Substituting wheat flour with sohphlang (Flemingia vestita) flour: Impact on rheological, physicochemical, antioxidant and antifungal properties of cakes

Investigations on the replacement of wheat flour by sohphlang flour at various levels (10–100%) for cake preparation were studied. Batter or cake made from 100% wheat flour was selected as the control. Sohphlang flour had comparatively higher nutrients and antioxidant activities, and better water absorption capacity than wheat flour. All cake batters showed the shear-thinning and dominance of elastic over viscous behaviour. Enhancing the proportion of sohphlang flour to the batter formulations reduced the viscosity while moduli and specific gravity were increased. With the incorporation of sohphlang flour, baking loss was reduced, cakes became less white and volume index was lower than those of the control cake, while total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, antioxidant activities, and firmness of cakes were enhanced. When compounds were identified and quantified by RP-HPLC, it was observed that gallic acid, quercetin, and isoflavones (genistein, formononetin and biochanin-A) were still retained in cake samples, with genistein as the predominant compound. These compounds were also observed to increase with the subsequent increase in the proportion of sohphlang flour. Cakes prepared from formulation containing 20% sohphlang flour (Cake C) received the highest score for overall acceptability. Interestingly, mould formation on crumbs surface occurred on the eight day of storage and was lessened on progressive increase in the level of sohphlang flour.