The potential of carrot powder was evaluated for production of fiber rich sponge cakes. In this study, first, the carrots slices were dried in an infrared-hot air dryer (250 W, 60C and 1 m/s flow rate). Then, the rheological properties of cake batters and physicochemical, textural and sensory properties of sponge cake supplemented with five different levels of carrot powder (0, 5, 10, 20 and 30%) were evaluated. The apparent viscosity of cake batters increased from 12.3 to 37.2 Pa s with increasing carrot powder levels from 0 to 30%. Increasing the level of substitution from 0 to 30%, carrot powder decreased the volume of cakes from 66.67 to 56.29 cm 3 . The density, ash, b-carotene and moisture content of baked cakes increased with increasing carrot powder levels from 0 to 30%, whereas the protein and carbohydrate content of samples showed a reverse trend. Sensory evaluation results indicated that cake with 10% carrot powder was rated the most acceptable. The hardness, cohesiveness and chewiness values were in the range of 693.82-869.18 g, 0.55-0.58 g and 358.99-450.56 g, respectively. The sponge cake with 10% carrot exhibited a color, with L*, a* and b* equal to 76.81, 1.81 and 68.45, respectively.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSBakery products are consumed all over the world and the enrichment of these products with fibers and b-carotene may be achieved through the incorporation of rich fibers and b-carotene sources. Carrot is one of these sources, which have a great potential. In this study, a novel formulation of sponge cake production with carrot was developed.