What is causing this nasty taste in gf cake?

[Imallergictowheat]

I'm relatively new to being wheat free as blood tests have shown an allergy to it. I've been trying lots of different gluten free foods and getting on ok with them but cake just tastes awful. I assumed it was xanthan gum or the gf flour blend but how it it that I have to throw away a slice of chocolate cake (unheard of as I love chocolate!) because of the chemical taste that hits me immediately, and yet gf pastry with both of those ingredients in it doesn't taste awful? I'm very confused!

Shop bought or homemade?

I recently keep finding a chemical taste when gf baking at home. Not sure what has changed in the flour mix.

It might be the bicarbonate of soda. Gluten free baking often uses more bicarb than
making with wheat and that can be a bit overpowering if you use a bit too
much.

there is no real substitute for wheat I’m afraid, it’s just something we have to learn to live with 🥲

I've been making the same gf baking stuff at home for years, but the last few times, they haven't risen properly and taste weird. Different packaging for the baking powder, but same brand. I might change it for a different one though and see if that makes a difference. It's possible they've changed something in it.

Ah, that is true! A teaspoon of both bicarb and baking powder in a cake I suppose is a lot. I was looking for something that I don't normally have and hadn't noticed how much more of it I used in a gf cake! Thank you

Homemade. I chucked out one cake because I couldn't stomach the taste and made a different recipe thinking I'd made a mistake in the measuring only to find that I can't stand that one either!

Honestly I just use the same cake recipe as I would use for Muggle cake and swap in GF self raising flour. I don’t change the amount of bicarb/baking powder specified in the recipe. Always turns out well.

The only thing I sometimes do is a splash of milk if the batter looks like it needs it, as GF flour absorbs more liquid.

If it was a chocolate cake, @Imallergictowheat, was it cocoa alone rather than melted chocolate and could that have given a slightly bitter taste?

I do the same, it turns out fine.

@SoScarletItWas it's more like a chemical taste than a cocoa taste. I'm realising that it's the baking powder + bicarb that's doing it.
I'll go back to my usual chocolate cake recipe then and see how that tastes with gf flour. Thank you

Good excuse for more cake!

I find normal recipes work fine for gf if they are a liquid or fruit based cake - eg carrot cake / apple cake / oil based chocolate cake as this helps with the dryness of gf cakes generally.

I can't get SR flour here, so have to add baking powder separately. It's why I thought it could be the culprit. Will also check flour in case they have added some new ingredient without mentioning it

Do you use oil in your recipe? Lots of gf recipes do and I think it adds a weird taste

Nope, no oil here.