This document discusses the key ingredients used in cake making and their functions. It identifies flour, sugar, shortening, and eggs as essential ingredients that provide structure, tenderness, and moisture. Optional ingredients like baking powder and fruits are also mentioned. The document then examines each ingredient in more detail, explaining how flour provides structure, sugar adds tenderness and moisture retention, shortening creates tenderness and holds in air, and eggs add structure, moisture, color, and nutrition. Milk, water, salt, flavors, emulsifiers, and leavening agents are also outlined for their cake-making roles.

1. Role of ingredients while Cake making
Cake making ingredients are classified as
 Essential ingredients: Flour, sugar, shortening and eggs.
 Optional ingredients : Baking powder , milk, fruits etc
Ingredients are also classified according to the function which they perform in cake making.
 Structure builders: Flour, eggs, milk.
 Tenderizers: fat, sugar, baking powder.
 Moisteners: milk, egg.
1. Flour
 Flour builds structure of cake and holds other ingredients together.
 Protein content for cake making in flour should be 7 to 9 percent.
 To brighten its colour cake flours are bleached to greater extent. This extra
bleaching has a modifying action on gluten forming proteins. Under low ph
conditions, starch gelatinizes faster and thus affects a faster set of cake structure.
 Cakes made from strong flour will peak in the center and will be tough and dry to
eat. In case of too weak flour, the cakes may flatten out or even sink.
2. Sugar
 Sucrose is most commonly used sweetening agent in cake making.
 They become soft in nature because sugar has tenderizing action on flour proteins.
 It is hygroscopic in nature and so it helps to retain moisture in cakes eventually
improving shelf life.
 The crust colour which is golden brown in colour is due to caramelisation of
sugar.
 Whichever sugar is used in cake making, its granulation is very important. When
fat and sugar is creamed together, small air cells are incorporated in the mix.
 Too large grain will have cutting action on fat which will prevent entrapping of
air cells during creaming operation.
 Too fine grain will also not produce desirable aeration. Coarse powder sugar is
most suitable.
 Liquid sugar like invert sugar, corn syrup, molasses, honey, sorbitol etc. can be
used in part with powdered sugar for their special characteristics. Liquid sugars
have better moisture retention capacity and improve the shelf life of cakes.

2. 3. Shortenings
 Fats have a tenderizing action on the flour proteins and thus make the cake soft.
 It is the fat part of the batter which holds innumerable air cells incorporated
during creaming method.
 As a moisture retainer, fat helps to keep the cakes moist and thus improves the
shelf life of cakes.
 Fat used in cake making should be plastic in nature which could incorporate and
hold minute air cells during creaming operation.
 Too hard fat will not cream up well wile too soft fats will not be able to retain the
aeration.
4. Eggs
 It provides structure to the cakes.
 Although eggs by themselves do not act as aerating agent, air incorporated during
mixing (whipping) operation performs this function.
 Provides moisture to cake.
 Lecithin present in the egg yolk acts as an emulsifier.
 Lutein, also found in yolk imparts colour to the cake.
 Egg improves the taste, flavor and nutritional value of the cakes.
5. Milk
 Milk proteins have binding action on flour proteins which creates toughness in
cakes. However adequate quantities of fat, sugar and water present in the formula
keeps the cakes tender and moist.
 Enriches the cake nutritionally.
 Lactose sugar present in milk improves the crust colour and moisture retention
capacity of cakes.
 Improves flavor and taste of cakes.
6. Water
 It serves most important function of controlling the fluidity of cake batter.
 Water vapour also leavens the cakes thereby acting as a tenderizer.
 Shelf life of cakes is determined by the amount of moisture retained in the cake
which eventually depends upon the amount of water used.
7. Salt
 Enhances the flavor of the finished cake.
 It also improves the crust colour of cakes by lowering the caramelization
temperature of sugar.

3. 8. Flavors
 Many ingredients of cake making contribute to the flavors of the cake e.g. sugars,
eggs, milk and milk products, butter etc.
 In certain cakes fruit juices are used cocoa and cocoa products are also included.
 Vanilla is extensively used in cakes and other bakery products.
 A variety of other flavors such as lemon, orange and other combinations are also
used.
9. Emulsifiers
 Acts as a hook between water phase and oil phase and prevent them from
separating.
 This activity keeps the water evenly distributed in the cake batter with
considerably reduced rate of evaporation and thus increasing shelf life.
 It helps the fat to get distributed evenly in the batter, thus the air cells are also
evenly distributed which leaven the cake and give good volume.
10. Leavening agents
 Cakes are leavened by a combination of 3 different sources;
 Mechanical aeration – while creaming fat and sugar or fat and flour or
beating egg with or without sugar.
 Chemical leaveners - These make cake products porous and light. They
control volume, texture, size of the crumb, control volume, mouth feel and
colour of the crumb and crust of the cake. Chemical leavening agent
controls the ph which is important in influencing the shelf life of cakes.
 The 3rd factor for leavening the cakes is water vapor. When the batter is
heated during baking, a part of the water turns into vapor and gets into the
air cells which expand and aerate the cake.
Shubhada kotibhaskar
Asmita powar
IHM Mumbai