GEA recently hosted bakery professionals at its annual Bake Tech Master training course at the company’s Bakery Experience Center in Colognola ai Colli, near Verona, Italy.

Designed to explore the technological developments shaping the future of industrial baking, the three-day programme combined technical lectures, pilot-scale trials, and rigorous product evaluations to give manufacturers a comprehensive understanding of cake production from raw ingredients to sensory evaluation.

Mastering the full cake production lifecycle

The technical curriculum provides a deep dive into every stage of cake manufacturing, starting with the fundamental role of raw materials. The program demonstrates how ingredient composition and functionality — including conventional and alternative options as well as diverse fat systems — shape batter structure, process stability, and final product characteristics in line with analytical, nutritional, and sensory requirements.

From ingredients, the programme advances to operational mechanics and physical dynamics:

• Batter rheology: using rheological methods to measure deformation and stress behaviour during mixing, handling, and depositing.
• Process integration: examining the interaction between rotary and dosing systems, oven design, baking profiles, and heat transfer during moulding, filling, and baking.
• Efficiency & resource management: assessing the influence of physical parameters, steam management, and moisture control on overall baking performance and energy efficiency.

Bridging theory and practice through pilot trials

To turn theory into practical capability, participants explore GEA’s pilot plant and R&D facilities under the guidance of expert food technologists.

Live production trials illustrate how specific variations in batter rheology, depositing, and dosing directly affect color development and final product traits. These trials provide a concrete baseline for operational discussions covering process performance and equipment maintenance.

Linking process parameters to sensory outcomes

The programme incorporates sensory evaluation as a critical validation tool. By systematically comparing appearance, texture, and aroma across different samples, participants can directly trace how alterations in production parameters translate into differences in the finished product.

Beyond technical instruction, the annual event functions as a collaborative forum where academic researchers, industry specialists, and GEA process engineers connect with peers to exchange insights and address common industry challenges.

Targeted training for bakery operations

Organised by the GEA Academy, the Bake Tech Master is specifically tailored for professionals across the cake manufacturing sector.

Attendees typically include plant and production personnel, process and project engineers, R&D and quality specialists, line supervisors, equipment manufacturers, and product developers.

Backed by GEA Bakery’s extensive turnkey experience spanning cookies, biscuits, crackers, cakes, pies, and tarts, the programme remains an integral fixture for technical advancement in the bakery industry.