Step 1: Mixing with Egg Beater (Dough Mixing Stage)
Detailed Process
1、Raw Material Preparation
Weigh the softened butter (temperature 25-30℃), icing sugar (or granulated sugar), room-temperature egg liquid, sifted flour (including low-gluten flour, leavening agents, milk powder, etc.), and auxiliary materials (such as chocolate chips) according to the formula.
2、Whipping Fat and Sugar
Pour butter and icing sugar into the mixing bowl of the egg beater. Start the equipment, first stir at low speed (100-200r/min) for 1-2 minutes to initially disperse the sugar particles in the butter; then switch to medium speed (300-400r/min) and whip for 3-5 minutes until the mixture expands to 2-3 times its original volume and turns light yellow (similar to cream). This step introduces air to ensure the crispiness of the cookies.
3、Adding Egg Liquid
Slowly pour the egg liquid in 2-3 batches. After each addition, stir at low speed (150-200r/min) for 1-2 minutes until the egg liquid is completely absorbed into the fat paste (no stratification), avoiding oil-water separation caused by excessive egg liquid or insufficient stirring (which would make the dough loose).
4、Mixing Dry Powder and Auxiliary Materials
Add the sifted flour mixture, switch to low speed (100-150r/min), and stir for 2-3 minutes until the dry powder is completely absorbed by the fat (no white particles), then stop (over-stirring is prohibited, as it will make the flour develop gluten and harden the cookies). Finally, add auxiliary materials such as chocolate chips manually or through the feeding port, and mix gently by hand or stir at low speed for 10-20 seconds.
Involved Equipment
Egg Beater (Mixing Equipment)
Mostly vertical planetary mixing egg beaters, with core components including:
◉ Mixing bowl (capacity 50-500L, made of stainless steel for easy cleaning);
◉ Beaters (replaceable: "fan-shaped beaters" for whipping, "hook-shaped beaters" for mixing dry powder);
◉ Speed control system (stepless speed change, supporting 0-600r/min adjustment);
◉ Lifting mechanism (convenient for taking and placing the mixing bowl).
Features: Suitable for small and medium batch production, with high mixing efficiency, able to precisely control the whipping degree, widely used in baking workshops.
Step 2: Shaping with Cookie Molding Machine
Detailed Process
1、Dough Pretreatment
Take out the mixed cookie dough. If it is too soft, refrigerate it for 10-15 minutes (the optimal temperature is 20-22℃) to prevent deformation during shaping. The dough should be in a continuous block without hard lumps.
2、Equipment Debugging
Replace the moulds or nozzles of the molding machine according to the cookie shape (such as spiral patterns, flower shapes, round shapes), and adjust the conveyor belt speed (usually 3-5m/min) and the frequency of the cutting knife (matching the dough extrusion speed).
3、Automatic Shaping
Put the dough into the feeding hopper of the molding machine, and the dough is pushed to the extrusion nozzle (or mould cavity) through a screw conveyor:
◉For extrusion-type molding machines: After the dough is extruded through the nozzle, it moves with the conveyor belt, and the cutting knife cuts it to the set length to form patterned cookie blanks;
◉For rotary moulding machines: The dough is pressed into the mould grooves, excess dough is scraped off after rolling, and the shaped cookie blanks are separated from the mould with the conveyor belt.
4、Blank Arrangement
The shaped cookie blanks automatically fall onto baking trays (or non-stick conveyor belts), with a spacing of 2-3cm (to prevent sticking due to expansion during baking). The baking trays should be pre-oiled or lined with baking paper to prevent sticking.
Involved Equipment
Cookie Molding Machine
There are two main types:
1、Extrusion-Type Cookie Molding Machine
Components: Feeding hopper, screw conveyor, replaceable nozzles (stainless steel, with various patterns), cutting device, conveyor belt.
Features: Suitable for making fancy cookies (such as cookie sticks, spiral cookies), capable of shaping 50-200 pieces per minute, with strong three-dimensional patterns.
2、Rotary Moulding Cookie Machine
Components: Double-roller moulds (with concave patterns), feeding roller, dough scraper, conveyor belt.
Features: Suitable for producing thin, regularly shaped cookies (such as round, square), with higher efficiency (200-500 pieces per minute) and uniform blank thickness (error ≤0.5mm).
Step 3: Baking with Rotary Oven
Detailed Process
1、Preheating the Oven
Start the rotary oven, set the baking temperature (usually 190-200℃ in the front section, 160-170℃ in the rear section), and preheat for 10-15 minutes until the temperature is stable (temperature difference in the oven ≤5℃).
