The feasibility of producing enriched and low calorie sponge cakes with spinach puree

The aim of the present work was to determine the effect of the addition of spinach puree (SP) as antioxidant, mineral and dietary fiber source on the quality of the cake. In this study the effects of spinach puree at 0, 25, 50 and 75% (based on flour weight) levels on physicochemical (moisture, protein, fat, carbohydrate, fiber, density and antioxidant capacity) and textural properties of sponge cake was investigated. The sensorial evaluation (texture, spinach taste, greenish color and overall acceptance) of the treatments were also done by ten skillful panelists upon line scale test. The results obtained show that by addition of SP in cake formula, moisture content, ash and fiber increased and carbohydrate, protein and fat content decreased significantly compared to the control cake. So, enriched samples possessed noticeably lower calorie content compared to reference ones. Antioxidant capacity of cakes with SP were considerably increased compared to the control ones (64%). The density of the cakes increased with addition of SP in the blends. All texture parameters are significantly improved by the incorporation of spinach puree. As the hardness and required energy for puncture of spinach cakes were significantly (p < 0.05) decreased compared to the control one. The spinach puree also elevated overall acceptance of the cakes in sensorial evaluation. The study demonstrated that mineral/fiber/antioxidant enriched cake with good physic-chemical, textural and sensory quality could be produced by 50% of SP as optimum level.