The addition of L1 resulted in cake volumes similar to cakes with no added improver. The cell crumb structure was also similar to that of the cake with no improvers, but there were fewer continuous channels (Fig. 6). These results may be related to the presence of an extra stabiliser at the bubble interface, which could prevent the collision and coalescence of neighbouring bubbles. Nevertheless,cakes with L2 had a significantly (P < 0.05) reduced cake volume; similar results have been provided by Guy and Sahi (2006)in high-ratio layer cakes. A crumb structure characterised by higher total cell area (Fig. 4B), cells with bigger areas (Fig. 4C), and lower circularity values (Fig. 4E) were observed.