EP1553839A2

EP1553839A2 - Method for making a cake or culinary preparation that can be preserved for a long time at room temperature and is ready to eat

Info

Publication number: EP1553839A2
Application number: EP03756523A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Ren Le Flecher
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-07-31
Filing date: 2003-07-31
Publication date: 2005-07-20
Also published as: WO2004012511A3; FR2842991B1; WO2004012511A2; AU2003281835A1; US20060099315A1; FR2842991A1; AU2003281835A8

Abstract

Disclosed is a method according to which a base that is expanded by means of a neutral gas is prepared, said neutral gas having a water activity that is close to that measured in a cake made according to a traditional method. The base obtained after mixing the ingredients is then conditioned in a controlled atmosphere in an airtight container in which a vacuum is created.

Description

Process for making a long-life cake or culinary preparation at room temperature and ready for consumption

The present invention relates to a process for the manufacture of a cake or a culinary preparation of long storage at room temperature ready for consumption, in which - the basic dough is prepared, - it is packaged in a container and the container.

The traditional way to make a cookie type cake, the best known of which is the "four quarters", is to start by preparing a base by intimately mixing the four main ingredients which are eggs, flour, butter and sugar, to obtain a homogeneous paste. The last ingredient is hardly used in the composition of so-called savory cakes and is partly replaced by salt and often also by milk, either concentrated or powdered.

An additive or more precisely a mixture of additives is almost systematically added because it has a great influence on the shape and texture of the cake, it is a leavening powder whose composition can be adapted according to the proportions of the main ingredients , conditions and mode of cooking in the oven. The leavening powder on contact with the water provided by the eggs decomposes to produce carbon dioxide.

In some cakes, organic yeast can be added, always with the same main objective of including carbon dioxide in the dough by fermentation.

Separating the eggs and beating the egg whites, which are then incorporated into the dough, also allows a gas to be included, but this time it is air.

Whether the gas dissolved in the dough is carbon dioxide or air, the effect is the same: in the heat of the oven, it expands and increases the volume of the cake whose shape is fixed by baking. In order to vary the presentation and to extend the range of cakes of this type, the main ingredients can be totally or partially replaced. For example flour, which participates in the formation of the structure, can be replaced by another binder such as starch, sugar, which especially brings taste to the cake, by honey or other sweeteners, butter, by different fats. On the other hand, the substitution of eggs by other proteins is more difficult because if certain proteins abound correctly, they only partially have the capacity to produce thermo-irreversible gels.

Another way to extend the range is to modify the consistency and / or the taste, by adding different toppings before baking such as candied fruit in an English cake or olives in a savory cake for the aperitif. After baking, the cakes, which are then used as a support, can be garnished or coated to vary the taste or presentation.

Always with the same objective and by acting mainly on the taste of the cake, aromas can be incorporated. These flavors can have different origins and come in different forms: powder, like cinnamon, liquid, like citrus essential oils, vanilla extract on alcohol, commercial alcohols or liqueurs like rum, liqueurs protected marks, etc ...

Once the ingredients, additives and flavors are mixed, the dough obtained can be placed on a baking sheet, but more often it is poured into a mold and put in the oven at a temperature and for a duration which depend on the size. and the shape of the mold. Other cooking methods, including pan cooking for clafouti, can be used but this is less common.

At the start of baking, the water, which begins to vaporize, the air, included in the dough and the carbon dioxide, resulting from the reaction of the baking powder or from the fermentation of the yeasts, expand while making increase the internal pressure because the surface of the dough is not very porous. The dough being held laterally by the walls of the mold, the pressure can only be exerted upwards where the external pressure is lower and, even if part of the gas escapes, the remaining fraction is sufficient to increase the volume of the dough which is still fluid at the start of cooking. Then, as the temperature increases, the dough hardens, the starch from the gelatinized flour and the proteins coming essentially from the coagulating eggs to fix the shape of the cake, the specific volume of which varies from 0.400 to 0.700 kg per dm ³ , approximately.

Baking is accompanied by dehydration which increases as the temperature rises inside the cake, but as it rises even more on the surface, the dehydration is the most important, which allows the formation of the crust with a beautiful golden color characteristic of the baked cake.

Changes in taste accompany those in texture and color. They are essentially due to the production of aromatic compounds resulting from caramelization reactions of sugars and especially from Maillard reactions between sugars and proteins, these reactions being favored by the rise in temperature and dehydration.

