Effect of seven baking lipases on the lipid class composition of three different cakes

Abstract Lipases are effective clean-label improvers for the baking quality of cake. Insights into lipase activities in different cake formulations in combination with the effect on batter/dough and baking quality are needed to further reveal the underlying mechanisms. Therefore, a method using normal phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to an evaporative light scattering detector was adapted and validated for the five most abundant lipid classes in three common cake recipes, namely triacylglycerols, diacylglycerols, monoacylglycerols, glycerophosphocholine and lysoglycerophosphocholine. The method revealed total changes of 0.2 mg/g to 186.5 mg/g in lipid class content per dry weight after lipase treatments. Comparative investigations on batter/dough and products of basic cake, pound cake and brioche without or with addition of seven lipases showed that the substrate specificity of lipases is the decisive factor for their effectiveness regarding improved dough and product quality. A high lipase activity only supported already matching substrate specificities. Graphical abstract