Extending the shelf-life of sponge cake by an optimized level of jujube fruit flour determined using custom mixture design

Abstract

Purpose Jujube fruit (JF) (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) is used as pharmaceuticals food, flavors and food additives. The purpose of this paper is to study the suitability of JF incorporation into a commercial sponge cake formulation, and to produce a nutritious bakery product with appropriate organoleptic and technological characteristics. Design/methodology/approach The optimal level of JF was incorporated into sponge cake using a custom mixture design with three independent variables, namely, refined wheat flour (RWF, 15–28 percent), sugar (7–22 percent) and JF (0–28 percent), as well as several responses, including physical properties, texture profile analysis (TPA), sensorial evaluation and color features. Moreover, physicochemical properties (TPA and oxidative indices) of optimal cake (two of the best JF levels) were compared with control sample (without JF) during 51 days storage period, while two baking temperatures (180°C and 170°C) were used. Findings The optimal amounts of RWF (21.19 percent), sugar (21.20 percent) and JF (7.61 percent) required for making the sample with maximum springiness, cohesiveness, specific volume, sensorial scores and yellowness, as well as the lowest firmness, baking loss and browning were determined. Desirable effects of JF on the cake quality well maintained throughout the storage period, as TPA attributes, peroxide value, ultraviolet absorbance and acid value showed less changes in JF-incorporated cake than the control sample. Originality/value Incorporating JF (~7 percent) into the batter was successful to improve the physicochemical properties in both fresh and stored cake with chocolate-like color.

Background, Applications and Issues of the Experimental Designs for Mixture in the Food Sector

“…In [101] a simplex-lattice design was used to formulate frying oils (from soybean, safflower and flaxseed oils) with high content of essential fatty acids and low n-6/n-3 ratio. Other studies have regarded the shelf-life of cakes and candies [23,102]. In [102], jujube flour was used to improve the shelf-life of sponge cakes and the results showed that using about 7% of the ingredient in partial substitution of sugar and refined wheat flour improved not only the shelf life of the product but even the textural and physicochemical properties.…”

“…Other studies have regarded the shelf-life of cakes and candies [23,102]. In [102], jujube flour was used to improve the shelf-life of sponge cakes and the results showed that using about 7% of the ingredient in partial substitution of sugar and refined wheat flour improved not only the shelf life of the product but even the textural and physicochemical properties. Spanemberg and colleagues [23] used a D-optimal design to determine the sugar formulation that maximizes the shelf life and critical moisture content of hard candy.…”

Recent Applications of Mixture Designs in Beverages, Foods, and Pharmaceutical Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…In bakery products, MDs have been used in functional milk [97], chocolate [94], pecan nut [101,102], and sponge [98] cake formulations; gluten-free formulation of bread [87,93] and cakes [88]; noodle [100] and rice bread [99] formulations; cake [89] and staple bread [95] formulation; cassava crackers enriched [96]; flour [91] and whole-food [90] blend formulation and cereal recipe [92].…”

“…Among the most frequent applications of MDs in bakery products are formulations of gluten-free products, such as the formulation of bread using sorghum flour, rice flour, and millet flour [87]; a gluten-free bread based on chickpea flour [93], and a gluten-free cake enriched with protein [88]. Other applications of MDs extend the incorporation of products with different purposes, such as inserting jujube flour in the sponge cake [98], the addition of tikhur starch as a substitute for semolina in the preparation of baked milk cake [97], formulation of chocolate cake with partial replacement of wheat flour with yacon and maca flour [94], formulation of cassava-fish crackers with a combination of ingredients such as cassava starch, high-quality cassava flour, and fish flour [96], formulation of rice noodles that include combinations of gelatinized corn starch, xanthan gum, and guar gum to improve the tensile strength of cooked noodles [100] and the formulation of a low-cost fiber-rich whole food from residues from the processing of orange juice [90].…”

The role of exogenous lipids in starch and protein mediated sponge cake structure setting during baking

“…Recent research on SCs mainly focusses on the evaluation of SC quality when including a variety of ingredients in the recipe such as pea protein (Bustillos, Jonchere, Garnier, Reguerre, & Della Valle, 2020), olive stone powder (Jahanbakhshi & Ansari, 2020) or broccoli leaf powder (Krupa-Kozak et al, 2019) or when replacing (part of the) flour by rice starch (Wang, Zhao, Liu, & Xiong, 2020), jujube fruit flour (Hosseini, Bolourian, & Shahidi, 2019) or Eucheuma powder (Huang & Yang, 2019). From the above, it is clear that novel fundamental studies on SC structure setting during baking are lacking.…”