The first manufacturers who produced and marketed the cakes presented in packaging kept a manufacturing method close to that used by the housewife or the pastry chef and they realized that it was enough either to put less water at the start in the dough or increase the amount of water evaporated to extend the shelf life.

Indeed, dehydration allows, depending on whether it is more or less advanced, to delay or prevent the growth of microbes which can only multiply if they find enough water available in the cake. The availability of water is more or less important depending on the composition of the product, for example, it is strongly fixed on sugar and even more on salt but less on flour, so that there can be no relation direct between the water content and the water activity only for a well-defined product whose formulation is fixed. So, to estimate the possibilities of microbial growth, scientists prefer, instead of measuring the water content, to measure this availability, which is called water activity (Aw), calculated, on a scale which goes from 0 to a totally produced dry to 1 for pure water, using special devices available in many laboratories.

But depending on whether they are bacteria, yeasts or molds, the water activity must be more or less important to allow the metabolism, growth and multiplication of germs and for some the production of toxin.

In principle, depending on the strains of bacteria, growth is possible between approximately 1.00 and 0.78 with two important intermediate values: 0.90 value below which the heat-resistant bacteria cannot grow and 0.84 value at which the Staphylococcus aureus, which can produce toxins with the lowest water activity (0.86), can no longer develop.

Yeasts and molds can develop at lower water activity values depending on the type and theoretically certain strains of molds can develop up to a water activity of 0.60.

But factors other than water activity can slow or inhibit the possibilities of microbial growth such as the quality and cleanliness of raw materials, the nutrient composition of the medium, the pH value, the oxygen content, the presence or no inhibitors like potassium sorbate etc.

The influence of all these factors is studied and applied according to the barrier technique (hurdle technology) which makes it possible to control microbial proliferation in products with intermediate humidity, that is to say products with water activity included between 0.70 and 0.90 although these values vary a little according to specialists.

After baking the cake, the water content of the dough which, before baking, was more than 25% with a water activity greater than 0.90, drops to around 20% with an activity of approximately 0 80. However, this rate is not low enough for the cake to be stored. several months because, even if the germs which can contaminate it later are killed during cooking, in contact with air, it can be quickly recontaminated before packaging. To guarantee a good conservation, the industrialists accentuate the dehydration to further lower the water activity between 0.70 and 0.75 by adjusting the ovens in time and in temperature and thus, even if there is recontamination, the stability is guaranteed under correct storage conditions as applied in the industry.

The cake having the desired water activity is then packaged in a packaging which must prevent, if possible, further dehydration during storage and protect it from external pollution, and this is how, among other things, four quarters and madeleines stable in the atmosphere for several months.

A low water content is not without consequences on the organoleptic qualities of the cake, which can appear dry and lack sweetness. This perception of dryness can be accentuated during storage by the stale crumb which is favored and accelerated by a low humidity level. One of the ways to compensate for the loss of softness is to increase the level of fat and sugar, which has the disadvantage of increasing the cost and the caloric value of the cake. This procedure is of course used for the manufacture of certain small dry cookies, but consumers concerned about their good taste tend to reject foods that are too high in calories.

It is possible under certain conditions to keep the cake having a higher activity but it is then necessary either to use preservatives to improve the stability which can also put off the consumer, or to package in a very protective packaging where it is possible to inject certain neutral gases or to deposit an oxygen absorber which, although completely harmless, may appear suspicious to the consumer and in any case the manufacturing cost would be increased.

If continuing dehydration for better stability can increase the production of aromatics, which is desirable in certain cakes, on the other hand these compounds which are often very colored can also have an unfavorable action in certain types of cakes whose crumb is traditionally clear, such as that of boudoirs or those containing fruit-based fillings, whose color turns brown 'especially as the temperature is high and the time of exposure to heat is extended.

On the other hand, baking in the oven, even at a moderate temperature, can alter some of the most heat-sensitive aromas and cause the most volatile to evaporate.

It has just been shown that baking had many advantages, but that certain categories of cakes could suffer from even moderate heat treatment and that the relatively low humidity required to obtain water activity allowing good microbiological stability, could cause a certain deterioration of the organoleptic qualities during the storage period.

Manufacturers have therefore found that the traditional process, even improved, of making cakes that can be kept for several months only concerns certain types of cakes such as madeleines or candied fruit cakes, salted cakes with olives being only available. in the fresh department.

To free themselves from these constraints as much as possible, some offer original recipes for cakes or culinary preparations, new preparation, baking or packaging methods.

