Sticky gluten free ginger cake recipe - The Gluten Free Blogger (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep gluten-free cake from drying out? ›

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.

2 teaspoons of baking powder per cup of gluten-free flour is necessary to ensure proper leavening. Baking soda and buttermilk can be used to leaven instead of baking powder, but 1-1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar should be added for each 1/2 teaspoon baking soda used.

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.

Some of the commonly used flours for making gluten-free cakes are rice flour, oat flour, teff flour, almond flour, oat flour, sorghum flour, coconut flour, brown rice flour, amaranth flour, and tapioca flour are some of the common flours used for gluten-free cakes.

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 flours often contain fine starches, so they absorb more liquid than conventional flour. To address this, gluten-free recipes usually call for more liquid and produce looser batters. They may also call for a larger quantity of leavening, like baking powder, to help add volume and lighten the texture.

Gluten free flours absorb more moisture. You can compensate by removing some flour (~1-2 Tbsp/cup, or 8-16 g) or by adding moisture. Depending on the recipe, this could be more water, milk, or an extra egg.

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.)

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.

If the gluten free flour you are using doesn't contain xanthan gum, then you'll want to include it in your list of recipe ingredients. Even more so if you're making cake, muffins, bread and pizza crust, as these recipes typically rely on the structure gluten provides.

Why do gluten-free cakes taste grainy? ›

The Cake Is Gritty:

If your cake turned out gritty, you used a gluten free flour blend that isn't milled as finely. Usually, rice flour is the main culprit of gritty gluten free cake.

Almond flour is one of the most common grain- and gluten-free flours. It's made from ground, blanched almonds, which means the skin has been removed. One cup of almond flour contains about 90 almonds and has a nutty flavor. It's commonly used in baked goods and can be a grain-free alternative to breadcrumbs.

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.

Measurements: All-in-one gluten-free blends are usually a one-to-one swap with regular flour, allowing you to substitute one cup of all-purpose flour with one cup of gluten-free flour.

Moisture – for some reason gluten-free cakes tend to get a little dry. Any gluten-free cake will dry out super-fast and get hard on the outside if it's not properly refrigerated and covered. I swear by always using buttermilk and adding a little more fat into the batter to compensate for the dryness.

Increase liquids to fully hydrate flour. You may also want to go with a full-fat liquid, as the fats in whole milk, cream or coconut milk can improve tenderness. Another easy way to add moisture and fats? Include almond flour in your gluten-free blends for healthy fats, plus protein and nutrients.

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.

Using an air-tight container is the best and easiest way to keep your cake from getting exposed to air. However, if you don't have one of those, you can wrap your cake in cling film, or if it's iced, place a large inverted bowl over it to trap the air.