PROBLEM: How best to automate a ring cake production line that currently hand-produces multi-flavored cakes with multiple toppings?

SOLUTION: By purchasing a single- or dual-lane depositing line with custom features, a bakery can substantially decrease labor required to produce ring cakes and other high-demand products.

In order for an industrial bakery to produce ring/Bundt cakes with multiple flavors or a swirl pattern, and then apply various toppings such as nuts or streusel, eight to 10 people are often required on a production line. This is a costly way to produce the cake in terms of labor, and a high percentage of toppings end up on the floor instead of on the cakes. The extremely versatile cake production lines from Hinds-Bock can dramatically reduce labor and wasted product.

These industrial lines can be manufactured in single or dual lanes, depending on speed requirements. They also offer either single or dual piston batter depositors, capable of depositing many flavors of batter into the pan at different stages down the line. Divided hoppers also are available. These allow one dual-piston depositor to run one flavor while the other side of the machine runs another. If a bakery needs to quickly produce a white ring cake on one side of the line and a chocolate on the other, a dual piston machine with divided hopper can easily achieve this because the machines are independently controlled and adjusted.

Specially designed 360-degree custom ring positive cut-off spouts are provided on the depositors to deposit the batter around the ring cake pan while keeping it off the center cone. Once deposited, in most cases, the batter never needs to be touched by a person. This eliminates the labor of hand spreading batter in an awkward pan. It also produces a better yield, since the potential for cracking in the handled finished product is lower when batter is deposited once in the pan than when it is deposited two to four times.

The lines offer optional swirling devices that can automatically swirl two types of products, such as batter and fruit, in the difficult 360-degree pan. Such an operation would otherwise require the labor of one to two people. Targeted dry topping units for streusel or nuts can be added to the line, as can a custom Hinds-Bock moist streusel targeted topper. These units are designed to mount to the line or be placed on a portable heavy duty “C” frame, to be moved in and out over the line as required. Standard catch pans under each zone quickly reclaim toppings that fall off the cakes. This represents a big cost savings versus the toppings wasted when hand applied.

A production bakery producing these types of cakes by hand with a large amount of labor can anticipate reducing cost by at least four to five people on the line. The bakery also can expect better yield at the end of the production run and a cost savings from waste reducing targeted topping equipment. And looking to the future, the Hinds-Bock lines allow bakeries to produce a wide variety of different types and flavors of cakes, enhancing future business.