The invention concerns the preparation of pancakes, crepes, and similar products, and more in particular the mass production of food products in the form of sheets (pancakes, crepes, tortillas, 'brick' pastry, etc.) having selected shapes and/or incorporating decorative designs / images.

The mass production of pancakes, crepes, tortillas, brick pastry, and more generally food products in sheet form, is known in the patent literature.

Reference can be made in this respect to, for instance, US 2008/0060531 (pancakes and the like), WO 2004/100672 (food products in the form of sheets such as sheets of brick pastry), EP 1 759 585 (sandwich pancakes), US 3,993,788 (tortillas and similar products).

Some of these state of the art mass production methods involve imprinting artwork onto the food that is being cooked (US 2008/0060531 ), or stamping a design on the outer surface of the product (EP 1 759 585).

Printing or stamping of decorative figures on food products is however a drawback in itself and the techniques there for are generally not satisfactory for moist products like pancakes.

The mass production of shaped food products, using moulding shapes or shaped baking plates has on the other hand the drawback of being not optimally compatible with the rather liquid batters as used for Dutch, French or American type pancakes and crepes, and of impairing the versatility of the method linked to such preset moulds.

In the context of mass production of decorated food products it has also been proposed to associate at least two distinct dough compositions / portions, of distinct colour and/or texture, which are baked simultaneously or after each other, such as in US 2005/048182 A1 (King) and in WO 03/020043 A1 (NESTEC).

Home preparation of 'designer' pancakes (i.e. pancakes having selected shapes and/or incorporating decorative designs / images) is rather well disclosed on internet, but the very 'artisanal' techniques explained there are not suitable for mass production of 'designer' food products in sheet form.

The mass production methods according to the prior art for producing food products with a decorative pattern in particular present the drawback that the decorative patterns and more specifically the outer shape of the finished product do not define neat, well defined contours, as found to be highly desirable for a large part of the purchasing public.

It is the objective of the present invention to remedy the drawbacks of the state of the art and to provide a process for mass production of food products in the form of sheets having selected shapes and optionally incorporating decorative designs / images, which overcome de drawbacks of the state of the art methods. The invention accordingly provides a process for the industrial preparation of food products in the form of sheets, such as in particular pancakes and crepes, more particularly "Dutch" type pancakes, having a selected shape and optionally incorporating decorative designs / images, comprising pouring a liquid batter on a heated surface, wherein batter is first provided on the heated surface to build one or more batter lines defining at least one outer outline of the sheet shaped food product and wherein the surface within said contour batter outline is subsequently filled up with batter to form the main surface of the sheet shaped food product. The method according to the invention thus introduces a totally new concept in the industrial manufacture of sheet shaped food products, in that one starts by building, on a flat baking surface, batter lines which will act as a kind of "form" or "mould" for the subsequently poured, essentially same batter. This new concept allows a fast, flexible and cheap industrial manufacture (i.e. on a flat baking surface) of sheet shaped food products, such as in particular "Dutch type" pancakes, having a selected well defined outer shape and well defined design patterns. The process / method according to the invention may there for apply the following techniques :

- building batter lines, which define a contour outline and optional design lines of the sheet shaped food product, on a heated surface at a temperature between 80° and 250° C;

- using a spray-robot to build the contour outline and optional design lines;

- using an intermittently or continuously moving heated surface at a temperature between 80° and 250° C;

- using a pouring head, a die, a toppling pouring cup or a spray head, in particular a shower type spray head, for pouring an amount of batter within a preformed batter outline.

