The impact of different batter mixing atmospheres on the quality of reduced sucrose sponge and cream cakes

Cakes are chemically-leavened sugar-rich bakery products. Depending on the cake type, air is incorporated differently during mixing. Sponge cake batter is a gas bubble rich foam, while cream cake batter is an emulsion containing less gas cells. Given the consumer interest in reduced sucrose food systems, we here examined the potential of using altered mixing atmospheres [pure nitrogen (N 2 ) or carbon dioxide (CO 2 )] to improve reduced sucrose cake quality. The use of poorly soluble N 2 resulted in voluminous, stable batter. This was especially the case for foam-type sponge cake batters. During baking of sponge and cream cake batters, leavening was similar for batters prepared either under air or N 2 , resulting in similar cake qualities. Use of the highly soluble CO 2 as mixing atmosphere negatively affected batter density, but positively leavening during baking due to temperature-induced release of previously solubilized CO 2 . In foam-type sponge cake making, the significant negative effect of CO 2 on batter density was not overruled by the positive effect of CO 2 release during leavening/baking. In contrast, the CO 2 mixing atmosphere during batter-type cream cake making had only a limited negative effect on batter density while greatly affecting leavening, and resulting in high-quality, voluminous (reduced sucrose) cakes. • Batter mixing under N 2 slightly improves reduced sucrose sponge cake quality. • Batter mixing under N 2 hardly affects (reduced sucrose) cream cake quality. • Batter mixing under CO 2 negatively impacts (reduced sucrose) sponge cake quality. • Batter mixing under CO 2 greatly improves (reduced sucrose) cream cake quality.