Annalise Roberts' Chocolate Fudge Cake

[2Boys4Me]

I've tried to make the chocolate fudge cake (cupcakes) about 6 times. I have NEVER gotten them to turn out yet . I emailed the foodphilosopher.com website and Annalise herself called me with some tips. Watch the liquid to flour ratio and add more flour or decrease liquid as needed and don't overbeat the mix were her suggestions. (Frankly, I can't tell if I should be adding more flour or not, because I don't know what the batter is supposed to look like.) Anyway, for the sixth time they smell great but collapsed in the middle.

I am at high altitude (1050m or 3445ft). Would that make a difference? How do I solve the problem? They won't go to waste, we'll break them up and eat them in a bowl with ice cream, but this is starting to get on my nerves. Sometimes I don't have time to make two batches of cupcakes in a day and how do you send someone to a birthday party w/o a cupcake?

[bakingbarb]

Altitude can make a difference for sure (so can attitude but prolly not to the cakes )

I can't remember what the fix is (Longest day of my life in a long time) right now but I can look it up for you. I have some excellent baking books, I will look in the am to see if they have any extra helps for this.

[Mom23boys]

Have you checked the temp in your oven??

Minor fluctuations don't bother my regular cooking but it sure does my gluten-free cooking. I need to preheat at a higher temp and drop it down to cooking temp after I put my item in.

[kbabe1968]

My suggestions would be:

1. get a thermometer for the inside of your oven to make sure it's getting to the temperature you need.

2. If the recipe calls for baking powder add a 1/2 more (like if it's 1 tsp, make it 1 1/2 tsp) due to altitude (although, altitude adjustments usually don't need ot occur until over 5000 feet - sorry I don't know the metric conversion on that - I'm not that great at math). And see if that helps.

3. ALSO...resist the urge to check them often. If I open the oven during baking, my things fall, always! Especially if the recipe calls for a lot of eggs. They are delicate strands of protein so they fall with just MINOR temperature adjustments caused when you open the oven.

Do you have a light in your oven so you could "watch". I've gotten good about not checking until it's been the time they say to start checking on things.

Hope this helps.

[2Boys4Me]

My suggestions would be:

1. get a thermometer for the inside of your oven to make sure it's getting to the temperature you need.

Done..it's fine.

2. If the recipe calls for baking powder add a 1/2 more (like if it's 1 tsp, make it 1 1/2 tsp) due to altitude (although, altitude adjustments usually don't need ot occur until over 5000 feet - sorry I don't know the metric conversion on that - I'm not that great at math). And see if that helps.

Haven't tried that.

3. ALSO...resist the urge to check them often. If I open the oven during baking, my things fall, always! Especially if the recipe calls for a lot of eggs. They are delicate strands of protein so they fall with just MINOR temperature adjustments caused when you open the oven.

Do you have a light in your oven so you could "watch". I've gotten good about not checking until it's been the time they say to start checking on things.

I never open the door, I check with the oven light and they look great, then two or five or however many minutes later they've collapsed. The recipe (I halved it...instructions said it was possible to halve it) calls for milk and an egg blended together and then take a tablespoon out and discard it. I followed the instructions exactly. I've never made this as a cake, only cupcakes, so I'd be interested to see if it works as a cake.

Thanks everyone for your tips and if you ever try these cupcakes and get them to work let me know.

[NewGFMom]

Try adding a few minutes to the baking time. You should be able to press your finger into the cupcake and have it spring back in place. I found that the straw test does not work with gluten-free baking.