The last few cakes for my Martha Stewart Cakes the gluten free way series have turned out great, so I should have known I was in for a disaster.
I love lemons, so lemon desserts always catch my attention. Since my daughter and I have been dairy free this month, I was looking for a dairy free dessert from the cookbook to convert to gluten free.
The lemon chiffon cake caught my attention because it was lemon and dairy free. I thought this would be a good combination. It really wasn’t good at all. At least not in the gluten free form.
There is a saying that a picture is worth a thousand words and these pictures pretty much say it all.
This is a picture of the lemon chiffon cake in the Martha Stewart cookbook. Doesn’t it look good?!
And this is my gluten free version. They look just about the same don’t they? Yeah, not so much.
My cake looks nothing like the picture. Nothing at all. And the taste. Well, I am pretty sure that Martha’s tasted better than mine did. I took a bite and declared that it was going in the trash.
My family chimed in and said, “Mom it can’t be that bad.”
They tried a bite and pretty much all agreed that this cake would be better off in the trash. No one wanted more than one bite of it.
Gluten free disasters are going to happen. It is not a matter of if they will happen, but when they will happen.
Hopefully next week’s cake will turn out better and I will have a recipe to share. In the meantime though, just know we all have gluten free disasters. Learn from them and keep trying. In the end it will be worth it.
Chiffon cake is hard enough without the gf factor, so it’s truly brave of you to attempt this. I don’t even know if it can truly be done because I haven’t attempted gf chiffon. I vaguely recall that you successfully make a gf chocolate chiffon, which I really need to try. I printed it out, but haven’t had a chance to try it yet. I love vanilla chiffon, so I’m hoping to modify it after attempting the gf chocolate chiffon. You are brave. And, I love that you have such high standards for cake.
Thank you. Yes, I do have a gluten free chocolate angel food cake that is delicious. I tried the same basic flours in this one thinking it would work, but it didn’t. I figure that a few disasters are worth it if I end up getting a really good, tastes like the real thing, end result. And I may actually give this one another trying using different gf flours. 🙂 Here is the link to the chocolate one if you need it. https://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/2011/07/gluten-free-chocolate-angel-food-cake.html
Thanks! My favorite non-gf chiffon of all time was the one in The New Best Recipes Cookbook. They went through so many iterations and found it’s about the eggs and moisture content of the ingredients.
I hate when I have baking fails. Like literally hate it. Makes me ill.But alas if at first you don’t succeed dust yourself off and try again.
Exactly and gluten free baking often requires lots of trying again.
Love your site and I come here frequently for recipes because I know they will be good. I have a daughter in law that eats gluten free and here is where I found your gluten free sour cream cake that, apparently, has been adapted from the same one I have used for decades. After finding that I have been a big fan of your recipes and thank you for your creativity and testing kitchen. Keep on doing what you are doing because I’m spreading the word. Thank you!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that. I love helping people make gluten free easy and delicious, so I love it when readers share what recipes they love. I haven’t made that sour cream cake in awhile. I need to make it again!