Cutting fat -- and calories -- from cakes and frostings

March 29, 2010

Delicious new cakes and frostings may someday contain less fat and fewer calories, thanks to work by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists such as Mukti Singh. She's based at the ARS National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (NCAUR) in Peoria, Ill.

In experiments at her Peoria laboratory, Singh is formulating low-fat cake mixes and frostings with Fantesk™—microdroplets of trans-fat-free , encapsulated in cornstarch or wheat flour. Fantesk was developed in the 1990s by NCAUR chemists George Fanta and the late Kenneth Eskins.

Singh's experiments have shown that, when making a cake with a mix that contains Fantesk, cooking oil doesn't have to be added. And, the mixes containing Fantesk produce low-fat cakes that have better texture and a higher volume.

What's more, the lower-fat frostings that Singh and Peoria chemical engineer Jeffrey Byars are creating with Fantesk have the smooth texture and spreadability of buttercream favorites, yet contain up to 50 percent less .

More information: Read more about this research in the March 2010 issue of Agricultural Research magazine, available online at: http://www.ars.usd … ries0310.htm

Provided by United States Department of Agriculture

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Caliban
Mar 29, 2010

Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
Great- another lab-produced, chemically altered food additive.

Why not just skip the cornstarch, stabilized oil, and high-fructose corn syrup altogether? There are plenty of other oils that can be used, along with cane sugar to achieve the same effect, with far less questionable effects.
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