So that conservation is no longer a constraint, patent EP 0 868 850 proposes the manufacture of a ready-to-use cake dough which is stable in the atmosphere and which must be baked traditionally in the oven by the user who is supposed to consume the cake quickly.

The same approach is proposed in patent WO 00/72687, with a paste for porridge conditioned directly in the baking mold. In patent WO 95/09534, there is described the recipe for a cake, using a traditional manufacturing method, containing about 30% of various fruits and which is very pleasant to consume, but given the amount of water provided by fruits, conservation remains limited at room temperature.

The document EP 1 023 839 proposes the manufacture, also in the traditional way, of a salted cake with a salt content of up to 2%, which in terms of taste is limiting, the manufacture has the same limits.

However, these two products can be marketed with a short optimal use-by date which can be extended by keeping them cool.

Patent EP 0 930 014 proposes a process for the production of doughs for different cakes by expansion with air and in which the fatty substance in the form of oil is added in a second step, which makes it possible to reduce the quantity required. . Depending on the type of dough, it is possible to reduce or eliminate the use of emulsifier or leavening powder. The oven cooking method is traditional.

Like the preceding patent, patent EP 1 106 069 proposes a mode of expansion in two stages, the first consisting in preparing a base comprising egg white and proteins of different origins which are strongly abundant to obtain a very low density. to which a second non-expanded base containing the other ingredients of the recipe is added to obtain, after mixing, a paste having an intermediate density which, when baked in the oven, is between 0.200 and 0.350 kg per dm ³ .

According to the process described in document EP 0406213, it is possible to produce cakes having a shelf life of several months. The method consists in conditioning a paste of conventional composition in a glass container closed either by a cover which can be lifted, or by a fixed cover provided with a valve, the two systems peπnettant with gases products during baking to be disposed of. On cooling, the vacuum, caused by the condensation of the water vapor contained in the head space between the product and the cover, presses the latter against the rim of the container or according to the other system the valve closes. However, the control of the internal depression is delicate, even if in the meantime solutions to adjust it to the right value have been proposed, if it is too weak, the cover is insufficiently plated and there is a risk of air entering. and on the contrary, if the depression is too great, it is very difficult to remove the cover to open the mold. It also seems that the heat treatment can only be done in the oven in glass or ceramic molds supporting temperatures from 150 to 200 ° for several tens of minutes.

Consequently, the purpose of the present invention is to overcome certain constraints listed above and to propose a method of manufacturing cakes or pastry preparations with long shelf life in the atmosphere.

To this end, the present invention relates to a process of the type defined above, characterized in that - the base is prepared with ingredients with reduced water content,

- before conditioning it, the base is overrun under neutral gas pressure and,

- After packaging, but before closing the container, vacuum is drawn.

Thanks to the expansion under pressure of neutral gas, on the one hand, and to the vacuum, on the other hand, the dough increases in volume and the air from the head space of the container is sucked in, which reduces the rate of oxygen in the container and, consequently, increases the stability of the product and therefore its conservation.

Advantageously, the base is prepared with ingredients with a water content leading to a water activity of the base of between approximately 0.80 and 0.92, preferably between 0.85 and 0.90.

Advantageously also, after packaging, the base can be subjected to a destructive stabilization treatment of germs, for example pasteurization. The invention will be better understood using the following description of certain modes of implementing the method.

Five types of cakes or pastry preparations are available:

- Sweet cakes close in terms of taste and presentation to the pound cake, sponge cake or English cakes,

- Savory cakes, more or less airy, whose flavor is mainly provided by the fat used (olive oil, lard smoked bacon) etc. and which may contain, garnishes of vegetables, meat and even certain fruits, more or less dehydrated,

- Cakes of original design where the proportion of fruit in the form of concentrated juice or puree and more or less dehydrated pieces is important (10 to 30%) which reduces the pH to around 6.5,

- Savory or sweet pastry preparations such as full breakfasts, fillings, products similar to traditional mousses or soufflés, more or less abundant toppings that can be included in the same container as the cake or even packaged separately.

- Sweet or savory products or without sugar or salt and without eggs responding to specific constraints related to allergy or health problems or simply to meet the demand for more well-being.

It should be remembered that although the cooking is done at moderate temperature it is nevertheless necessary that the proposed process allows obtaining a cake or a pastry preparation having the characteristic taste, the adequate volume and the equivalent or better stability in ambiance of similar marketed products. For those who do not have a reference among traditional products, the parameters chosen are those which allow the best texture and best preservation to be obtained.

