Coffee Cake
Here is the coffee cake I made for the Maestro's second day of school after Christmas break ended. The first day he had chocolate chip pancakes, which is not the way to enjoy a good chocolate chip, in my opinion. I have only made this once, and though it was a little dry, especially the topping. I had mine with Milk, but Riley loved it and is still talking about it. If I had to do it over again, I would add more shortening, I think.
2 1/2 c GF flour (2:1 Sorghum flour/Tapioca flour)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp xanthan gum
cut in 1/2 cup shortening
reserve 1/2 c mixture for topping
into the rest add:
2 beaten eggs
3/4 c milk
The recipe said to divide the batter between 2 8 or 9 inch round cake pans, but I went with one 8 inch square pan. Sprinkle the remaining dry topping over it, and bake in preheated 350 oven for 35 to 40 minutes.
Adapted from the All New Purity Cookbook (A Complete Book of Canadian Cooking)
You got very nice height on your coffee cake, something that's not easy to do with GF baking.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering whether your texture was soft & cakey, or whether it got a bit rubbery as it sat? The latter is a problem that I have faced when baking with more traditional GF flour formulations.
Since you seem to use a fair bit of sorghum in your baking, I'm wondering whether you, or any of your taste-testers, have noticed a tinge of bitter flavor from the sorghum flour? That seems to occur when I add sorghum -- even as only 25% of GF flour. Perhaps some brands of sorghum are better than others?
Great blog. I'm enjoying it.
I don't have a problem with things getting rubbery. I had some muffins for lunch that I allowed to thaw in a plastic bag, and they were a little mushy, but normally the inclusion of 1/3 rice flour keeps things firm.
ReplyDeleteIf I have too much xanthan gum, whatever I am making retains too much water, and the end result is a little gelatinous on the inside. I keep my xanthan gum level low to avoid that, and sometimes have things turn out crumbly instead.
None of my taste testers have complained about things being bitter. Riley admits that there is a difference between my mix and wheat, but thinks it is just a matter of what you are used to. The Maestro just turned four, so he isn't too analytical. He did describe the Artisan bread as "Yucky", but didn't have any more specific feedback for me. Most of the other people to whom I feed it routinely are celiacs who like it a lot better than rice and bean blends.
I like the addition of Tapioca starch that gives it a hint of vanilla sweetness. Today I let a curious co-worker have a bite of my muffin and he thought it tasted better than wheat.
I have used a lot of Jowar flour from the Indian grocery, and I now have a big bucket from www.twinvalleymills.com. I haven't noticed a difference between the two. You might ask Shauna. I know she uses it a lot, and probably has a different source than I do.
Well, I asked Riley about it last night, and she decided that the sorghum flavor she notices actually is a little bitter. We had never thought it was problem. Perhaps you are more sensative to bitter flavours than we are.
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing this.
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