Pastry cutting in the industrial bakery

Pastry cutting in the industrial bakery

An airy cream cake, a frozen fruit cake or a butter block weighing kilos: they all require a different way of cutting. And in an industrial environment, it has to be done flawlessly thousands of times a day.
Johan van Rens

Johan van Rens

Automation of cake and pastry cutting

Anyone walking through an industrial bakery will see machines processing thousands of products at high speed. From cream cakes to mille-feuilles and from butter blocks to fruit pastries: all have to be divided into perfect pieces. Tight, consistent and hygienic: because consumers expect each piece to look the same.

Yet pastry cutting in the industry is much more complex than it seems. Where the artisan baker can correct by hand, a production line must perform flawlessly day in, day out.

Tompoucen cremeslices cremeslice cremeschnitten millefeuille cutting snijden
traybakes

The challenges of cake and pastry cutting

A uniform cut seems obvious, but in practice numerous factors come into play:

  • Structure and texture: An airy cake requires a different approach than a hard dough mass. Soft fillings can sprout, while hard products can tear.
  • Temperature and viscosity: Cutting too hot means deformation; cutting too cold can cause cracks.
  • Scale and speed: In an industrial bakery, it's not dozens but tens of thousands of cuts per day. The machine must be able to handle that pace without compromising on quality.
  • Quality and presentation: Appearance matters most: each piece must be identical. For a product like butter block, size and weight are more important, but consistency remains equally crucial.

Each factor determines which technique is most suitable; and it is never the same for every product.

 

 

There is no "one size fits all" solution. - Johan van Rens

Cutting pastry requires knowledge, not just one method

There is no "one size fits all" solution. Whereas a mechanical knife can be efficient for a simple product, ultrasonic cutting often offers a solution for sticky or delicates pastries. So ultrasonic is not always the best or most cost-efficient choice. Sometimes cutting with a serrated knife is more practical, or a hybrid approach combining several methods.

Rens-bakerysolutions-halve-vlaai-BSC-400-2.jpg
flan halving machine

Cutting solutions from Rens Bakery Solutions

At Rens Bakery Solutions, we combine technology with years of practical experience. Together with the customer, we analyse: Which products need to be cut? What capacity? And where is the focus, for example: appearance, weight, or cost efficiency?

This always results in a solution that fits the reality of the bakery and delivers reliable results day in, day out.  A machine that respects the craft of baking.

Contact us for the possibilities