Effect of Spirulina platensis microalgae powder as an egg white substitute on the sponge cake properties

Algae and microalgae are great potential sources of natural compounds that can be used to produce functional foods. Spirulina platensis is one of the edible microalgae with no side effects. Lack of cellulose in the cell wall of Spirulina platensis makes it easy to digest. However, other microalgae do not have this advantage. This property has made Spirulina platensis more valuable. The purpose of this study was to use Spirulina platensis as egg white replacer and investigate its effect on physicochemical and sensory properties of sponge cake during storage time. For this purpose, different egg white ratios (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% w/w) were substituted in sponge cake formulation with Spirulina platensis powder. The results showed that the addition of Spirulina platensis powder reduced the moisture content, specific volume, porosity and cohesiveness of the samples. Protein, fat, ash, pH and firmness of sponge cake samples increased with increasing amounts of microalgae powder. As the amount of Spirulina platensis microalgae powder increased, overall acceptance of the samples decreased, but this decrease was not significant (p˂0.05). In general, the use of Spirulina platensis powder in small quantities as an egg white replacer, improved the properties of sponge cake.