Short Cake Recipes?

[bunnie]

Hello,

I'm not a very experienced baker and am brand new to this board. How can I convert a biscuit or short cake recipe to make it gluten-free ? I have some gluten free flours, and have made the featherlight pastry mix. Can I use that for biscuits? Thanks for any help.

[bunnie]

Well, since I didn't get any response, and I already had the strawberries, I just decided to try an experiment. I used the Featherlight Baking mix recipe given to me at a gluten-free baking class I took about 2 months ago at Whole Foods. I also have lactose intolerance, so I used a shortcake recipe from a milk free cookbook. I simply substituted the Featherlight for the flour called in the recipe. It turned out very flat, so I made a second batch (the recipe calls for slicing the shortcake in half) and stacked them with the berries in between. My company took seconds, so I guess it was good, but it was very 'chewy' and hard to cut. I think I may have over baked them.

I'll keep experimenting, but if anybody has any suggestions, I'd welcome them. Thanks.

[khyricat]

its not shortcake, but an old favorite of mine- and it would work as a type of shortcake...

shamtorte is a german "cake" its a merengue shell hardened till crunchy, then filled with whipped cream and strawberries..

another option is to make flat layers of merengue and put strawberry in between them.. or any other filling.. it won't absorb it too much..

but when its cut it is crunchy but light and airy and the sweet taste works well...

Merengue kisses:

4 egg whites, 1 cup sugar (plain sugar works), 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar

beat until stiff.

bake at 200 degrees for 1 hour if small, 1.5 hours if larger sized (like a shamtorte or large shell) then leave in the oven until cool or overnight.

YUMMY, crunchy and gluten free!

I just pipe them plain or with some nuts or chocolate folded in and serve along with berries, chocolate and sometimes whipped cream most of the time.

[kejohe]

Bunnie - Sorry you didn't get a quicker response, I missed your post last time I was on-line. Converting standard recipes to gluten-free can be tricky, but it can also be fun to experiment with. Usually for breads and pastries, a general rule of thumb is that you need to add 1 tsp of xanthan gum for every 1 to 3 cups of flour depending on how chewy you want it, breads use more, pastries that need to be flakey use less. Also, because gluten-free fours don't have any elasticity they can be a lot heavier than wheat flour, so you need to add extra leavening, like baking soda, baking powder etc. If you find that your foods come out very hard to chew, you might try adding a little extra fat of some kind, shortening would work for you since your lactose intolerant, but butter, or margarine works well otherwise. Fats and sugars are tenderizers, so that's why it helps keep baked goods softer.

Anyway, I hope this helps a little for your next experiment. You might also try making angel food cake to use for short cake recipes. Because it's mostly egg white souffle you usually don't need to change anything but the flour and you don't have to add anything like the xanthan gum.

Cheers!

[bunnie]

Thanks for the great ideas. I love shamtorte, I forgot all about it! My mom used to make it !!!