Over the past few years we have built overwrappers for both cake and bread. Wrapping cake, bread or other baked goods present their own unique challenges.

What sets this overwrap process apart from a standard overwrapper is the demands of the product for a less than tight wrap.  Both cake and bread are fragile and lack the rigidity of most wrapped products. This means that a tight fitting wrap can also deform the cake or loaf.

The second issue is the contents of the baked good. Lots of nuts, fruit or whole grain can shorten the shelf like of the product unless a complete barrier seal is achieved. In that case, we recommend consideration of flow wrappers to improve shelf life.

The primary issue in speeding automated wrapping of any product is consistency of size. The more consistent the dimensions, the easier the wrap and the faster is can be done. This consistency is more important for overwrapping than flow wrapping.  Cakes or baked goods are not necessarily consistent in size or density and sometimes the preceding packaging has an impact.  U-board can help with providing structure and consistency of size to the cake overwrapping process.

The cake’s ability to stand up to being pushed around is also an important consideration. Since the baked good is being moved quickly, the G-force on the product has to be considered. That can limit the speed of product movement and therefore how fast the machine can wrap. Sometimes speed must be sacrificed to accommodate the baked good.

Among other items our overwrappers have wrapped the folllowing:

• Fruitcake with partial paper
• frosted cake with U-Board
• sliced bread

Our flow wrappers have wrapped granola bars  and similar nutritional bars.

In all cases the wrapping machine was expected to wrap multiple sizes and baked goods with different consistencies. Even simply overwrapping one kind of cake can vary depending on the packaging that exists prior to wrapping. U-board, paper covered, frosting, naked or  sliced – all have an impact on how the wrapping process is conducted.

Watch this video of a fruitcake wrapping operation.

Package offers both new equipment – our FA-ST series servo overwrappers and rebuilt equipment – our BW series for wrapping cake or bread and TFW flowwrappers for smaller baked goods.

Talk to us about what kind of wrapping might be right for your baked good. Email sales@packagemachinery.com or call us at 413.732.4000.