0086 18165740359Cake is an important category of baked goods. Its color not only affects consumers' visual experience, but also reflects the cake's recipe, baking degree and the stability of the production process. Therefore, accurate cake color measurement is crucial to ensure product quality and enhance market competitiveness. This article will explore the factors affecting cake color and its importance , and recommend the 3nh spectrophotometer to help achieve accurate cake color measurement and ensure consistent color for each batch of cakes.
Color Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Cakes
The color of a cake is usually divided into external color (crust) and internal color (cake interior or cake crumbs). Different types of cakes have different color characteristics.
1. Cake exterior color (crust)
The color of the cake crust is usually determined by the baking time, temperature and degree of caramelization of sugar. Common color types are as follows:
Golden yellow: commonly seen in sponge cake and cupcake.
Light brown: Such as layer cake and cream cake, the color is lighter and the surface is even.
Dark brown or caramel color: such as cheesecake or some high-sugar cakes, the caramelization effect is more obvious.
2. Cake interior color (Cake Crumb Whiteness)
Bright White (High L * Value): Typical sponge cakes and white cakes, which use refined flour and are white in color.
Cream Yellow (Medium L * Value): Commonly seen in layer cakes and cupcakes, it has a light yellow color due to the addition of egg yolks, butter or milk.
Dark (low L * value): Chocolate cake or caramel cake, which has a darker color, determined by the cocoa powder or caramelization reaction.
Factors that affect cake color
1. Raw material composition
Type of flour: Refined flour gives the cake a bright white color (high L value), while whole wheat or rye flour will give it a darker color.
Sugar content: Caramelization of sugar during baking determines the golden or brown color of the crust. The higher the sugar content, the darker the color.
Protein content: When the protein content is high, the Maillard Reaction will occur under high temperature baking, making the color of the cake surface darker.
2. Baking process
Baking temperature: High temperature baking will accelerate the Maillard reaction and make the cake crust darker, while lower temperature will make the color lighter.
Baking time: The longer the time, the darker the cake crust will be. Overbaking may cause burning.
Humidity control: When the humidity is high during baking, the crust may be lighter in color; when the humidity is low, the cake crust is more likely to burn.
3. Use of additives
Egg yolks, butter, milk: can enhance the yellow hue of the cake.
Cocoa powder, caramel color: make the cake dark brown or black.
Food coloring: Some cakes may use natural or artificial colors such as caramel coloring and curcumin to adjust the color.
Why Measure Cake Color?
The measurement of cake color is not only the key to appearance evaluation, but also closely related to product quality, process control and brand image.
1. Monitoring Cake Crumb Whiteness
Use L * value to measure the whiteness inside the cake to ensure the uniform color and fine texture of products such as sponge cake. Detect the color difference between different batches of flour to ensure the consistency of the final product.
2. Caramelization Monitoring
Use a * and b * values to monitor the degree of caramelization and control the golden or brown degree of the cake surface. Prevent overbaking from causing too dark or uneven color, which affects the taste and market acceptance of the product.
3. Ensure brand consistency
For chain bakery brands, maintaining consistent color of cakes produced in all stores helps build a good brand image. Accurate color measurement helps ensure brand uniformity and enhance consumer trust.
Recommended Instruments for Measuring Cake Color
Non-contact spectrophotometer YL4560 (45°/0°)
YL4560 spectrophotometer is a color measurement instrument that adopts the 45/0° (45° annular uniform illumination 0° reception) standard. The test probe and the sample to be tested are non-contacted, and non-contact precision color measurement of liquids, sauces, powders, etc. can be achieved. It can be used for accurate color analysis and transmission in laboratories and R&D industries; it can also be used for accurate color measurement and color quality control of automated production lines; it is widely used in the cosmetics, fruits and vegetables, food hygiene, plastic electronics, paints and inks, printing, ceramics and other industries, and can be used for fluorescent sample measurement. Its unique innovative design can not only provide non-contact measurement solutions directly from the production line, but also ensure stable and high-precision measurement results.
3nh NR20XE is a portable computer colorimeter designed with 45°/0° optical geometry. Its measuring aperture is 20mm. The color measurement result of NR20XE simulates human eye observation, but its accuracy is several times higher than that of human eye. NR20XE can more effectively reflect the interaction between the surface texture and color of the sample. When judging the critical tolerance of the sample color value, NR20XE can effectively eliminate the error between the human eye and the colorimeter caused by the surface texture of the sample. Therefore, NR20XE is widely used in color QC departments.
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