Cake Question

[cattriona]

Has anyone got any tips or ingredients they use to help gluten-free cakes bind together and/or not sink? Thanks

[celiac-mommy]

I've never had a cake sink, but I have had it fall apart. If you're baking from scratch, make sure and add xanthan gum and maybe an extra egg if the xanthan gum isn't enough for you. For the sinking part, you might be over mixing. gluten-free baking seems to involve as little mixing/stirring as possible to get the ingredients incorporated.

[Wonka]

Has anyone got any tips or ingredients they use to help gluten-free cakes bind together and/or not sink? Thanks

I find that gluten free cakes take longer to cook than regular cakes and will sink if not completely cooked through. They also need to cool in the pan for a while before being removed or they will fall apart (I learned this the hard way). Baking is a real art and unlike regular cooking needs to measured accurately. This is one time that winging it doesn't usually work well.

I have a great chocolate cake recipe and an orange chiffon cake recipe that never fails. Let me know if you'd like the recipes.

[Darn210]

I haven't had problems with cakes . . . only bread

Allrecipes.com and recipezaar.com have a great gluten free yellow cake recipe (same recipe at both sites) which uses rice flour and tapioca starch. Get your white rice flour at an asian market, it will be a finer grind and gives you a better cake. If you read through the comments on allrecipes.com, some people share how they have turned it into a chocolate cake. If you make cupcakes out of it, they freeze well (uniced).

The only binders in the recipe are xanthan gum and eggs.