Revolutionizing Cake Batter Testing with Mixolab 300 at Puratos

Compiled and edited by: Jidapa Niemngam

The cake industry accounts for nearly one quater of the global bakery market. However, manufacturers continue to face challenges in maintaining product quality and consistency due to the complex composition and high-water content of cake batter. These characteristics make conventional rheological instruments less suitable for accurate batter analysis.

To address this challenge, Puratos, a global leader in food innovation, partnered with KPM Analytics to implement the Mixolab 300 Universal Flour & Dough Characterizer, an advanced rheological analysis instrument designed to evaluate both dough and cake batter applications.

Founded in 1919, Puratos operates in more than 135 countries worldwide, with 75 production units across 52 countries. The company places strong emphasis on research and development (R&D) to deliver innovative solutions for the bakery, pastry, and chocolate industries, focusing on quality, innovation, and continuous product development.

Challenges in Batter Testing

Cake batter is a highly fluid system composed of complex and diverse ingredients. As a result, conventional rheological instruments are unable to effectively analyze its flow behavior and structural changes. In addition, the industry still lacks standardized testing methods specifically designed for batter analysis.

Testing Process and Protocol Development with Mixolab

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Puratos Serbia began using Mixolab 2 to build a database linking flour quality with baking performance. Later, the Global R&D Center of Puratos in Brussels, Belgium, led by Marko Bacanac, Bakery R&D Manager, became the first organization in the world to conduct real-production beta testing of the Mixolab 300.

Since there were no existing standards or prior experience for batter testing with Mixolab 300, the team developed entirely new testing protocols from scratch. The process combined scientific prediction with practical experimentation while carefully optimizing critical parameters such as batter weight, testing temperature, and phase duration.

The study revealed that each batter type requires a specifically designed test curve to accurately reflect its unique production and baking characteristics.

Key Strategic Findings

Initial testing conducted by Puratos produced several positive outcomes. The research identified clear correlations between batter behavior and final cake quality. It also enhanced scientific understanding of batter dynamics, enabling manufacturers to formulate recipes with greater precision and consistency.

Business Benefits

Testing with Mixolab 300 enabled Puratos to:

Improve formulation accuracy
Reduce production waste
Enhance quality control efficiency
Shorten new product development time (Time-to-market)

The case study from Puratos and KPM Analytics demonstrates that the Mixolab 300 is more than just a laboratory instrument. It is a powerful technology driving innovation in the bakery industry by enabling faster, more accurate, and more consistent product development.

As the food industry increasingly prioritizes data, precision, and production efficiency, analytical technologies like the Mixolab 300 are becoming essential tools for research, formulation development, and quality control.

Melchers Thailand is committed to supporting food manufacturers with advanced analytical solutions and technologies to help elevate production standards, strengthen competitiveness, and drive sustainable innovation for the future of the food industry.

Source: Puratos, KPM Anlytics

5 Jun 2026