author(s)
Sakshi Mishra, Sarmistha Raut, Enakshi Raychowdhury, Ankita Sengupta and Souvik Tewari

abstract
Food waste valorization can improve sustainability while enhancing the nutritional profile of bakery products. This study developed cakes incorporating two food-waste ingredients: orange peel powder (OPP) produced from dried orange peels, and pumpkin puree (PPu) produced from cooked pumpkin. Four formulations were prepared: Control (no waste ingredient), OPP (5% wheat flour replaced by orange peel powder), PPu (10% of fat replaced with pumpkin puree and water adjusted), and Combo (both OPP and PPu combined at the same replacement levels). Proximate composition, physical characteristics (specific volume, crumb firmness) and sensory quality (30 untrained panelists; 9-point hedonic scale) were evaluated. Proximate analysis indicated the Combo cake had slightly higher moisture (30.5% vs 28.0%), ash (1.4% vs 1.2%) and dietary fibre (2.4% vs 1.5%) and marginally lower fat (16.5% vs 18.0%) than the Control. Sensory means (overall acceptability, 9-point scale, n=30) were: Control 7.8±0.6, OPP 7.1±0.8, PPu 7.2±0.7, Combo 7.4±0.6. One-way ANOVA showed no significant differences (p>0.05) for appearance, aroma, texture and overall acceptability across formulations; however, taste scores for the OPP formulation were significantly lower than Control (p=0.03). The study demonstrates that moderate incorporation of orange peel powder and pumpkin puree can produce acceptable cakes while improving fibre and ash contents, supporting the feasibility of using fruit and vegetable wastes in value-added bakery products.