With a global market size of 1 billion USD alone in the muffin segment, coupled with a growing health-conscious pandemic population, there are more reasons than ever to churn out healthier new snack and bakery products from your cake and biscuit factory.

Healthier labels are in. Whether it’s “no sugar added”, “gluten-free”, “low sodium”, “transfat free”, “low fat”, “preservative-free” etc., these labels do not confine your consumers to be of a certain condition. No longer are sugar-free items sought after only by people with diabetes mellitus or low-sodium snacks by hypertensive sufferers. As lifestyle diseases increase globally, the demand for snacks that are both healthy and indulgent are now the opportunity drivers for confectionery factories.

Unfortunately, baking healthier products that taste good is not as simple as substituting components of the recipe. After many years of trials and research, food technologists and bakers have found that producing bakes that are “gluten-free” or “low in sodium”, require high-quality emulsifiers to overcome the challenges of textures and tastes brought by the recipe changes.

Gluten-Free Confectionery – Getting The Dense Textures Out Of The Way

Due to the different natures of the starches in gluten-free flours, gluten-free bakes often end up with dense, gummy textures that fall short of the expectations for the usual tall, fluffy sponginess of a wheat-flour cake.

In addition, gluten-free bakery products are more sensitive to retrogradation and have a shorter shelf-life than conventional bakes.

By adding sugar esters of fatty acids (Ryoto Sugar Esters), gluten-free products can improve on shelf-life, have increased volume with finer cake crumbs and softer textures.

Low Sugar Cakes and Desserts

The roles of sugar are plentiful in a cake. Therefore, it is not a straightforward matter of reducing sugar and coping with a “bitter” cake, there are so much more issues with baking a cake at a reduced sugar mix.

Sugar in cake baking works as a flavor-enhancer. When heated, sugar undgoes a Maillard reaction, giving rise to the characteristic aroma and sweet caramel color of a cakes’ attractive characteristics. Sugar also works as a tenderizer by reducing protein-starch interactions, “softening” the bonds and slowing gelation process. Water activity is affected by the amount of sugar, sugar can bond water and lock in the moisture that keeps the cake from drying up, a key component to keeping the cake texture fresh while on the shelves. Equally important, sugar helps the air pockets to expand during the creaming process with butter.

So how can a low sugar recipe survive the textural and moisture demands in a cake? A very efficient emulsifier will be able to intensify the effects of the reduced amount of sugars to create a similar effect.

Ryoto Sugar Esters can improve the volume and softness in cakes and breads by protecting the air bubbles from collapsing during creaming, attract moisture and retain it by securing the starch and sugar bonds during heating.

Steviarome Natural Flavours can keep the sweetness natural, and calories low by overcoming the trade-offs in sweetness when less sugar is used.

Creating Low-Sugar Ice Cream in Tubs

Designing low-sugar ice cream for tubs isn’t just about crafting a product—it’s about delivering an exceptional frozen dessert that meets consumer demands for both deliciousness and nutrition. Consumers are becoming increasingly discerning, seeking healthier alternatives that don’t compromise on taste.

Meeting the Challenges of Formulation

In your role as a food technologist, you’re well aware of the unique challenges that accompany the development of low-sugar ice cream in tubs:

• Texture Finesse: Achieving the ideal texture is an art, particularly when sugar is limited. Ice cream in tubs should maintain a creamy, luscious consistency. Without sugar, achieving this becomes an intricate balancing act.
• Flavor Mastery: Sugar isn’t just about sweetness; it enhances and complements the overall flavor profile. As a food technologist, you must source clean label additives and natural sugar substitutes that maintain the rich and delicious taste of traditional ice cream.
• Melting Point Control: Sugar is instrumental in controlling the melting point and preventing unsightly ice crystals. Overcoming this challenge means you need to identify clean label additives that keep the ice cream consistently delightful in tubs

Steviose 100 can confidently address these challenges and be added to ice creams, frozen yogurts, and sorbets to create delicious frozen treats with reduced sugar.

Low Sodium, Low Fat Confectionery

When sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate (baking powder), both key components in a confectionery, are replaced by other salt replacement substitutes, the textures and tastes will be altered. Using Ryoto Sugar Esters can reduce these negative effects, giving more refined textures, and help maintain a taller voluminous structure.

Lower fat biscuits and cakes are harder, with a less flavourful mouthfeel. Lower fat content affects the gluten structures, reducing the fragrance.

Adding high-quality emulsifiers of Ryoto Sugar Esters can improve the low-fat biscuit’s bite and make it less hard. Overall, in a low-fat biscuit or cake, sugar esters can maintain the volume and produce confectionery that stays smooth.

Want Healthier Labelled Confectionery Success?

Shelf products that can claim “no preservatives” are as essential as taste and flavour.

Textural and quality problems are well-recognized when key bakery ingredients are replaced or omitted.

Without resolving the taste and texture part of the new healthier recipe, most healthier bakery products are not able to sustain on the mass consumer shelves.

It takes more than skill to create healthier bakery shelf products that can taste as rich as their “not-so-healthy” counterparts. Professional bakers and large-scale factories know this as a fact.

Use Ryoto Sugar Esters to achieve consistent taste, textures, visual quality of your new healthier range of bakes without the need for preservatives.