2、Putting in Baking Trays
Evenly place the baking trays with cookie blanks on the multi-layer racks of the rotary oven (2-4 trays per layer, with a spacing of ≥10cm to ensure hot air circulation), and close the oven door.
3、Baking Control
Set the baking time (6-12 minutes, adjusted according to the size of the cookies). The rotating rack in the oven rotates at 5-10r/min to ensure uniform heating of cookies in each layer. Monitor the color change through the observation window, and stop baking when the edges of the cookies turn golden yellow and the center is slightly yellow.
4、Taking Out and Cooling
Open the oven door, quickly take out the baking trays, transfer the cookie blanks to cooling racks (to avoid over-baking due to residual heat of the trays), and let them cool naturally for 5-10 minutes.
Involved Equipment
Rotary Oven (Hot Air Rotary Oven)
Core structure:
◉ Oven body (stainless steel, with an insulation layer thickness of ≥50mm to reduce heat loss);
◉ Rotating system (multi-layer circular rack, driven by a motor to rotate at a constant speed);
◉ Heating and air supply device (electric heating tubes or gas burners, combined with centrifugal fans to form hot air circulation);
◉ Temperature control system (digital display thermostat, accuracy ±1℃, supporting temperature control by section).
Features: Large baking capacity (10-50 trays at a time), uniform heating (color difference of finished products ≤5%), suitable for small and medium batch production, with lower energy consumption than tunnel ovens.
Key Points for Linking the Three Steps
The dough after mixing should enter the molding machine within 30 minutes (to avoid excessive softening due to temperature rise);
The shaped cookie blanks should be sent to the preheated rotary oven within 10 minutes (to prevent surface drying from affecting expansion);
Equipment cleaning: The mixing bowl of the egg beater should be rinsed with hot water after each use; the nozzles/moulds of the molding machine should be disassembled and cleaned daily; the rotary oven should be cleaned with high-temperature steam to remove oil stains in the cavity weekly.
CAKE PRODUCTION LINE SOLUTION
Step 1: Mixing with an Egg Beater (Batter Preparation Stage)
Detailed Process
1、Raw Material Pretreatment
Prepare ingredients according to the recipe: eggs (whole eggs or separated egg yolks and whites), caster sugar, low-gluten flour (sifted twice to remove lumps), vegetable oil, milk (or cream), vanilla extract, etc. For the separated egg method (e.g., chiffon cake), separate egg yolks and whites in advance (no egg yolk or moisture should mix into the whites, as this affects whipping). For the whole egg method, chill whole eggs to 20-25℃ (Egg liquid at this temperature has low viscosity and whips easily).
2、Egg Liquid Whipping
◉ Separated egg method: Pour egg whites into the mixing bowl of the egg beater, add a little lemon juice (or cream of tartar) to adjust pH. Start the device at low speed (150-200r/min) until frothy, then add 1/3 of the sugar. Switch to medium speed (300-400r/min) until the foam becomes fine, add the second portion of sugar. Whip at high speed (500-600r/min) until stiff peaks form (the beater lifts with upright sharp peaks that don’t bend or droop), taking 8-12 minutes total. Egg yolks are mixed separately with remaining sugar, milk, and vegetable oil until emulsified (no visible oil droplets), set aside.
◉ Whole egg method: Place whole eggs and caster sugar in the mixing bowl. Stir at medium speed (300r/min) until sugar dissolves, then switch to high speed (500r/min) until the egg mixture expands 5-6 times in volume (milky white, with slow-disappearing traces when the beater is lifted), taking 10-15 minutes (heating over 40℃ warm water can accelerate whipping).
3、Batter Mixing
Add sifted low-gluten flour to the whipped egg mixture (or egg yolk batter) in 2-3 batches. Fold gently with a rubber spatula (lifting from the bottom, avoiding circular stirring to prevent deflation) until no dry flour remains. For the separated egg method, mix 1/3 of the meringue with the egg yolk batter, then fold back into the remaining meringue gently (completed within 1 minute to prevent deflation, which causes cakes to collapse).
Involved Equipment
Multi-functional Egg Beater (Mixing Equipment)
Core equipment is horizontal or vertical egg-beating mixers, with key components:
◉ Mixing bowl (capacity 100-1000L, stainless steel, smooth inner wall to reduce batter residue);
◉ Beaters (ball-shaped beaters for whipping egg liquid, paddle-type mixers for flour mixing, quickly detachable for replacement);
◉ Temperature control system (some high-end models have a water bath jacket to control egg liquid temperature at 30-40℃, optimizing whipping efficiency);
◉ Timing device (precisely controls mixing time with an error ≤10 seconds).
Features: Suitable for mass production, 10x more efficient than manual mixing, stably controls batter fluffiness (density error ≤5%).
