Development of gluten‑free cake formulations: the role of tapioca & potato starch and quinoa in the rheological, textural and powder fow properties

Abstract

This study reports the development of new gluten-free (GF) cake formulations with quinoa flour, potato and tapioca starch as an alternative to commercial GF foods. The GF flour was characterised in terms of oil and water holding capacity, bulk densities, caking and cohesion behaviours. Moreover, batter and cake quality was assessed with rheology, texture and morphology. Results showed that the cake strength value of tapioca starch was 1077.10 ± 33.90 g.mm and the tendency to cake was observed mostly in tapioca starch. No low-frequency plateau was observed in G' for any batter, suggesting that the system was not gelled but structured. Furthermore, both storage and loss modulus increased with frequency in all batters. As for cake quality, it was revealed that the volume index of cakes containing quinoa flour was greater than other cakes. The presence of quinoa flour improved the volume regardless of the starch source used, as it had three-dimensional protein in its structure to retain the air added during mixing. The results confirmed the inverse relationship between hardness and volume.