Optimization of temperature profile of cake batter in a ohmic-assisted heater for 3D food printing applications

3D printing of food has great potential for applications such as the design of customized food or the creation of innovative textures. It should also help to reduce the ecological footprint by producing less waste and by using less energy. However, printed products often do not retain their structure due to the composition of the material, especially in the case of cereal products. The objective of this work was to develop, with the help of a numerical model, a 3D cake batter printing nozzle in which ohmic heating is used as a means of baking. The use of a temperature and shear rate dependent viscosity allowed for the solidification of the batter during baking due to starch gelatinization. The numerical model, including heat transfer, cake batter flowing and electric field calculation, made it possible to predict treatment heterogeneities. Preliminary tests have shown that it could be used with optimization procedures to get desired temperature profiles at the outlet of the 3D printing nozzle.