Step 2: Shaping with a Cake Forming Machine
Detailed Process
1、Mold Pretreatment
Cake molds (round, square, cartoon-shaped) assort the forming machine are pre-cleaned and sprayed with mold unloading oil (or lined with parchment paper) to prevent sticking after baking. Mold temperature is controlled at 25-30℃ (excessively cold molds cause sudden batter cooling, affecting expansion).
2、Equipment Debugging
Adjust the batter injection volume (tolerance ≤2g) according to cake specifications (50-200g per piece), set conveyor speed (2-4m/min) and injection nozzle height (1-2cm from mold bottom to prevent batter splashing). For layered cakes, multiple injection nozzles are set up (to inject different flavor batters sequentially).
3、Automatic Injection Molding
Mixed cake batter is transported to the forming machine’s hopper via pipes, then pumped to injection nozzles by a screw pump, and injected along the mold’s inner wall (to avoid trapping excessive air). After injection, the conveyor moves molds to a vibration table (amplitude 1-2mm, frequency 50 times/minute) to eliminate air bubbles in the batter (preventing holes after baking).
4、Mold Arrangement
Shaped molds are arranged on baking trays with 5-8cm spacing (reserving space for baking expansion). Trays are transferred to the rotary oven entrance manually or by robotic arms.
Involved Equipment
Cake Forming Machine (Injection-type)
Core components include:
◉ Hopper (with mixing device to prevent batter sedimentation and stratification);
◉ Quantitative injection system (screw or piston-type, injection accuracy ±1%);
◉ Vibration defoaming device (adjustable amplitude and frequency);
◉ Mold positioning mechanism (ensures precise injection position with deviation ≤1mm).
Features: Suitable for liquid batter forming, producing 30-100 cakes per minute, supporting quick mold changes, widely used in mass production of sponge cakes and chiffon cakes.
◉ Auxiliary equipment: Automatic demolding machine (for later stages, but a mold cleaning machine is needed in the forming stage, capable of cleaning 50-100 sets of molds per hour).
Step 3: Baking with a Rotary Oven
Detailed Process
1、Oven Preheating
Start the rotary oven and set baking parameters: Sponge cakes require 180-190℃ in the initial stage (to promote expansion) and 160-170℃ in the later stage (for setting and browning). Chiffon cakes need slightly lower temperatures (170-180℃ initial, 150-160℃ later, to avoid surface burning). Preheat to the target temperature (oven temperature difference ≤3℃) for 15-20 minutes.
2、Tray Loading
Place trays with cake molds on the oven’s multi-layer racks (each layer load-bearing ≤50kg), ensuring trays are level (preventing uneven cake shape from tilted batter). Close the oven door and start the rotation system (3-5r/min to ensure uniform heating of cakes on all layers).
3、Baking Monitoring
Baking time is set according to cake size (12-15 minutes for 50g cakes, 20-25 minutes for 200g cakes). Monitor through the oven door window: Cakes are done when the surface turns golden, and light pressing results in quick rebound (no sticky center). If the surface browns too fast, cover with silver paper (added through the oven door opening without stopping the oven).
4、Unloading and Initial Cooling
Open the oven door, use heat-resistant gloves to remove trays, and immediately place cakes (still in molds) on cooling racks (≥50cm above the ground for air circulation). Let stand for 3-5 minutes (allowing cakes to shrink slightly for easier demolding).
Involved Equipment
Rotary Baking Oven
Core structure includes:
◉ Heating system (gas or electric, equipped with heat circulation fans with 2-3m/s wind speed to ensure uniform oven temperature);
◉ Rotary racks (3-8 layers, each holding 2-4 trays, made of food-grade stainless steel, heat-resistant and non-deformable);
◉ Temperature control and timing module (digital display for real-time temperature, timing error ≤30 seconds, with automatic alarm);
◉ Explosion-proof observation window (heat-resistant glass for monitoring baking status).
Features: Bakes 10-50 trays at a time, 20% more energy-efficient than fixed ovens, ideal for cakes requiring uniform heating, effectively reducing surface cracking (pass rate ≥95%).
Key Requirements for Linking the Three Steps
Mixed batter must be shaped within 15 minutes (to avoid deflation from prolonged standing, with volume loss ≤10%);
Shaped molds must enter the oven immediately (interval ≤5 minutes to prevent batter surface from forming a crust);
Equipment cleaning: The egg beater’s mixing bowl is cleaned with hot water + neutral detergent after each use; the forming machine’s injection nozzles are disassembled and unclogged daily (to prevent batter residue blockage); the rotary oven’s cavity is cleaned with high-temperature steam weekly (to remove oil residue and avoid flavor contamination).
