Palsgaard showcased the power of its whipping-active emulsifiers to reduce the egg content of cake recipes – allowing significant cost reductions. Earlier this year, wholesale egg prices in the US reached their second highest level ever, and with eggs accounting for as much as 30% of cake recipes, industrial bakers have been hit particularly hard. Solving this problem was the focus of a Palsgaard knowledge-sharing session at the International Baking Industry Expo. 

The amount of egg needed in a cake recipe depends largely on the choice of emulsifier. Traditional cake hydrates or gels, which are typically based on monoglycerides, can perform poorly on stability, meaning that more egg is needed.

Palsgaard® SA, a series of powdered emulsifiers for baking, overcomes this challenge. Based on polyglycerol esters (PGEs) of fatty acids, it offers many functional properties, allowing egg content to be cut by an average of 20%. This translates to a typical cost reduction of around 5%.

Other Palsgaard knowledge sharing sessions at IBIE showcased the performance benefits of its whipping-active emulsifiers, which also include the Emulpals® series for cake premixes. Visitors will be shown how the ingredients can help achieve the perfect shape, volume and crumb structure in cakes, as well as simplifying production and accelerating output.

Emulpals® and Palsgaard® SA are plant-based, sustainably sourced and produced in CO2-neutral factories. They can also be used to create better-for-you cakes because they are free from trans fats and can allow a shift from saturated to unsaturated oils.

“We’ve got decades of experience in the use of emulsifiers in baking – and we love sharing our knowledge,” says Sheila Rice, business development manager at Palsgaard. “The beautiful thing about our whipping-active emulsifiers is that they solve such a wide range of challenges in cake production. Lower costs through reduced egg use is an obvious advantage, but there are so many performance benefits too. The proper emulsifier can be the key to the desired structure, volume and appearance of your cake, as well as providing the opportunity to create better-for-you recipes.”

Inspection Solutions

Featured at the IBIE expo, SENSURE showcased its vision inspection solutions (STARGATE series), which use high-speed non-contact imaging cameras and/or profilometer lasers to quantify a wide range of product quality parameters (shape, size, color, height, topping coverage, volume, etc.) at high speed (up to 200 products per second). All solutions provide continuous and quantitative data which can be used to identify process issues and create a library of information for analysis.

The SENSURE vision inspection systems allow producers to automate the process for the quality control of bakery products with the rejection of the non-compliant ones and lead, thanks to an analysis of the information detected, to an increase in the productivity and efficiency of the line.

The core of the STARGATE family of products is the SENSURE SYNAPSE software, with thanks to artificial intelligence and self-learning, guarantees the best quality control for bakery products such as cakes and confectionery. Artificial intelligence makes up the core of the system and enables it to perform various functions such as the automatic selection of the features to be controlled in the products, and the optimization of the tolerances for the controlled measurements.

SENSURE SYNAPSE can measure and control numerous product features, such as shape, size, color, and surface pattern using 2D technology (industrial cameras) and perform a full 3D product profile using 3D technology (laser profilometers). With SENSURE SYNAPSE all the measurements are reliable, repeatable, and accurate.