Production of Ready-to-Bake Whole Grain Barley Cake Mix with Improved Quality

Due to the busy and fast paced lifestyle in modern times, the demand for healthy and ready-to-cook foods has increased to a great extent. In the present study, ready-to-bake whole grain barley cake mix formulas were developed by the use of different additive (i.e. carboxymethyl cellulose CMC, maltodextrin and emulsifier), and were assessed with the aim of achieving nutritional benefits, shorter preparation times and improved cake quality. Results showed that incorporation of the aforementioned additives into the dry mix formulations led to the production of cakes with lower fat content and caloric value (up to 7.1%) less than the control cake, with improved physical characteristics such as higher volume and specific volume. Texture profile analysis showed an enhancement in cake textural properties such as lower hardness, springiness and chewiness. Sensory evaluation of test cakes demonstrated a general improvement in sensory attributes like cell structure, crumb grain and softer texture. Flavor of cakes in which 100% of fats was replaced by maltodextrin received significantly lower score. However, and in term of total sensory score, most of the developed cake mix formulas had significantly higher sensory scores than their control counterpart.