- Obtaining the characteristic taste: The baking, according to the proposed method, is done at moderate temperature in a sealed packaging thanks to the application of a lid or a cover, which does not allow the production of aromatic compounds as in a cake baked in the oven, because dehydration is impossible. It is therefore necessary that the raw materials used in the manufacture of the dough already contain them thus, are used only those having undergone a sufficient heat treatment accompanied by a significant evaporation to cause there Maillard reactions or the beginning of caramelization. It is however possible to pass the mold before closing under an infrared ramp which has the advantage of giving a golden appearance to the opening.

Sometimes what is sought are ingredients containing few coloring compounds such as those which must go into the manufacture of a fruit cake where the color of the fruit should be kept as much as possible or that of a cake flavored with a subtle aroma so as not to mask the aroma and color.

The invention is based on bases prepared with ingredients with reduced water content.

The ingredients used are either anhydrous or have a lower water content than the same untreated which facilitates obtaining the desired water activity and does not require the use of humectants in most cases or add significant amounts of sugar or salt. In fact, to lower the water activity of a product, you must either decrease the amount of water, or increase that of the ingredients that reduce the availability of water.

The main ingredients used are whole concentrated eggs from which 50% of the water has been removed by ultra filtration, or only the white from which the amount of water removed can reach 80% or the yolk which naturally has a relatively reduced water content. and even if these ovo products undergo a pasteurization heat treatment to kill dangerous germs like salmonella. The use of concentrated eggs is preferred to that of eggs dehydrated by ato isation, therefore drier, because the functional qualities are better preserved. It is also possible to use animal or vegetable proteins in place of eggs.

The flour used is already cleaner at the start than traditional flour because it is further subjected to an additional heat treatment to destroy the maximum number of germs and deactivate the enzymes present (essentially the amylases), thus following this treatment the water content drops from 12 to 6%. Oil, white or brown sugar naturally has a high dry extract, butter contains about 15% water but anhydrous butter can be easily supplied.

It is of course possible to use other raw materials which may enter into the manufacture of pastry preparations such as the various starches, sugars, proteins, fruits or vegetables, etc. provided that the organoleptic qualities of the selected ingredients make it possible to produce products having a good taste and a good texture, that the moisture content of the base after mixing allows good water activity to be obtained, that the standards of microbiological and enzymatic cleanliness retained ensure good conservation after moderate heat treatment

The choice of ingredients will therefore take these constraints into account, which is not too heavy a task since manufacturers know how to dehydrate and concentrate at high temperature but also at low temperature to limit the production of aromatic compounds when necessary.

Being able to offer cakes and pastry preparations of such varied color and taste is the great advantage of the proposed process.

- Obtaining volume

According to the proposed method which consists of baking in a closed package, it is not possible for the dough to expand and it is therefore necessary that the dough when it is packaged in the container which serves as a mold has already the density that a culinary preparation or a cake would have

It is therefore necessary to subject the dough to an expansion operation which consists in incorporating a gas in order to increase the volume and therefore decrease the density. For abuse of language, the term density rather than density is generally used by technicians and it is this term which is used in this presentation.

The advantage of this operation is that it is no longer necessary to add leavening powder or even in most cases of emulsifiers and although their use is generally well accepted by most consumers, the most concerned by the presence of additives in food products can react favorably to its absence. Indeed, the law obliges to detail their composition and to name the chemical components entering into the composition of an additive.

There are two types of apparatus used for blowing: the authentic pressure blender and the continuous blower.

Depending on the composition of the dough, its greater or lesser viscosity, the presence or absence of filling, one type rather than the other will be preferred.

For thick pasta containing a filling, it is preferable to use a blender blender which includes a tank in which different accessories of blending or mixing animated by a planetary movement can be adapted to the product to be blown at variable speeds. In this device it is possible to evacuate to deaerate or to inject various gases under pressure up to 2 to 3 bars.

The dough preparation cycle begins with the formation of an emulsion by gradually pouring a liquid or liquefied fat onto concentrated eggs and / or proteins, then the other liquids and other powders are added. Depending on the composition of the pastes, it is sometimes necessary to add an emulsifier in order to increase the stability and speed of formation of the emulsion, but in most cases this is not necessary.

