The effect of different batter mixing atmospheres on pound, cream, and sponge cake properties

Cakes are produced in different ways, with pound, cream and sponge cake being examples. While cream and pound cake are made from emulsion-type batters, sponge cake stems from a foam-type batter rich in gas bubbles. For these different cake systems, the influence of mixing atmospheres, containing different levels of nitrogen (N 2 ) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), on batter and cake properties were investigated. Regular pound cake is not positively influenced by enriching the mixing atmosphere with CO 2 . However, using 50% N 2 -50% CO 2 mixing atmosphere elevates the quality of reduced sucrose pound cakes to be similar to that of regular pound cake. Using CO 2 in the mixing atmosphere of cream cake batter increases cake quality, with 50% of CO 2 in the mixing atmosphere providing optimal leavening during baking. CO 2 has a negative effect on sponge cake hardness and specific volume. The cohesiveness, springiness and resilience stayed similar or increased in all cake types when increasing the concentration of CO 2 in the mixing atmosphere. • Pound cake quality is not improved by enriching the batter mixing atmosphere with CO 2 • Cream cake batter mixed in atmosphere containing 50% CO 2 leavens optimally during baking • Reduced sucrose pound cake batter mixed in 50% N 2 -50% CO 2 results in high quality cake • Mixing with CO 2 has a negative effect on sponge cake hardness and specific volume