Last week for my gluten free cakes series I shared a gluten free disaster. This week’s recipe is not so much a disaster, but I really would not call it a success either.
Which is why I am not sharing the actual recipe. I would love to hear your thoughts and advice on this one though.
The recipe was for a cream cheese pound cake. I was sure this one would convert well to gluten free. I mean it has a massive amount of butter and cream cheese in it, so how could it turn out bad.
Well, it did taste good and really the texture was not bad, when it comes to looks it was a little off. Okay, so it was a lot off.
You can probably tell in that picture that it does not look right. It was like the fat from the butter and cream cheese did not mix into the gluten free batter right. But the taste and texture were not all that different throughout the bread, so I think it was mixed in well.
The part that is darker was a bit more oily, but not really overly. I am thinking it might have been too much fat for the gluten free flours though and they did not absorb the fat well, but I am really not sure. I have never had a gluten free recipe turn out quite like this one did.
I almost shared this recipe even though it was a little off, but I decided not to because I only want to share recipes I would make again, and this one is not one I would make again. I did not want anyone wasting their ingredients on this one.
I am curious though if you all have thoughts on what happened with this.
Have you had a gluten free recipe do this before? Do you think it has to do with the fat content or maybe the type of fat it was?
And don’t worry. Next week’s I will be sharing another success from this book. It is a really good recipe that involves carrots. It was delicious. So stay tuned for that next Wednesday.
I’m far from an expert on gluten free baking, but I do think gluten free flours are less absorbent than wheat flour is. Perhaps using a higher starch content in the flour mixture may help? Or even just using a greater amount of flour?
That is kind of what I am thinking. The flour/starch ratio to the fat ratio is off.
I’m new at this, but I’m seeing lots of eggs in some breads and cakes that are GF. I made your corn pancakes and the texture was light and fluffy. Delicious. I even added blueberries. Later for lunch I used one of each (no blueberries and one blueberry) for a sandwich. Wonderful. I need a soft texture right now and this did the trick.
For a dense cake like pound cake, more xanthum gum? or buttermilk? Less butter or maybe an oil? Not knowing the ingredients, I’m learning.
Usually xanthan gum changes the texture a lot if you use too much or too little. The liquid is sometimes the issue though, so that could be it also, although this did not have a lot of extra liquid.
Thanks for your thoughts! I am enjoying seeing what others have to say.
Too much fat. I would cut down, or cut out, the butter and rely on the cream cheese to provide all the fat. Also, it may have needed a little more baking. Just a thought.
I agree, I am thinking too much fat as well. And you might be right on the baking time, it might have been a doneness issue. Thanks for your thoughts.
The outside looks good. Levening? Baking Soda reacts with an acid. Baking Powder is double acting, acid and heat. Would an addition of either of those help?
I make a lot of pound cakes and use 4 different recipes for them. gluten free and regular. Every once in a while I get a cake that turns out like your pictures and I can find no rhyme or reason for it to have occurred.
Don’t despair or think that you did something wrong as it is very likely the next cake will turn out fine with the same mix.
This recipe works well w pre mixed GF flour or regular flour for a non GF version
A) 3 sticks butter (not quite room temp, but not cold either!)
B) 1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
C) 3 c sugar
D) 1 liberal tsp vanilla
E) 6 eggs
F) 3 c flour (GF premix or regular for a nonGF cake)
1) Cream A, B, C, & D really well.
2) Mix two eggs (E) to mixture in step 1 and mix well.
3) Add one cup flour (F) to above mixture and mix well.
4) Repeat steps 3 and 4 two more times mixing well after each step.
Grease and flour tube pan or two loaf pans. As you are doing this only now turn on oven to start heat to 300 degrees.
(this recipe calls for a COLD oven and worked well with my old oven which had a manual pre-heat selection (both heat elements for preheat, bottom only element for bake), but my new oven automatically preheats using both elements and would cook the top too much, so while I don’t use a cold oven, I don’t put it in to a completely hot oven either.)
Spread batter in pan(s).
Place in oven (slightly warm or cold depending on your oven) at 300 degrees.
Bake 45 mins, then turn the pan and bake for another 45 mins. Test with knife. Very likely you will need to bake it more using 3-5 minute increments. I sometime turn the oven off after 95 minutes and let cake sit and continue baking for another 5 mins.
As I said, pound cakes vary even when using the same recipe over and over again…
Thanks! I am glad to know I am not the only one this happens to with gf pound cakes. Things like this are what keeps gf baking interesting. 🙂