Then, with stirring and under pressure, a neutral gas is dissolved in the dough for a more or less long period, depending on the type of dough and its temperature, the solubility of the gas and the desired density. A neutral food gas (N ₂ , N ₂ 0, C0 ₂ ) is preferable to avoid the oxidation of fat during storage.

The filling, especially if it is fragile, is added at the end of the cycle and mixed at low speed.

At the outlet of the mixer, the compressed gas in the dough is expanded and the density obtained is lower the higher the pressure in the mixer and the quantity of dissolved gas.

The continuous ringer is best suited when the pasta is liquid enough so easily pumpable and the big advantage of this device is that the density adjustment is more precise than with a static blender.

To prepare the dough, you must first mix the ingredients in a mixer with neutral gases and then pump the dough continuously until the expansion head where the gas is injected with vigorous stirring at a pressure more or less big. The quantity of gas injected makes it possible to predict the final density fairly precisely.

In theory, it is possible to swell without the filling and then add it again, but it is difficult to continuously establish a constant ratio between the quantity of dough and the quantity of filling, especially under neutral gas.

In conclusion, it is preferable to have both systems to optimize the expansion in terms of quality and also economically. Continuous blower is cheaper and often has better productivity, the static overrun mixer can fill more products, which are often more difficult to prepare.

-The packaging process

All the materials generally used for the manufacture of containers and other packaging may be suitable, note that the plastic is particularly suitable as the heat treatment is done at a rather low temperature. Glass and plastic have the advantage of allowing reheating in the microwave if desirable.

It is necessary to condition under neutral gas, which many conditioners can do, to ensure good anaerobic.

The base is expanded before being packaged and if the density obtained is not low enough it is possible to decrease it by placing the container filled with the desired weight of dough in an enclosure where a vacuum can be created. Most modern crimpers, cappers or sealers can vacuum before closing the container.

Because as the base was expanded under pressure, the dissolved gas is present in large quantities, the partial vacuum brings the dough up to the level chosen in the container which is immediately closed.

The stabilization and cooking process

The commercial stability of canned preserves is obtained by applying sufficient heat treatment to a product packaged in a sealed package.

This heat treatment is variable, if the water activity of the product is high the temperature inside the container is maintained for several minutes well above 100 ° C in order to destroy the maximum of germs, it is this treatment of sterilization which is applied to canned peas. This treatment which is sufficient to ensure stability is also sufficient to cook peas but in some cases it may be insufficient when it comes to cooking certain qualities of beans, but it can also be too strong when it comes to keep cakes with water activity around 0.95. Sterilized cakes that can be found on the market are generally darker than you might want, especially these are rice cakes which you would expect to find rather white in color and the texture of the rice still a little firm. .

We speak of sterilization when a long treatment at high temperature is applied although it is not allowed to obtain total sterility, because the microbiological decay is logarithmic but the chances of finding a single germ in a container are all the more lower than the sterilizing value (combination of temperature and duration) is high and the microbiological load in the product to be sterilized is low at the start.

We talk about pasteurization when the heat treatment is moderate and it is the one that is applied when we want to keep milk fresh longer without altering the nutritive principles like certain vitamins or when we want to stop the fermentation in beer by killing yeasts which are not very resistant to heat, such as molds or certain vegetative genes, the others which cannot develop because of the presence of alcohol.

It is only on two conditions that the sterilization treatment is not applied to canned food and that a pasteurization treatment is sufficient to ensure stability at room temperature for several months: when the pH is below 4.5 or when the water activity is less than 0.90 and applying barrier technology because under these conditions, heat-resistant or spore-forming germs cannot develop. The second condition applies to products obtained by applying the process claimed by the invention.

But whatever the scale chosen the objective is to guarantee the stability of the product. The test for verifying it consists of incubation in an oven for 7 days at 55 ° C. and 12 days at 37 ° C. and if the difference in pH in the incubated product between the start of the incubation and the end is less than 0.4, the product is considered stable.

Particular attention must be paid to Staphylococcus aureus which can produce toxins up to a water activity of 0.86 both for the control on receipt of raw materials and for the control of finished products. that the various challenge tests have shown that survival, growth and toxin production are impossible even if the heat treatment is moderate. However, any raw material or finished product likely to contain this type of germ must be destroyed or eliminated.

It should be remembered that heat treatment, when it is moderate, is only one of the factors applied in barrier technology which ensures microbial and organoleptic stability and guarantees food safety. This favorable action is obtained thanks to the combination of several other factors (barriers). None of the factors is enough to prevent microorganisms from growing on their own. It is therefore their conjunction which ensures stability: the experts explain it by a synergistic effect between the different factors.

