Nutritional and Sensory Properties of Cake-Like Snacks Produced from Plantain, Sweet-Potato, Cocoyam and Wheat Flours

Cake-like snacks were produced from Plantain, Sweet potato and Cocoyam flours varied with wheat and the nutritional and sensory evaluations were determined. The experimental designs were T1, T2 and T3 for Plantain, Sweet potato and Cocoyam flour respectively. They were compared with 100% Wheat flour as Sample T4.They were subjected to proximate and functional analysis, and used to produce the cake-like snacks. The proximate, microbial, and mineral analyses were also evaluated on the products. The protein content of the flours ranged from 2.84 – 3.31 %, moisture; 4.88 – 11.12 %, ash; 2.44 – 4.75 %, fat; 4.42 – 12.00 16 %, fiber; 0.39 – 1.18 % and carbohydrate; 74.33 – 82.45 %. The bulk density, swelling capacity, water and oil absorption capacity had a range of 0.77–0.92 g/ml, 0.13–0.60 %, 0.95 –1.54 g water/g flour and 1.37–1.62 g oil/g flour respectively. The proximate composition of the cake-like snacks varied significantly with cake produced from plantain flour and the control having the highest protein content (1.70 %) and cake-like snack from cocoyam flour having the lowest (1.56 %). The control had low amount of microbial load, next was cocoyam cake-like snack which might be due to the anti-nutritional factors present. Plantain cake-like snack had considerably higher mineral content and better ratings than the others. From all the parameters measured above, plantain cake-like snack compared favorably well with the control.

Keywords: Cake-like Snack, Nutritional, Sensory properties, Plantain, Sweet-Potato, Cocoyam, Wheat.