Then I tried to bake a cake:
Deciding that the gluten-free flour made it a bit too dry, for my second attempt I added about an extra eighth of a cup of soymilk. As I was using canned berries, not frozen, I also added about the same amount of berry liquid. This increased the cooking time by about eleven or twelve minutes, and resulted in a half size cake. After sulking around the house for a bit, I worked out I had about three quarters of a cup of choc chips hidden in the fridge, and just enough gluten-free flour for a third try. This third attempt rose slightly, so I decided to put the two together to form a very tall cake.
By this point I had been baking for about six hours, and the bottom half was well and truly cooled, so missing the 'spread with jam when still warm' part of the recipe. I decided to just put both halves in the fridge, and that I would deal with icing in the morning.
Worried that the cake had dried out a little bit overnight, and that it wouldn't absorb the jam very well since it wasn't warm, I drizzled a little bit of the reserved berry liquid on both halves. I then proceeded as usual, though I softened the icing up a little too much, hence the messiness of the icing. I really should learn how to make a great icing.
ETA: home from A's party, and the cake turned out fantastically. It was so heavy and chocolatey, it was just like a chocolate mudcake. Some people (not vegans) referred to it as being death by chocolate. I'm so incredibly happy with how it turned out!
4 comments:
Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. . .but that last attempt looks like a great success! And just call it a glaze and you've got exactly what you set out to do! (I'd happily have a piece if there's any extra. . . ) ;)
Your cake looks amazingly good! I'm so glad it worked out and that you had so many positive comments! I also added you to my flickr as well, thanks! :)
Your cake looks delicious! (and death by chocolate? Yes please!)
My cake skills were lacking when I baked them with wheat flour and my gluten free baking has been less than stellar so I've yet to tackle a gluten free cake.
@ricki - sadly, or not so sadly because it is a testament to my skill, there was none left over. i will just have to bake it again and share it all around. :o)
@mandee: yay! thanks for adding me on flickr. I love looking at everyone's great food photos.
@vegetation: it's funny, because people commented that it was so incredibly chocolatey, but due to the mishaps each half actually used less chocolate than the recipe calls for. i think adding the berry juice helped bring out the thick chocolate flavour. And I think the key to baking gluten-free really is the extra liquid, I hadn't realised quite how dry it was until a friend (who loves eating cake so much it has to be taken away for him to stop) tried a bit of the fail cake today and refused to finish the piece he'd broken off!
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