Baking & Snack - March 2004 - 104

PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY

Cupcake Can-do
Full-sized sheets and rounds aren't the only cakes reaping
the benefits of automation. Cupcake icing technology has
also seen improvements. One manufacturer of cupcake icing
machines said that at in-store bakeries, packaged cupcakes
iced in multiple colors have become more popular.
"The latest development in our cupcake line is our
ability to accommodate more colors and different patterns," he said.
The company's machines feature icing heads
that ice a certain number of cupcakes in patterns such as 4-by-3 or 5-by-3 with decorative
THE PEERLESS GROUP
said one manufacturer. He noted
that any bakery making more than
1,000 decorated cakes per day could
justify some automation.
According to the manufacturer,
the company offers automation from
start to finish in terms of equipment.
"The equipment accepts unsliced
cooled layers on one end and takes
them right into packaging at the
other end. By the time a cake comes
off of our equipment, it is a finished
product, ready for the supermarket,"
he said. The systems can handle
round, rectangle, half sheet, full
sheet, single layer and double layer
round on a single line.
"At the high end," he continued,
"our lines can turn out around 1,200
to 1,400 cakes per hour or 20 to 24
per minute."

swirls. These icing heads are completely removable for easy
changeover from one pattern to the next. Each row of the
pattern can ice in a different color, thus allowing each clamshell container to feature alternating rows of red and white
cupcakes, for example. A separate pump is required
for each color. According to the manufacturer, the
machines can decorate 480 cupcakes per
minute. Depositing nozzles are available in
a wide range of shapes and can be rotated
at different speeds to produce a variety of
swirl designs.

Because all of the parameters within the lines are computer-controlled,
product changeovers and line adjustments are easily made. Changeover
time from one size or shape of cake to
next, if the icing is similar, is around
10 minutes. The manufacturer estimated that a complete changeover,
from chocolate to white icing, for
example, would take 30 minutes. Although, some of the bigger bakeries
that invest in back-up depositors can
accomplish complete changeovers in
5 to 10 minutes.
With this level of automation, the
company estimated that bakeries can
expect ROI of six months to a year.
FINISHING TOUCHES. Although
these mass-production cake lines
may be perceived as being incapable
of making hand-decorated-quality
cakes, there has been an increase in
the development of new technologies at the decorating or finishing
ᮤ Large automated lines can turn out 20 to 24
decorated cakes per minute, taking them from
unsliced layers to final package.
UNIFILLER

ᮢ From sheet to round to layered, many
automated lines accommodate different sizes and
shapes of cakes.
RADEMAKER

104 / BAKING & SNACK / March 2004

end of the lines. "The industry is
demanding more and more valueadded trends. They are adding
more quality ingredients both in
and outside the cakes," said one
manufacturer. "We've noticed that
our customers want to put fancier
finishes on the cakes they are shipping to the consumer."
In response to this need, the company developed three new finishing
options for its lines. An automatic
drizzler applies different patterns of
melted chocolate or caramel onto the
tops of cakes by target. According to
the manufacturer, that is the secret.
The cakes don't just run through a
shower or waterfall. The design of the
drizzle is actually targeted for a specific diameter or rectangular dimension.
The drizzler is computer-controlled,
and patterns, speeds and shapes of
cakes can be programmed.
Using technology similar to the
drizzler, the company developed an
automatic writer that will inscribe
messages at a rate of 12 cakes per
minute. The writer is preprogrammed
with the words and particular script
that the baker chooses to use.
ICING INNOVATIONS. Another
manufacturer of fully automated
lines said the biggest improvement
in cake decorating technology is icing
application. "The way the top and side
icing is put on has changed a lot," he
said. "Nozzles have evolved. The type
of depositor has evolved. We don't
just use simple depositors anymore."
Instead, a tooth-wheel depositor is
used because it can better regulate

Baking & Snack - March 2004

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