Orange cakes with addition of inulin and oligofructose to justify a prebiotic claim (minimum of 3 g of
fructans in a 60 g serving of cake) were investigated regarding sensory aspects. The sensory profile of
cakes with inulin, with inulin/oligofructose and without prebiotics (standard cake) was evaluated using
descriptive quantitative analysis. Preference mapping was assessed using multidimensional scaling on
data obtained through an acceptability test with a nine-point hedonic scale. The cakes with prebiotics
presented greater crust brownness, dough beigeness, hardness and stickiness than the standard cake and
lower crumbliness. Principal Component Analysis (69.5 and 10.7% of explanation to the first and second
principal components, respectively) showed that crust brownness, dough beigeness, hardness and
stickiness contributed to distinguish the cakes with prebiotics from standard cakes. The sensory
acceptability was similar for the three cakes and higher when compared to three commercial cakes, but
the preference mapping showed that cakes with prebiotics were preferred to commercial cakes. Addition
of prebiotics in orange cakes is feasible, based on the sensory results, which may facilitate marketing of
this functional food with sensorial qualities equivalent to conventional products.