Strange Cakes

[outofpractice]

Question for someone who makes cakes without a recipe. I have got some weird recipes for cakes, eg containing lettuce, and have been experimenting on my own as well. What are the outer limits of the ratios for flour to sugar to eggs? I can't get organic sugar easily so sometimes I am trying to substitute maple syrup or honey or sweet fruit such as raisins/ dates. How do you estimate correct proportions of sugar substitutes? Some recipes are egg free and seem to add vinegar instead. Is this an egg substitute? Does it have to be white wine vinegar? If you want to add in things like oats, does it mean you then need to reduce the amount of flour? Finally, when the cake goes wild and spills out of the cake tin, is this because of adding too much baking powder, or because of letting the cake sit around after adding baking powder, before putting in oven?

WHOOOOOOOSH

That was your questions going right over my head!

Please tell me more about the cake with lettuce in it??!!

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Same wave-length as me Dadslib!

M2T, the cake with lettuce has prompted this because it has come out very savoury because I had run out of sugar. It contains shredded lettuce which is supposed to be an optional extra in a walnut loaf. It is like a dream, isn't it, all the brownie points for eating loads of lettuce (but does being in the oven destroy folic acid?) but actually eating a cake! No, dadslib, I am not gay, but why do you think that gay people are more interested in cake baking?

I thought "fruitcake" was a euphemism for "nutty", as in, "nutty as a fruitcake"

Don't know about the lettuce or vinegar bits, but letting the cake sit around would make it flop, not overflow. If you use a 'wet' sweetener, then you generally need to add more 'dry' ingredients in order to keep the spongey texture. Likewise, if you add more dry ingredients, like oats, then you do need to reduce the amount of flour. I like to do a bog-standard sponge, but instead of just flour I use 1/4 flour, 1/4 oatflakes, 1/4 cocoa powder, 1/4 potato flour. Can't remember the outer limits, but generally the 1 egg to 2oz each of everything else recipes are quite flexible.

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Eh..... DL didn't mention anything about being Gay!

There has been a huge misunderstanding! He was trying to be funny..... where I come from we use the term Fruitcake to describe someone who is MAAAAAAD as a hatter!

I love Mumnset and its misinterpretations!

isn't that what I said?

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I thought fruitcake = mad, fruit = gay?

Tissy - I missed your message....sorry.

That's OK M2T, thought I was invisible for a while there!!

anyone who looks at this thead definately isn't thinking of a lettuce cake

Re the vinegar, yes it can be used as a raising agent instead of eggs. Any kind will do. I posted a recipe on a previous thread for Norfolk Vinegar cake. If you do a search it should come up.
As for the cake going wild, I'd think that was because the tin is too small, or the proportions wrong in some way.
Very interested in the lettuce cake recipe btw!

I make cakes without eggs because DS is allergic and vinegar rocks, although I use the no egg egg substitute powder as well for extra fluffiness. Feels weird putting vinegar in a cake, but at least me mum will finally be able to have vinegar on her chips at our house. Recommend white vinegar.

Thank you for your advice, cake experts! Really useful and interesting. Will post the lettuce recipe when I have more time. Oddly enough, as I didn't like it, the cake is still in a tin in fridge and improving with age!