Improvement of box cake quality using instant wheat starch

Despite the popularity and convenience of the box cakes, one of their major problems is poor and fragile texture. The main aim of this study was to use instant wheat starch in the production of box cake powder in order to improve cake quality and to reduce undesirable brittleness of the final cake. Therefore, mixture of wheat starch, 5% gluten powder (based on starch weight) and instant wheat starch at different levels of 0, 5, 10 and 15% (w/w, starch basis) were used in the cake recipe. The results showed that with increasing the level of instant wheat starch, batter consistency and cake volume were increased. Determination of the cake texture using a texture analyser revealed that with increasing the instant wheat starch level, cake hardness decreased while cake cohesiveness increased. The most appropriate dough consistency, cake volume and cohesiveness were obtained when 10% instant wheat starch was used in the cake recipe.