Development of elephant foot yam cake and its evaluation

Abstract

Cake is a wheat-based bakery product in which the gluten network development is restricted by fat and sugar. The addition of gluten-free flour is an efficient method to dilute wheat flour for weak gluten. Elephant foot yam is a tuber having multiple health benefits. Therefore, composite flour was prepared by mixing elephant foot yam flour (EFYF) and wheat flour (WF) for cake development. The effect of the addition of EFYF on the quality of the formulated dough and cake was determined. The water and fat absorption capacity varied among the powders obtained from the mixture of EFYF and WF, depending on flours ratios. EFYF was incorporated in WF at different concentrations (10, 20, 30 and 40%) and the dough quality was evaluated. As the EFYF lacks gluten, its addition weakened the gluten network. Cakes prepared from EFYF enriched flours up to 20% addition had similar texture and sensorial characteristics (p>0.05) in comparison to the control cake. The cake having 20% EFYF showed the best results in all quality attributes, and is therefore recommended for cake preparation.