Gluten Free Ginger Cake | GBBO Bakealong Week 5
Happy Sunday!
I feel pretty rubbish today. I have been having some bad stomach pains over the last few days and my energy levels have drooped to zero. All I’ve done since Friday night is watch TV whilst under a warm blanket. Therefore, forgive me if this post is unusually short but I’m going to do my best to make this somewhat coherent.
So this week was spice week and the signature bake was a
ginger cake. Simple, right? Cakes are, in my opinion, the most straightforward
thing a baker could make. I mean, even 7 year olds can make vanilla cupcakes. However,
my dear friends, everything you have ever learnt about baking cakes is tested
when you decide to make a gluten free one. If any of you are wondering why I decided
to punish myself with such a task, I should mention that my mum has recently
discovered she has a gluten intolerance. Baking has become a lot more interesting
since this discovery because – apparently – gluten is super important as it
gives all baked goods its structure. Therefore, whenever we have a chance we
experiment with gluten free recipes and it’s actually been quite fun. We used
three different recipes for this ginger cake and here’s a quick run-down of how
they went.
Bake #1: A Simple Swap
This recipe came from my lovely aunty in Nigeria who sells
cakes part-time. She handed over her secret recipes when she visited last winter
after her wonderfully rich chocolate cake made us lose our collective minds.
The recipe was tried and tested but it wasn’t gluten free so we just swapped
the plain flour for a gluten free blend. Now, I don’t know a lot about GF
baking but I think I can confidently say that simply swapping the flours is not
a good idea. However, I can also confidently say the problems with this bake
did not stem from the GF component. You see, the recipe was handwritten and it
called for two tablespoons of baking powder and baking soda (4 tbsp total). This
felt off considering the amount of batter we had but I was not going to
question the genius of my aunty. Turns out there must have been a typo because
after 35 minutes in the oven we got this…
 |
| When you try your best but don't succeed... |
Bake #2: An Actual Gluten Free Recipe
When in doubt, trust the experts. We scoured the internet
for a recipe for a recipe that didn’t require specialist ingredients or
equipment (anyone ever made cake in a bread maker?) and we found one from Doves
Farm. The recipe is really straightforward and it baked without causing a
volcanic eruption. The problem was it was as dry as the Sahara Desert. It was
WAY overbaked even though I took it out 15 minutes early. My spidey-senses were
telling me that I was baking it too long but I trusted the experts. Oh Doves
Farm, why did you lead me astray? Why?! Anyways, after an hour of convincing my
mum that this cake wasn’t a reflection of her skills as a baker, we served up
the cake with lashings of custard.
Top tip: any messed
up cake can be saved with a metric tonne of custard slathered on top.
 |
| Close but not quite Carling... |
Bake #3: A DIY-ed Recipe
I had gone to bed feeling pretty good with how our first two
attempts at baking came out – my mumma was less satisfied. I woke up the next
day to find her in the kitchen, apron on and oven pre-heated with a determined
look in her eye. I, however, was less motivated so I went to the cinema to
watch Venom (i.e. drool over Tom Hardy). I came back to find my mum smiling
triumphantly over her creation. She had a moist and texturally pleasing date
and ginger cake that warmed the soul. According to mum, all she did was make a
basic sponge cake with some soaked dates for added moisture. Simple. I nearly
laughed at how simple it was but I guess if I’ve learnt anything is that
recipes are only guidelines and a baker must always trust their instincts.
 |
| Finally... peace out spice week! |
Comment below if you have tried to bake gluten free for the first time or if
you are veteran at it – I’d love to hear your stories!
See you in a week,
Mary xx
Comments
Post a Comment