PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL AND SENSORY CHARACTERISTICS OF VEGAN CAKE

The objectives of this research were to investigate physical, chemical and sensory quality attributes and their relation of newly formulated vegan cake. Tiger nut milk (TNM) and alginate-lecithin gel (ALG) were used as the replacement of buffalo, s milk and whole egg at the levels of 50 and 100 %, respectively, in addition to, 50 % mixture (50 % TNM and 50 % ALG) and 100 % mixture (100 % TNM and 100 % ALG) . The results revealed that the lactose content of buffalo, s milk was 5.56%, while, TNM was free lactose. TNM is a good source of many elements as buffalo, s milk such as K, P, Ca, Na and Mg. Whole egg had significantly higher foam capacity than the alginate-lecithin gel . In contrast, alginate-lecithin gel exhibited higher foam stability than whole egg. The foam volume of alginate-lecithin gel characterized with stability during 60 min under testing as compared with whole egg that collapsed after 20 min. Concerning emulsifying activity index (EAI), both ALG and whole egg not showed significant difference (p>0.05). Emulsifying stability index (ESI) of alginate-lecithin gel was stable during 60 min under testing as compared with the whole egg that was stable till 40 min. The presence of replacement increased the batter viscosity at ambient temperature over the control value from 19.65 to 21.71-44.54 poise. Among different replacement, 100 % mixtures showed the highest batter viscosity of 44.54 p followed by 100% ALG (38.72 p), 50% ALG (34.29 p) and 50% mixtures (31.03 p). Control batter had a specific gravity of 0.892 g/cc, whereas batter replacing with 50% ALG, 100% ALG, 50% mixtures and 100 % mixtures had a batter specific gravity of 0.992, 1.009, 1.013 and 1.047 g/cc, respectively. The protein and fat contents of control samples were higher (10.42% and 26.63 %, respectively) than vegan cake samples replaced with TNM and ALG. The total carbohydrate content increased with increasing the replacement levels of TNM and ALG in vegan cake. High staling values (high freshness) of vegan cake samples reached 336.59 % and 334.08 % with vegan cake containing 100 % mixtures and 100 % ALG, respectively, in comparison to the staling of control (299.19 %) at zero time. The lower reduction in staling value was achieved in vegan cake prepared 100 % mixtures and 100 % ALG, since the staling value reduced by 10.29 % and 12.41 %, respectively, in comparison to 15.68 % for control sample after 21 days of storage at room temperature. High stability in specific volume during storage was achieved in the presence of 100 % ALG and 100 % mixture since, the specific volume was reduced by only 7.88 % and 8.83 %, respectively, in comparison to 25.99 % for control sample. The presence of ALG and mixtures decreased the hardness value from 79.46 to 36.28 and 66.11 Newton, indicating improvement in the texture of cake. Cakes containing ALG and mixtures showed lower decrement in moisture content and lower increment in hardness during storage at room temperature. Cake samples prepared with different levels of ALG and mixtures were better quality and showed significantly superior sensory properties scores than cake samples prepared with different levels of TNM which coincided with control sample at zero time. Vegan cake samples stored gave higher values and were be desirable till the end of storage period. Therefore, vegan cake could be successfully made from tiger nut milk and alginate-lecithin gel as the fully replacement of buffalos, milk and whole egg, respectively. In addition to, increase freshness, specific volume and storage at room temperature for 21 days.