The factors retained are:

the water activity fixed between 0.70 and 0.92 and preferably between 0.85 and 0.90.

-the use of "clean" ingredients, that is to say containing the minimum of germs and enzymes, -the moderate lowering of the pH in cakes and pastry preparations where possible,

-reduction of oxygen at a very low rate, less than 4% or better still less than 1% in the dough and in the finished product after conditioning under neutral gases, -the use of gases having a bacteriostatic effect: N ₂ 0 or C0 ₂ ,

-the use of alcohol in certain recipes, -the addition of salt in some recipes,

-the moderate heat treatment of pasteurization between 70 and I 10 ° c but sufficient to inactivate the enzymes and destroy the residual heat-sensitive or recontamination genes

Heat treatment can have another favorable action by deactivating certain enzymes, however it is preferable to select raw materials which do not contain them since some are rendered inoperative only by a high heat treatment.

In addition to the destruction of certain genes and certain enzymes, the thermal treatment ensures optimal baking of cakes and culinary preparations.

It should be noted that the lower the density, the faster the penetration of heat into the product, which, with equal pasteurizing value, makes it possible to obtain the desired cooking in a shorter time and this is an advantage. the color should be preserved if necessary or the alteration of the vitamins present or added should be limited.

However, it is also possible to increase it by acting on the temperature and the time in the case where it is necessary to promote the production of aromatic compounds in cakes traditionally very baked and very dark.

- Nutritional advantages of the invention:

Due to the higher water activity than that of long-life cakes at room temperature, the calorific value is lower and is generally 5 to 15% lower.

The possibility of applying only a moderate heat treatment allows the conservation of vitamins naturally present or added.

The use of hydrogenated fats, the content of which is highly controversial, is not necessary; excellent results are obtained with unsaturated oils such as rapeseed oil and even olive or nut oil, which moreover have the advantage of transmitting their characteristic taste, which dispenses with the use of aromas. Oxidation is not to be feared since the expansion and packaging are carried out under neutral gases after deaeration of the base.

Four examples of cakes or pastry preparations which can be produced according to the process of the invention are presented below:

î o Chocolate cakes

5 to 25% de-enzymated thermal flour

Pasteurized eggs 10 to 30%

Emulsifier 1 to 3%

15 Chocolate 5 to 10%

Sugar 15 to 30%

Anhydrous butter 15 to 30%

Fruit cake 0

10 to 30% de-enzymated thermized flour

Concentrated pasteurized eggs 10 to 30%

Fruit concentrate 5 to 20%

Garnish with dehydrated, freeze-dried or candied fruit 5 to 10% 5 Sugar 15 to 30%

Oil 15 to 30%

The two recipes presented above are without additives, but in some cases their use may be desirable to facilitate formulation and manufacture.

Olive cake

Thermo-desenzymated flour or modified starches 10 to 30% 5 Pasteurized concentrated eggs 10 to 30%

Concentrated milk 10 to 20% Emul so proud 1 to 3% Salt 1 to 2%

GJycerol 1 to 5%

Cold pressed olive oil 15 to 30% Dehydrated olive pieces 5 to 10%

Muesli breakfast

Precooked rolled oats 5 to 10% Mixture of thermally de-enzymated flours 10 to 15%

Sugar or honey 10 to 15%

Salt 0.1 to 0.2%

Concentrated milk 10 to 20% Concentrated fruit juice 3 to 8% Garnish with dehydrated, freeze-dried or candied fruit 5 to 15%

Claims

1. A method of making a cake or a culinary preparation of long shelf life at room temperature and ready for consumption, in which

- we prepare the base dough,

- we pack it in a container and close the container,

i o characterized by the fact that

- the base is prepared with ingredients with reduced water content,

- before conditioning it, the base is overrun under neutral gas pressure and,

15 - after packaging, but before closing the container, vacuum is drawn.

2. The manufacturing method according to claim 1, in which the base is deaerated before swelling it. 0

3. Manufacturing process according to one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the base is subjected to a stabilizing treatment destructive to germs.

4. The manufacturing method according to claim 3, wherein the base is subjected to a pasteurization treatment.

5. Method according to one of claims 1 to 5, in which the base is prepared with ingredients with a water content leading to a water activity of the base of between approximately 0.70 and 0.92, preferably between 0 , 85 and 0 0.90.