Cereal Chem 56:50 - 57.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Water-Loss Rates and Temperature Profiles of Cakes of Different Starch Content Baked in a Controlled Environment Oven.

J. Gordon, E. A. Davis, and E. M. Timms. Copyright 1979 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Six levels of substitution of wheat starch for flour (0-50%) were tested in a research cake formula. Water- loss rates were determined gravimetrically throughout the baking period at 1-min intervals. The heat penetration rates were determined by monitoring the temperatures at four locations in the cakes continuously on a multipoint recorder. A specially constructed environmental oven was used to bake these cakes. The oven maintained an airflow rate of 10.2 m3/hr and a temperature of 190 +/- 1 C. Rates of water loss and temperature increase were depressed in the temperature ranges associated with starch gelatinization. The degree of depression and the final temperature appeared to be related to starch level. Once the cake structure set and it entered the dehydration stage of baking, the water-loss rate began to rise again, accompanied by increasing internal temperatures, and continued in this manner until the end of the baking period. An inhomogeneous cake crumb structure was observed in the scanning electron microscope for the fully baked cakes, which indicated different degrees of starch gelatinization and gluten development in different positions of the cake. These were related to temperature, flow characteristics, and level of starch substitution in the cakes.