ARS | Publication request: Evaluation of Egg Replacers in a Yellow Cake System

Submitted to: Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: August 17, 2010
Publication Date: October 1, 2010
Citation: Kohrs, D., Herald, T.J., Aramouni, F.M. and Abu-Ghoush, M. 2010. Evaluation of egg replacers in a yellow cake system. Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture. 22(5):340-352.

Interpretive Summary: Eggs are a major ingredient in the baking industry. The past scare of avian flu left some food processors concerned about another future outbreak. In the case of such an event, many food processors that use egg as a functional ingredient would be desperate to find a similar functional ingredient at short notice. Thus, processors that require eggs as a key ingredient in their products desire to have egg alternatives. The egg replacers studied were composed of either whey protein isolate, wheat starch, guar gum, xanthan gum or their blends. At 50% substitution, treatments performed closer to that of control compared to 100 % substitution. The blends of guar/whey/starch (GPS) and xanthan/whey/starch (XPS) performed the best, having the closest volume and texture measurement compared to the egg control. A quantitative descriptive analysis was performed on blends of GPS and XPS at 100% replacement. Six attributes of cake-crust stickiness, crumb color, springiness, moistness, firmness, and egg flavor--were quantified by a panel. These treatments were competitive to the control across all attributes measured. In the consumer acceptability test, the XPS formulation was significantly higher in acceptability for all attributes to that of the control.

Technical Abstract: Eggs replacers were substituted in at 50% and 100% of the dried whole eggs in the yellow cake system. The egg replacers were composed of either whey protein isolate, wheat starch, guar gum, xanthan gum or their blends. At 50% substitution, treatments performed closer to that of control compared to 100 % substitution. The blends of guar/whey/starch (GPS) and xanthan/whey/starch (XPS) performed the best, having the closest volume and texture measurement compared to the control. A quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) was performed on blends of GPS and XPS at 100% replacement. Six attributes of cake-crust stickiness, crumb color, springiness, moistness, firmness, and egg flavor--were quantified by a panel. These treatments were competitive to the control across all attributes measured. In the consumer acceptability test, the XPS formulation was significantly higher in acceptability for all attributes to that of the control.