Assessing the effectiveness of wax-based sunflower oil oleogels in cakes as a shortening replacer

- Rice bran(RW), candelilla(CW), beeswax(BW) oleogels were compared as a fat replacer.
- Viscous nature of cake batters became more dominant with RW and CW oleogels.
- BW cakes showed higher volume, softer texture, and fine air cell crumb structure.
- Use of oleogels for shortening produced baked cakes low in saturated fat (58%.→14%)
- BW oleogels were the most effective in producing nutritionally superior cakes without quality loss.

Natural waxes (rice bran wax, beeswax, and candelilla wax) were utilized to produce sunflower oil oleogels whose physicochemical features in baked cakes as a shortening replacer were compared. The replacement of shortening with oleogels produced cake batters with lower viscosity and less shear-thinning characteristics. Also, the viscous nature of the cake batters became more dominant when the oleogels (specifically, rice bran and candelilla wax) were used for shortening. X-ray micro-computed tomographic analysis demonstrated that the cakes prepared with shortening and beeswax oleogels exhibited a crumb structure with fine air cells homogenously distributed. The shortening replacement with oleogels reduced the total porosity of the cakes while there was no significant difference in the specific volume between the control and beeswax cakes. Out of the oleogel cakes, the lowest hardness was observed in the beeswax samples and the cakes with candelilla and rice bran wax became harder and chewy in texture. In addition, the levels of saturated fatty acids in the cakes containing oleogels were significantly reduced to 14-17%, compared to the control with shortening (58%). Thus, beeswax oleogels were the most effective in producing nutritionally superior cakes with comparable quality attributes to the shortening cakes.