Gluten-Free Vegan Orange Drizzle Cake - Rhian's Recipes (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep gluten-free cake moist? ›

Add extra liquid: Gluten-free flours tend to absorb more liquid than regular flour, so you may need to add more liquid to your recipes to compensate. This can help to keep your baked goods moist and prevent them from becoming dry and crumbly.

YOUR CAKE IS SINKING IN THE MIDDLE OR NOT RISING

You may not have used enough raising agents. I do recommend experimenting with double action baking powders. Otherwise try using 25 percent more chemical raising agents (baking soda or baking powder) if you're converting a recipe to gluten free.

Gluten-free baked goods often benefit from extra liquid to hydrate the flour blends, eliminate grittiness, and achieve a less dense or dry texture. However, it's very important to drive off this extra moisture during baking, or you'll wind up with a gummy texture.

Flavor Differences

All gluten-free flours have a different taste. Some gluten-free flours are naturally sweet, some are nutty, while others have a strong flavor. When you're just getting started baking gluten-free, experiment with as many different flours as you can.

Moisture. There are many ways to increase moisture in a recipe. In general, recipes that call for pureed fruit, sour cream or yogurt are ones you can rely on for a moist product. In case your recipe does not call for these things, using brown sugar instead of white sugar to add moisture.

What's the best gluten-free flour for baking? Bob's Red Mill gluten-free 1-to-1 baking mix is my favorite gluten-free all-purpose flour blend for baking. It has a mild texture and plenty of "stick" thanks to a blend of sweet rice flour, brown rice flour, and sorghum flour, plus some starches and xanthan gum.

Let Your Batters & Doughs Rest

We recommend covering your batters and doughs and letting them rest for at least half an hour. Note: This will also help batters become thicker and doughs to firm up.

Gluten-free flour blends don't have the same elasticity as flour containing gluten so often the cakes don't rise as much or will sink after rising. To combat the flat cake problem, I add ½ tsp of bicarbonate of soda to the recipe even when using a self-raising gluten-free flour blend.

Gluten-free batters need a longer bake time.

Because gluten-free batters contain more liquid than traditional versions, they typically take longer to bake. If you remove them from the oven too soon, you may develop a gummy, mushy texture.

However, you can actually mix a batter containing xanthan and/or guar gum to a point of diminishing returns. You can overwork the gums and end up with a stringy cake batter or rubbery cookie dough. (Having said that, doing this takes some work. Just don't take your aggressions out on a gluten-free cake batter.)

Why does my gluten-free cake taste bitter? ›

Rice Flour & Brown Rice Flour – high in carbohydrates. The main drawback is a tendency to produce a bitter taste, especially if baked goods are kept for any period of time. Will give a slight gritty texture when baked.

You may have added too much raising agents to your batter which causes it to rise too quickly and then sink as your batter doesn't have enough structure to hold the height or there isn't enough room for the cake to continue to grow.

If the flour you are using doesn't already contain xanthan gum, combining quarter of a teaspoon to every 200g/7oz of gluten-free flour will help to improve the crumb structure of your bake. You can also use guar gum or a combination of the two.

While most conventional recipes recommend baking cakes or quickbreads until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, you don't want to wait that long with GF recipes. The toothpick tester should come out with a few moist crumbs instead. It might feel weird, but try to just go with it.

The production of high-quality and reliably gluten-free food is fully automated and relies on the most modern technology. Rice and corn, the primary ingredients mainly used instead of wheat in gluten-free food, are also more expensive than wheat.

Xanthan gum (along with other thickeners like guar gum and arrowroot) acts like a binder in gluten-free baked goods to maintain their structure. Without it, there's a good chance that your brownies or muffin will crumble and fall apart.

As long as you have the time, it's better to let your batters and doughs sit. This will give flours and starches time to absorb liquid, which will prevent your recipes from developing a gritty, sandy texture.

Gluten-free baked goods can lose moisture and quality quickly. Wrap them tightly and store in the refrigerator or freezer in an airtight container to prevent dryness and staling.

Adding xanthan gum, to some extent, replaces the elastic qualities that gluten-free flours lack. This helps to reduce the risk of your cake crumbling and falling apart.