According the invention, it is a preferred feature of the new process

that said heated surface is an essentially flat surface (i.e. which does not comprise "moulding areas" to define decorative patterns);

that the batter line(s) defining a contour outline of the sheet shaped product form a stable well defined continuous batter line;

that the optional batter lines forming designs and figures are provided before pouring the batter forming the main surface of the sheet shaped food product; that the batter lines building the contour outline of the sheet shaped food product, and/or building optional design lines of the sheet shaped food product are provided on a heated surface at a temperature between 80° and 250° C, as batter lines / batter strips with a size of less than 15 mm upon being deposited on the heated surface, so as to build the well defined batter lines (contour batter outline and/or optional design lines);

that the batter lines building the contour outline of the sheet shaped food product, and/or building optional design lines of the sheet shaped food product are provided on the heated surface using at least one pouring head or die at a distance of less than 100 mm, preferably less than 50 mm and most preferably less than 10 mm from the heated surface;

that the batter composition comprises optional colouring substances and / or additives favouring the colouring / browning of baking products;

in particular, that fraction of the batter which is used for building the contour batter outline and/or design batter lines may comprise colouring substances and / or browning additives to provide / enhance distinct colouring thereof ;

that a spray-robot is used to build said well defined contour outline and/or design lines on an intermittently or continuously moving heated surface at a temperature between 80° and 250° C; and/or

that a pouring head or die, toppling pouring cup or spray head, in particular a shower type spray head is used for pouring an amount of batter mass within said preformed contour batter outline. An important aspect of the new method according to this invention is the fact that its advantageous results are achieved with essentially one single batter composition, both for the well defined, design batter lines and for the filling up main surface batter (apart from optional minor additives which do not substantially modify the textural properties and baking properties of the batter, but merely may emphasize (visual) design aspects of the batter lines by providing a distinct colour thereto).

The expression "essentially one single batter composition" thus, in this context, means that there is not made use of distinct batters with distinct baking behaviour for the well defined, design batter lines on the one hand and for the filling up batter main surface on the other hand.

The production of distinct colours referred to above may in particular involve the use of colouring substances (like cacao in particular or food grade colorants , food grade dyes, food grade inks, etc.) and / or additives favouring the colouring / browning of baking products (such as in particular reducing sugars) as well known in the art, etc.

The process according to the invention is preferably carried out using an intermittently or continuously moving heated surface, such as, more particularly, an intermittently or continuously moving carrousel construction, an intermittently or continuously linear transfer construction, etc.

In accordance with a preferred feature of the invention well defined batter lines (strips, ribbons) building the contour outline of the sheet shaped food product, and the (optional) 'design' lines of the sheet shaped food product (which may build further contours inside an outer contour of the sheet shaped food product) are provided on the heated surface (in particular a baking plate) using at least one pouring head or die at a distance of less than 100 mm, preferably less than 50 mm and most preferably less than 10 mm from the heated surface.

The main surface of the sheet shaped food product is preferably formed by pouring the batter mass, manually or mechanically (by computer controlled means, such as spray robots), using at least one static or moving pouring head or die, toppling pouring cup or spray head, most preferably a shower type spray head.

The 'filling up' batter mass can thereby be poured over the optional design lines (and contour lines inside the outer contour) which have been provided before pouring the 'filling up' batter mass.

Pouring the amount of 'filling up' batter mass within said outer contour and over /around said inner contour outlines and/or 'design' lines, respectively, can thus be carried out using at least one pouring head or die, at least one toppling pouring cup or at least one shower type spray head after pouring such batter outlines and/or 'design' lines.

Preferred requirements for the batter compositions for the sheet shaped food products according to the invention are as follows :

the amount of added liquid (in particular as water, milk and/or the like) is preferably in the range of 25 % by weight to 60 % by weight of the total batter composition, with an optimum between 40 and 45 % by weight, the amount of added "fatty matter" is preferably in the range of 5 to 20 % by weight of the total batter composition, with an optimum between 7 and 14 % by weight;

The expression "fatty matter" refers to any fatty composition with a water content between 15 and 50 %, such as fat, shortenings, margarine, so called "cocoline" products, etc.

the dry matter content is preferably in the range of 25 % by weight to 40 % by weight of the total batter composition, with an optimum around 34 % by weight;

The expression dry matter as used in this context refers to the whole of the essentially dry ingredients comprising more specifically the flour, sugar, salt and cacao powder. The flour may be any type of flour commonly used for pancakes, such as, preferably, wheat flour, but also buckwheat flour,

the proportion of "binder" (i.e. the flour) in the dry matter ingredients is preferably in the order of 60 %, or above (up to 85 % and more).

