Ingredients you need for gluten free baking

I have been reading about gluten free baking and at the moment I am into a simple life.  I just want to use what I have in my drawers and cupboards.  I therefore adapted gluten free baking to what I have.

I think you really need to get your hands on Mąka Ziemniaczana and this is a Polish potato flour.  I have read much about the difference between potato starch and potato flour.  All I can say is that this is a wonderful flour.  500 grams for 69 pence. 

Then there is rice flour.  In my drawers, I have 粘米粉 rice flour.  I think this is a very expensive flour at £1.39 for 450 grams.  I saw there was Dove's rice flour in Waitrose yesterday at £1.70 per kilogram. I have not used Dove's flour yet.

Then there is baking powder - just any gluten free baking powder will do.  Sainsbury sells gluten free baking powder for £1.35 for a tub of 170 grams.

Bi-carbonate of soda - well any well do.

In the background of the picture above, you will see strange bottles - and these are fizzy drinks which are need for gluten free baking.  If you do not want to use fizzy drinks, then you will need some form of acid - lemon juice, vinegar etc to activate the raising agent.

Then the most expensive of all gluten free baking is having this blessed Doves Xanthan gum which is £2.35 for 100 grams from Waitrose.  I added this gum into the fruit cake because our first fruit cake was not a total success.  This is like the magic ingredient which makes gluten free baking a success.  So if you are into gluten free baking, you need this blessed gum in your cupboard.  

Prices as of 29 July 2013 at 9 am.  

Bundt baking tins

Why am I baking my cakes at 165 C?

The normal baking temperature in a convectional oven with its fan turned off is normally 175 - 180 C which is about 350 F. 

This is because I am using Nordic bundt baking tins.  You can buy these tins from everywhere and I bought mine from Selfidges.  

This American bundt baking tin is so well made and I have found cakes bake so well in Nordic Ware tins at lower temperatures and for a shorter time. My cakes have never burnt when baked in Nordic Ware tins. 

Of course you can use any baking tins, but then you need to up your temperature and you need to read your oven and tin manufacturers' instructions.

Eggless Gluten Free Fruit Cake

Dayo and I made a fruit cake for her birthday and even a number of people liked the cake, I thought the cake was like a Christmas pudding or a failed Chinese pudding and we both felt the same and the question is why don't we just add fruits and nuts to the chocolate cake without the cocoa.  So here is the fruit and nut cake without cocoa.

Baked fruit and nut cake

Ingredients

1. 1½ US cups 粘米粉 rice flour 
2. ½ US cup Mąka Ziemniaczana – Polish potato flour
3. 2 tsp gluten free baking powder
4. 1 tsp bi carbonate of soda
5. 4 oz [1/2 cup] 113 g of unsalted butter
6. 1 tin [397 g] condensed milk
7. 1 US cup of any fizzy drink eg 7 UP
8. 2 US cups mixed fruits – I used Sainsbury’s mixed fruits with cranberries and apricots
9. 1 US cup chopped mixed nuts
10. 1 tsp mixed spices

Method

1. Heat up the oven to 170 C and prepare a bundt tin by buttering and flouring the tin
2. Prepare the dry ingredients like chopping the nuts, measuring out the fruits, and mixing together the rice flour, potato starch, baking powder, bi-carbonate of soda, mixed spices
3. Mix the partially melted butter with the condensed milk until it forms a batter like consistency
4. Fold the flour mixture into the liquid mixture and pour the fizzy drink while mixing
5. Use a hand held mixer and beat the mixture to ensure there are no lumps
6. Mix in the mixed fruits and nuts into the cake mixture
7. Pour the cake mixture into a prepared bundt tin and bake for 50 minutes at a preheated conventional oven [fan switched off], second shelf from the bottom, initially at 170 C and turn the oven down to 165 C after 5 minutes for the rest of the baking period

Baked cake in a bundt baking tin

8.       Shake the cake to loosen the cake from the tin about five minutes after removing from the oven, turn the cake out from the baking tin o and allow to rest on a cooling rack until cool

9.       Drizzle the cake with any alcohol such as rum or whisky or brandy

Cup size used – An American size cup was used to make this cake.

Note about making eggless cake: It is not easy to bake eggless cake and the middle tends not to be cooked.  So bake the fruit cake in a Bundt baking tin.  Another very important point is to make sure every ingredient is at room temperature and none of them are straight from the fridge. 

Evaluation: The cake was rather crumbly and I have therefore changed the proportions of the flours above and removed the ½ tsp Doves Farm Xanthan gum from the ingredients list. Require further experimentation but a huge improvement from the cake made on 27 July Saturday. 

However, it is rather expensive to keep making this cake and I will be focusing on other things until such time as there is a call for making a gluten free eggless fruit and nut cake again in the future.

So, this recipe comes with a warning - it is NOT fully tested for success.

Eggless Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

You must have heard the expression, "if it ain't broke don't fix it"  This is the reason why I have not used wheat flour to make this cake.  Dayo's chocolate cake was perfect - moist and soft and nobody would ever have guessed it had no eggs nor wheat flour in it. 

So when it comes to Mohit's eighteen birthday, I did not want to change anything including the flour.  And the cake turned out to be just beautiful - do take a look at the pictures of Mohit's birthday cake. 

Ingredients

     1.5 US cups 粘米粉 rice flour

         ½ cup Mąka Ziemniaczana – Polish potato flour

         4 tbsp Green and Black pure cocoa powder

         2 tsp gluten free baking powder

         1 tsp bi carbonate of soda

         4 oz [1/2 cup] 113 g of unsalted butter

         1 tin [397 g] of condensed milk

         1 US cup of any fizzy drink eg 7 Up or Coco Cola

1.       Prepare the bundt tin by buttering and flouring the tin

2.       Mix the dry ingredients together and sift the flour / cocoa mixture

3.       Mix the partially melted butter with the condensed milk until it forms a batter like consistency

4.       Fold the flour / cocoa mixture into the liquid mixture and add the fizzy drink

5.       Pour the cake mixture into a prepared bundt tin and bake for 45 minutes at a preheated 165 C conventional oven [fan switched off], second shelf from the bottom

The baked cake in the cake mould - the bundt baking tin

Baked chocolate cake

6.       Shake the cake to loosen the cake from the tin about five minutes after removing from the oven, turn the cake out from the baking tin o and allow to rest on a cooling rack until cool

7.       Drizzle any chocolate sauce on the cake and perhaps decorate with fruits

8.       When serving the cake, place one teaspoon of chocolate sauce on each slice of cake – the cake taste very good with the chocolate sauce

Cup size used – An American size cup was used to make this cake.

Note about making eggless cake: It is not easy to bake eggless cake and the middle tends not to be cooked.  So one could bake the cake in a Bundt baking tin or on multiple baking sheets as thin layers of cake or multiple Victoria sponge tins [make sure the cake is no higher than an inch tall after baking] and then cut the cakes to shape and glue them together.  Another very important point is to make sure every ingredient is at room temperature and none of them are straight from the fridge. 

1 US cup is the same size as an English teacup like those made by Wedgewood and a British measuring cup is larger than a US measuring cup.  I have used a US size measuring cup.  My measuring cups are given by my lovely sister and I use these cups to share the love of Jesus with other people by making cakes for them.

Also remember not to put the cake in the fridge or else it will dry out and become hard.  If a frosting, which is made of cream, is used, then frost at the last minute and avoid placing the cake in the fridge. 

This recipe is perfect and there are no changes required.  

Thanks be to God.