A few nights ago, I decided to have an adventure in the kitchen...baking a cake. Now, I think most GF cake mixes are great, but my mission here was to bake a gluten free cake from scratch that wasn't grainy, crumbly, or dry (even the next day). I'll skip the suspense and say I was successful. Very successful.
Below is a photo of the cake I baked in its entirety. And, boy, was it delicious.
The components of the final piece were yellow cake, lemon curd filling, with lemon cream cheese frosting (and strawberries to top it off -- which went really well with the lemon taste!). It was DELICIOUS. I mean moist, smooth, a nice crumb but not crumbly. Man, was I pleased.
Yellow Cake
For the cake, I used Annalise Roberts' recipe from her book, Gluten-Free Baking Classics. I read a LOT of gluten free blogs and this book has come up a lot, and for good reason (this recipe was a hit!). I really do recommend you buy this book. I got it for $19.61 total at a Barnes & Noble (cheaper online!) the other day and, so far, it was well worth it. In my opinion, if the yellow cake recipe is successful (or any basic recipe at that), then the cost of the book pays off. Here is a link to Roberts' archive of recipes on her website. The recipe I used is called "Vanilla Cupcakes (gluten free)" on that page and is near the bottom. I doubled this recipe in order to bake two 9" cake pans. Be sure to spray each pan and cut out parchment paper to place on the bottom of each pan.
One thing I will remark on, though, is what I believe to be the secret to Gluten Free baking -- superfine brown rice flour. No, not just rice flour, or even white rice flour. It must be superfine. Why, you ask? Well, just feel the difference. I've tried a lot of different flours in my time. A lot of different rice flours, also. The best one I can remember using was bought at a Chinese grocery. And, you guessed it folks, it was superfine. Now that was probably four years ago and, for the past long time, I've been killing myself wondering why Bob's Red Mill's Brown Rice Flour, or White Rice Flour was not doing the job. Well, superfine is the secret. And Annalise Roberts speaks about this very explicitly in the third chapter of her book. She writes,"It is very important that you use an extra finely ground brown rice flour (not just any grind), or your baked goods will be gritty, heavy and/or crumbly.... [Other kinds] of brown rice flour have a larger grind that you can actually feel between your fingers. They are not powdery...and it really does make a difference. If you want or need to use the other [kinds], try to find one with the finest grind you can."* If only I had known that! Well needless to say, she was right. Roberts earns her name, "The Food Philosopher".
Roberts recommends the Authentic Foods Superfine Brown Rice Flour, which is what I used. Upon opening the package and just feeling the flour, I knew I was on the right track. In comparison to Bob's Red Mill's rice flours, the Superfine flour feels less gritty, and more like real (wheat) cake flour. A good sign, indeed. Well, combined with tapioca flour and potato starch, the flour mix worked like a charm. The cakes came out nicely, even with a crispy top to them, which I enjoyed.
Lemon Curd Filling
This recipe, I adapted from my culinary school's docket. It's great - zap! It hits your tongue with that tangy lemon bite and finishes off with a wonderful sweetness. As a filling in a cake, it adds a nice lemon zip and cuts through the rest of the sweetness of the cake. Recipe follows:
- In a saucepan, bring 1" water to a boil.
- In a separate bowl, that will fit ontop of the saucepan without touching the water, mixvery thoroughly: 1 and 1/2 whole eggs, 1 and 1/2 egg yolks, 7 Tbs granulated sugar, zest from one lemon, and 5 and 1/2 Tbs lemon juice.
- Place the bowl on top of the saucepan. This is called a double-boiler or bain marie.
- Stir the mixture very thoroughly with a spatula, being careful to scrape the bottom frequently. When the eggs have thickened, remove the bowl from the heat, careful to wipe the condensation from the bottom. The curd should be smooth and thick. There should not be any scrambled bits of egg. If there are you did not stir throughly enough.
- Place 2 Tbs butter in a bowl and strain the lemon curd into this bowl. Straining will get out any scrambled egg bits, lemon seeds, or pulp.
- Cover with plastic wrap so a skin does not form and place in the refrigeratorimmediatelyto cool.
- When cooled, you can use as a filling. Or just eat it.
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
In my opinion, this was the best part of the cake. (Well, maybe the victory of finally baking a cake from scratch that tasted great was the best part, but the frosting was really, really tasty.) This recipe was, again, adapted from the culinary school experience, with some tweaks worked in. The recipe follows:
- In a mixer bowl with paddle attachment (or just a bowl with a handheld electric mixer), add: 1/2 cup softened unsalted butter, 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs cream cheese, 2 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp lemon zest, 1/2 tsp GF vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp sea salt.
- Mix on low until the powdered sugar is somewhat incorporated.
- Slowly dial up speed to high, and mix for 2 minutes until smooth and fluffy.
- Store frosting in fridge until you are ready to cover your cake.
The best part about this cake was that I brought it into culinary school to have all my gluten-eating friends try it. I got very positive reviews, so I think this one's a winner. One chef instructor even said she preferred the moistness of this cake to regular gluten-containing cakes. I also gave a slice of my cake to two other classes for them to try. The chef instructor of one of those two classes asked her students to try the cake, without telling them it was gluten free. She said they really liked it and couldn't even tell. Hurray! (That is pretty much my goal in life!)
If you still aren't a believer that this cake, well, takes the cake, here are some more cake pictures:
YUMMY!
Note: Just because I prefer superfine rice flour over those at Bob's Red Mill (BRM) doesn't mean I dislike BRM. In fact, I LOVE THEM! Thanks to Bob's, numerous GF flours are available on the market to people like us. And they are delicious. Teff, millet, sorghum, etc. Wonderful, whole grains that taste complex and delightful! Bob's offers great grains to us Americans, which we would otherwise be completely unaware of. I feel that without companies like Bob's Red Mill, these grains may go by the wayside...forever. And what would be the good in that? Thanks, Bob! You are doing America a great service!
* Roberts, Annalise. Gluten-Free Baking Classics. Chicago: Surrey Books, 2008, page 7.
No comments:
Post a Comment