Most preferred batter compositions are those commonly used in industrial pancake manufacture, with a added liquid content between 40 and 45 % by weight of the total batter composition, an added fatty matter content in the order of 7 % by weight of the total batter composition, a dry matter content between 25 and 40 % by weight (optimally around 34 % by weight) of the total batter composition, with a proportion of binder (flour) in the dry matter ingredients in the order 60 %.

The expressions "added fatty matter" and "added liquid" as used in this context must be understood as the amount of fats and the amount of liquid added to the batter mass without taking into account any amounts of fat and/or liquid contained in other conventional ingredients of the batter composition, such as eggs, cacao mass, flour, sugar, salt, etc. For the preferred batter composition referred to above, the preferred processing parameters are the following :

- temperature of the baking surface between 80 and 150 ° C

- batter lines, applied with a spraying robot having a die diameter of no more than 3 mm, most preferably between 0,61 and 0,84 mm

- a baking time between 10 and 20 seconds for the batter lines lying alone on the baking surface, before pouring the batter mass forming the main surface of the sheet shaped product according to the invention and baking both together for a further 60 to 70 seconds - a pouring speed ("writing speed" for the batter lines) of approximately 50 g per 3 seconds

According to a further feature of the invention, a spray-robot can be used for providing the batter outlines and/or design lines on the heated surface and/or for providing the 'filling up' batter mass.

A preferred apparatus for producing a sheet shaped food product according to the invention, comprising means for pouring a liquid batter on a heated surface and means for handling the obtained product, may more specifically comprise robot means for building a well defined batter outline and/or design batter lines on a heated surface at a temperature between 80° and 250° C, and means for pouring further batter within a preformed batter outline.

The apparatus may more particularly involve :

- a flour silo

- a dough preparation unit

- a baking line comprising rotating or linearly moving baking tables, involving :

- a robot for laying the contour strip and the face features on one ore more rows, for one or more pancakes simultaneously, using batter 1

- one or more spray or pouring heads on one or more rows for filling up the contours with batter 2

- a sprayer for spraying oil

- transfer unit from the baking plate to the transport unit

- cooling tunnel for cooling the pancakes to minimum 0°C and / or

- freezing unit for deep freezing the pancakes to - 22 C

(alternatively positioned after the packaging unit) - piling unit for piling up the pancakes

- packaging unit

The invention also specifically relates to sheet shaped food products having a selected shape and/or incorporating selected decorative designs / images, obtainable by a process as disclosed here above, and more in particular such sheet shaped food product associated, as a combined party packaging unit, with atmosphere and/or user linked accessories for its use and/or consumption, designed, for instance, for a kids' party or the like.

Suitable accessories for such combined party packaging unit may for instance comprise appropriately decorated (such as with corresponding and/or associated 'characters') table sheets, napkins, plates, cutlery, cups or beakers, etc., as well as drinks, pancake spreads and toppings, etc., further candies and sweets, further party accessories like party decoration, streamers, ticker tapes, etc.

The invention is further illustrated by non limitative embodiments of the method and products claimed herein, shown in the attached drawings where.

Figure 1 provides one example of a pancake obtained with the process according to the invention

(character design of "Winnie the Pooh")

Figure 2 provides another example of a pancake obtained with the process according to the invention

(character design of "Mickey Mouse")

Figure 3 provides an example of a party kit according to the invention

(character designs of "Cars" on the pancakes not shown) The invention is also illustrated, in a non limitative way, by the following "best mode" embodiment / example for a batter mass composition for the sheet shaped food product according to the invention : weiqht %

pastry flour 21 ,7

fine sugar 7,7

whole egg 14,2

liquid 43

salt 0,2

fat 7,2

baking powder 0,1

milk powder 5,9 total 100,00 which batter composition for the sheet shaped food product according to the invention corresponds in essence to batter masses normally used for Dutch type pancakes.