Gluten Free Baking

[grannysmithspips]

Has anybody ever been able to make a gluten free cake that doesn't sink in the middle? I am looking at my daughters birthday cake which has sunk in the middle. It will be covered in cream cheese frosting - it's a red velvet cake - so it won't matter too much but it would be nice if it has not sunk.

Daughter is coeliac and this is her favourite cake - have adapted the recipe we used before she was diagnosed. Didn't used to sink when I made it with muggle flour

Thank you

Here are the two halves

Perhaps not the most clever - when I put the batter in I put more in the middle in a sort of dome shape (so the edges around the tin are lower) then as it bakes, the higher middle part falls down, but spreads to the sides!

You could experiment with popping more raising agent in? Also not beating too much air in when incorporating eggs helps.

The Cake Angels book has great gf recipes. Never fails. You can usually get it secondhand because it's out of print

Did you add any xanthan gum? All I do is substitute gf flour and add a bit of xanthan gum and most cakes work the same as before.

Are you sure you used self-raising gf flour?
Of course sometimes 'tried and tested' cakes don't work perfectly whichever flour is used.

This gluten free caramel cake is the best textured GF cake I’ve found. It’s a lot more effort as you need to whip both the whites and yolks separately, but it’s worth it.

Which brand of gf flour are you using? I find Doves farm freee the most reliable.

Thanks for your replies everyone. I use Doves farm gf flour and I add a quarter teaspoon of Xanthum gum.

Will look for the Angel cakes book.

Here is the finished cake. Cream cheese frosting hides many things.

Have a look at Becky Excell, she has a Facebook page, her recipe books are all on Amazon. Her recipes have never failed me, they are so good.

It can be a bit hit and miss @grannysmithspips . I find that sometimes substituting some ground almonds for flour helps and also using two tins rather than one (as if making a sandwich cake.) When I make a lemon drizzle cake in one loaf tin it does sometimes sink, but 2 small tins for a sandwich cake don't. The sinking seems to happen when the cake rises too much then sinks as it cools.

I have also found that gluten free flour is very 'fine' and IMO cakes don't need as much butter (or sugar). The mixture needs to be slightly stiffer than using ordinary flour. So either increase the flour by a couple of ounces or reduce the fat/ sugar. So instead of 6oz of everything, (flour, fat, sugar) I might increase the flour a little.

https://glutenfreecuppatea.co.uk/2016/02/02/recipe-gluten-free-lemon-drizzle-cake-dairy-free/

I never have any problems with this one by Becky Excell. It uses ground almonds as well as flour. I always use a gf recipe when baking - not brave enough to convert a Muggle one!