake, we could make anything. It wasn’t an easy job, and along the way we made some very strange-tasting cakes! We definitely took the long way round to success, but now we’ve got something that’s perfect for plant-based products.”

Adding listening to the mix

When asked about communication Jakobsen stresses the importance of listening. “When you’re sitting with a new customer and talking about your product, sometimes you pick up from their questions that they’re having problems in a different area. So you have to listen carefully to what they’re saying and touch back on it. When you do that, you can adapt your normal presentation to focus on what their actual problem is. There’s no point talking about a banana if the customer really wants to hear about an apple!”

Since the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, a lot of this listening has taken place in online seminars. The cameras and screens are set up in a way that creates intimacy: “We try to make the customers feel like they’re sitting in the front row and can ask questions. It’s great because you can see people’s faces and their reactions to what you’re saying ― you can’t do that in a seminar with 60 or 70 people.”

So, what does Jakobsen enjoy most about his role? “I’m passionate about ingredients, and I’m passionate about sharing what I know. If I can spread some of my knowledge and help make better cakes then I’m happy.”