Volume 4 • Issue 2• 1000209 J Food Process Technol ISSN:2157-7110 JFPT, an open access journal Open Access Research Article Al-Muhtaseb et al., J Food Process Technol 2013, 4:2 DOI; 10.4172/2157-7110.1000209 Keywords: Baking; Madeira cake; Texture; Microwave; Convective Introduction Texture is one of the major quality attributes of foods, and is determined from the response of tactile senses to the food product. It is generally acknowledged as a multi-parameter attribute [1]. Szezesniak [2] divided textural characteristics into three categories namely, mechanical, geometrical and other characteristics. Mechanical characteristics, which are examined in this work, refer to the reaction of food to an applied force and consist of both primary (hardness, adhesiveness, cohesiveness) and secondary (chewiness, gumminess) characteristics. A current challenge facing food technologists and engineers is that of improving the quality of microwave-baked products. Textural problems associated with microwave - baked cake include reduced volume, reduced moisture content and crumb toughness. In order to develop formulations appropriate for use in microwave heating, numerous authors have considered the functions of individual recipe components. Baik [3] suggested that an approximate estimation of cake texture could be achieved based on the type and quantity of the ingredients used. Each ingredient can be categorised by its functional role, for example shortening is a tenderiser, four is a toughener and egg proteins help build a stable cell structure [4]. High quality cake has a large volume and high tenderness resulting from a balanced formula [5]. Sumnu [6] studied the efects of emulsifer, water, shortening and starch on microwave-baked cake quality and developed a cake formulation which produced cake with comparable quality to convective-baked cake. Sumnu [7] assessed the efect of starch type (wheat, rice) on the volume and tenderness of microwave-baked cake. Wheat cake was found to have a greater volume than rice cake, and although the latter generally showed a greater weight loss, they were signifcantly tenderer. Te use of low gluten four in microwave-baked bread was shown, by Ozmutlu [8], to produce cake with higher volume and sofer texture. Sumnu [9] compared the quality of microwave, infrared and infrared-microwave combination baked cake. Te weight loss, specifc volume and frmness of the white layer cake were found to increase with increasing baking time during microwave baking at 50% power *Corresponding author: Dr. Ala’a H Al-Muhtaseb, Department of Petroleum and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman, E-mail: muhtaseb@squ.edu.om Received November 25, 2012; Accepted December 27, 2012; Published January 05, 2013 Citation: Al-Muhtaseb AH, McMinn W, Megahey E, Neill G, Magee R, et al. (2013) Textural Characteristics of Microwave-Baked and Convective-Baked Madeira Cake. J Food Process Technol 4: 209. doi:10.4172/2157-7110.1000209 Copyright: © 2013 Al-Muhtaseb AH, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract The textural properties (hardness, cohesiveness, springiness, gumminess, chewiness) of microwave-baked (250, 900 W) and convective-baked (200°C) Madeira cake were examined. Experimental texture profle analysis data revealed Madeira cake microwave-baked at 250 W to have the most favourable textural properties in terms of springiness and cohesiveness. In contrast, cake microwave-baked at 900 W exhibited the least favourable hardness, gumminess and chewiness characteristics. Modifcation of the batter formulation to include additional margarine improved the textural characteristics of the cake in terms of increased springiness and decreased hardness. However, an increase in the four component was found to increase the cake hardness, gumminess and chewiness, and decrease the springiness and cohesiveness. Textural Characteristics of Microwave-Baked and Convective-Baked Madeira Cake Ala’a H Al-Muhtaseb 1 *, Wendy McMinn 2 , Emma Megahey 2 , Gerry Neill 2 , Ronnie Magee 2 and Umer Rashid 3 1 Department of Petroleum and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman 2 School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK 3 Institute of Advanced Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang-43400, Selangor, Malaysia level (approx. 350 W). To apply microwave energy during baking, strict control over power output must be maintained in order to avoid notable water loss. Sumnu [6,7] observed that the weight loss of microwave- baked cake increased and the tenderness decreased, with an increase in microwave oven power. Sevimli [10] showed that the textural properties (weight loss, specifc volume, frmness) of cake baked in a halogen lamp microwave oven for 5 mins at 60% upper halogen lamp power, 70% lower halogen lamp power, and 30% microwave power were comparable with those of conventionally baked cake. Te aim of this work was to examine the efect of baking mode (Microwave and convective), baking time, and batter formulation on the textural properties (hardness, springiness, cohesiveness, gumminess, chewiness) of microwave - baked and convective - baked Madeira cake. Materials and Methods Cake batter preparation Madeira cake batter was prepared based on the ingredients and procedures used in a local bakery. Te batter (control), which contained (based on a 330 g batch), 94.5 g castor sugar and 40.5 g margarine, was mixed at high speed (level 3) using a standard kitchen mixer (Kenwood, Model KM199) until it became fufy (approx. 5 min). A wet - blended mixture consisting of 61.3 g eggs and 38.1 g water was then added in small increments with continued mixing at high speed (level 3 for 3 min). A dry blended mixture consisting of 32.1 g four and 63.3 g American Crème Cake Concentrate (ACC) (Macphie of Journal of Food Processing & Technology J o u r n a l o f F o o d P r o c e s s i n g & T e c h n o l o g y ISSN: 2157-7110