An Indian origin scientist based in Illinois, Mukti Singh has developed a product called FANTESK, which may be used in cake mixes and frostings sometime in the future.

The use of this new product will result in fewer calories, but still yummy, fluffy cakes. FANTESK will substitute for the oil in the mixes. FANTESK, though reduces fat content, does not do anything to the sugar.

Mukti Singh in her experiments at her Peoria laboratory formulated this trans-fat-free cooking oil, encapsulated in cornstarch or wheat flour. FANTESK was first developed by NCAUR chemists George Fanta and the late Kenneth Eskins in the 1990’s.

An experiment by Singh has shown that, there is no need for cooking oil, when making a cake with a mix that has FANTESK. The cakes made with FANTESK are low in fat content, have a better texture and are higher in volume. The low Fat frostings that Singh and another Peoria Chemical Engineer Jeffrey Byars are producing with FANTESK contain 50% less fat ,and yet have a smooth texture and better spreadability like butter cream.

Mukti is based at the ARS National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (NCAUR) in Peoria, Ill.