Impact of Baking Powder and Leavening Acids on Batter and Pound Cake Properties

In most soft wheat products such as cakes, baking powder (BP) plays an important role in achieving the desired product volume through batter aeration by the release of CO₂ during baking. However, the optimization of a blend of constituents in BP is minimally documented, especially the selection of acids, which is often supported by the suppliers based on their experience. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of two sodium acid pyrophosphate leavening acids (SAPP10 and SAPP40) at different levels in BP on final pound cake properties. A central composite design of the response surface methodology (RSM) was used to design the blend ratio of SAPP with different amounts of BP to investigate some selected cake parameters such as specific volume and conformation. Results showed that increasing the BP level significantly increased the batter specific volume and porosity but dropped as BP approached maximum (4.52%). The batter pH was influenced by SAPP type; SAPP40 presented a relatively sufficient neutralization of the leaving system as compared to SAPP10. Furthermore, lower BP levels resulted in cakes with large air cells, which presented a non-homogeneous crumb grain. This study therefore highlights the need to identify the optimum amount of BP to attain the desired product qualities.