Why Didn't This Work?

[cycler]

I got this recipe from this site and it didn't bake right. Is something missing?

It was

2 cups of Gluten Free Flour

2 cups of Sugar

2 eggs

3 Tsp. baking soda

20 oz. crushed pineapple

40 minutes at 350

It didn't bake through - it's mushy.

[ArtGirl]

Did you drain the pineapple? Maybe there's too much liquid otherwise.

[JennyC]

Maybe because there was no xanthan gum or baking powder?

[kbabe1968]

I find that using baking powder works best....maybe the recipe had a misprint and it was supposed to be powder. For a pineapple cake, theres so much acid in the pineapple that you really shouldn't use baking soda, especially that much of it. Soda reacts to acid and really just kinda bubbles up too much.

I would try baking powder in those measurements and add a dash of salt. ALSO, drain and squeeze out the pineapple.

Since it's not a yeast recipe, you don't HAVE to have the xantham gum...and since the flour to sugar ratio is almost equal, you also shouldn't need it. I'd try it without first.

Gluten free baked goods DO take longer. You may also want to invest in an oven thermometer to make sure that your oven is temp'd right.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Xanthan gum helps enormously, even in recipes that don't call for yeast, hence its use in cakes, cookies, pancakes, biscuits, quickbreads, etc.

I'm puzzled by the directions for 3 teaspoons of baking soda. First of all, I've never seen such a large amount called for in a recipe. Secondly, 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon. Why would they bother with 3 teaspoons?

[irish daveyboy]

Always make sure that your oven is pre-heated to temperature before putting item

into the oven, otherwise part of the baking time is taken up bringing the oven up to

temperature, causing it to be NOT fully cooked through

Sorry for stating the obvious.

David

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Most cake recipes that I've seen require butter or oil. Could that have been left out by mistake?

[cycler]

It said to include the juice. I'm not a novice at baking and I thought that it needed some sort of oil but it was supposed to be those ingredients.

[cycler]

This is the link

https://www.celiac.com/st_prod.html?p_prodid=1466

[Fiddle-Faddle]

I think there's something wrong with the directions. Notice it said, "bake 40 minutes or until done to the touch." Then it said something about sprinkling with sugar. Then it said , "Bake at 350 for 40 minutes."

Bake twice for 40 minutes? That just doesn't make sense.

And I really think it needs both oil and xanthan gum to work.

Do we know who Diane Ebert (the contributor) is or how to contact her?

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Aha--I did a quick internet search and found this on allrecipes.com:

QUICK PINEAPPLE CAKE

INGREDIENTS

* 2 cups all-purpose flour

* 2 cups white sugar

* 2 eggs

* 2 teaspoons baking soda

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice

*

* 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

* 1/2 cup butter

* 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and baking soda. Make a well in the center and add the eggs, vanilla and crushed pineapple, with liquid from can. Mix well to blend.

3. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.

4. To make the frosting: in a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, confectioners sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Beat until creamy. Spread on warm cake.

Even more interestingly, I found this site, which has reviews of the above cake (prepared a la gluten): Open Original Shared Link

One reviewer added 1/4 oil to the recipe and said it was great. Most people loved the cake, but a few hated it.

At any rate, it looks to me like Diane Ebert simply substituted a gluten-free flour mix (that probably already contained xanthan gum) for the flour in this recipe.

Hope this helps!

[GRUMP 1]

I was going to try to make this yesterday for my birthday cake. But we all got to busy and it never got made. Kind of glad now that it looks like it would have been a flop. Sorry it did not work out for you though. I guess that is the hit and miss we all take. Some one has to try it and work out the bugs so the rest of us has an easier time. So thanks for taking the first hit at it.

Grump

[RiceGuy]

I agree that it's missing a gum. Guar or xanthan should be included. I think the baking soda and the amount thereof is fine, especially since no other rising agent is included. The acid from the pineapple will complete the required chemical combo, creating the bubbles required to get the thing to rise. Baking powder would probably not do as well, since it already has an acid in it. So there'd probably be too much acid, making it fizzle out too quickly. Also, without the liquid from the pineapple, there wouldn't be nearly enough, since the eggs aren't going to contribute much at all in that regard. Though I wonder if the amount of juice in the pineapple would always be close enough to the ideal. Seems to me that's gonna vary from one brand to the next, as well as time to time. So I'd drain the pineapple, keeping the juice, and add it carefully just to make sure.

The gum is what helps gluten-free flours contain the bubbles from the leavening, otherwise they escape, and you end up with a brick.

Not to go off topic, but...

While that amount of sugar may be ok for some folks, I personally wouldn't be able to swallow it whatsoever. Hard to imagine eating something THAT sweet . Before going gluten-free, and before avoiding sugar, I still would usually use half or less of the amount of sweetener a recipe called for. Now I use Stevia when a recipe needs a sweetener.

[alamaz]

Interesting...I made this cake last night and it came out perfect (although with the icing it is definitely SWEET SWEET). I followed the recipe to a tee and it worked in my kitchen, I used Bob's Red Mill all purpose flour and baking soda not powder. I did have mine in for about 45 mins. The top when it comes out is a little "sticky" but not raw.