THESIS

6.1.3 Cake Manipulation
A variety of mixing methods are used to combine shortened cake
ingredients. The four most common methods used are: (1) conventional method, (2)
conventional sponge method, (3) creaming method and (4) quick-mix method
(Bennion, 1995). As cake ingredients improve, differences among mixing methods
are not very great. Instead, changes in cake quality occur by the amount of
manipulation that is applied. Under-manipulation of a cake batter may yield a cake of
good volume, but the texture is coarse and the cell walls are thick (Bennion, 1995b).
Optimal amount of manipulation results in a cake of optimum volume, uniform
texture, small cells, and thin cell walls (Bennion, 1995b). Over-manipulation of a cake
batter may produce a fine texture, but tunnels are likely to be formed, and produce a
compact cake of low volume (Bennion, 1995b). Even though sugar and fat in cake
formulas retard gluten development, excessive over-manipulation may still toughen
cakes
Many different types of cake products are made with batters that
have been whipped to incorporate air including sponge, roll and butter cakes (Nielsen,
2002). These items are offer produced on a large scale basis with continuous mixing,
baking, and procession lines. In fact, several important steps go into the commercial
preparation of baked goods. The first step involves the combination or pre-mixing of
ingredients. Next, the batter is stabilized in a feed tank. After this step, the air is
incorporated into the batter at a controlled rate. Next, the batter is deposited into
containers, baked, cooled and packaged.
6.2 Glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) in cake products
Many carbohydrate-rich foods have high glycemic indexes (GI.) and
certainly are not good in any substantial quantity for people with diabetes. Other
carbohydrates break down more slowly, releasing glucose gradually into our blood
streams and are said to have lower glycemic indexes. The really shocking results of
GI studies are in which foods produce the highest glycemic response. They include
many of the starchy foods we eat a lot of, including most bread, most breakfast
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