Novozymes Launches Freshness Solutions for Packaged Cakes

24 June 2013 --- Novozymes has announced the launch of two new freshness solutions targeting the packaged cake segment. The new OptiCake products, Excel and Lift, enable cake ingredient companies to build solutions that benefit both cake manufacturers and consumers.

Packaged cakes are a convenient treat growing in popularity – and consumers expect these cakes to be soft and moist. As the pioneer of freshness solutions in baked goods, Novozymes built on their expertise to develop two new enzymatic solutions to make sure that packaged cakes can always meet high consumer expectations.

OptiCake Excel is the complete tool for excellence in keeping moistness, softness and texture of packaged cakes during storage, whereas OptiCake Lift is an efficient tool that enhances quality through improving the volume, crumb and texture of packaged cakes.

“Consumer trends of convenience and indulgence are making the packaged cake segment one of the fastest growing in the cake market,” says Thomas Erik Nilsson, Novozymes Global Launch Manager for Food, “Staling is a major challenge for the manufacturers of packaged cakes.  Our new OptiCake solutions help create cakes that will keep their appealing moisture, softness, and texture during storage and continue to win consumer preference.”

Through slowing down cake staling and creating emulsifying components, OptiCake Excel offers the broadest range of freshness opportunities. “What makes OptiCake Excel unique and complete is the combination of a patented, sugar-tolerant maltogenic amylase and a phospholipase,” continues Nilsson. “During a blind taste test of over 400 consumers based in France and the U.K., 70% reported that pound cakes made with OptiCake technology and stored for two weeks were both moister and softer than a reference without enzymes. And 73% of the consumers preferred the cake made with OptiCake, of this 85% due to its’ moistness.”

OptiCake Lift is a phospholipase which acts on the lipids in flour and egg, generating emulsifying components. “Pound cakes with OptiCake Lift gain around 10% extra volume, a better shape and a better texture with less crumbling,” says Nilsson, “It improves the volume, crumb and texture of packaged cakes.”