Oh What Elevation Can Do!!!

I recently went to my friend’s house at an elevation of 3100 ft.  I bake my pineapple cake in her oven.  Wow!  I was the nicest cake I have ever baked, including those baked with white flour and real sugar.    The layers were over 1 1/2 inches high and the texture was much lighter than the one I baked in my oven.  So, I am back to experimenting with the basic yellow oat flour cake.  It stands to reason that if the rule of thumb for higher elevations is to decrease the leavening in the recipe, then the reverse must be true for us folks down in the valley.  *See my post on leavening oat flour.

I will let you know what I find out when my new oat flour arrives.

My Cinnamon Chocolate cake always comes out great at my elevation, so some chemical reaction is happening that needs to be altered for a lighter texture in the yellow cake version.

Cocoa and Flour Substitutions _ How to Substitute Cocoa for Flour _ Flour for Cocoa

Check out the pdf above.  I thought this was interesting info, and perhaps will help in our further cake exploits.

My friends think this version with the bananas is to die for.  I added an extra 1/2 tsp of baking powder to the original recipe per instructed by the info I previously posted.  I made the vanilla whipped cream frosting, and dipped my banana slices in orange juice, then drained them in a colander.   It was perfect. Yummmm!!!

I am no Guru on this issue, just sharing my experience.  I always have to remember that I am dealing with two issues-

1)  a flour that has no gluten

2) a substitute sugar that needs special handling

Till next time-

J

Waste Not! Want Not!

In today’s world as everything is getting so expensive, those of us who want to “follow our passion,” need to find ways to cut cost where we can.  Eating low carb is not cheap!

As I was baking my Cinnamon Chocolate cake this morning, I noticed that I have started to use more wax paper instead of parchment.  I also found myself using the two pieces of wax paper to line my pans to sift my dry ingredients on.  After sifting my flour onto one piece, I place the sifter on the other and pour my measured flour into it.   Having the measured flour in the sifter, I add the other dry ingredients except the sugar.  The next step is to sift all the ingredients together, then place them in a mixing bowl.

Now the two pieces of waxed paper are free to be used to line my pans, and my counter is clean.  🙂

I know it is a little thing, but sometimes all the “little” things add up to a big bill.

Two more things-

1) I also noticed this morning that I always use extra large eggs.  Having done this for years I didn’t even think about it when I wrote my recipes.  I will add this note to the recipe e-book  “baking tips.”

I do apologize for the oversight.

2)  With the info about leavening agent I posted, I add another 1/2 tsp of baking powder to the recipe.  My previous layers have turned out just fine, but we will see what happens.

I just took them out of the oven.  They  both are slightly over 1 1/2 inches high, so don’t be afraid to add a bit more.  I have updated the recipes in my e-book, and included the egg info as well.

J

PS- I am filling this cake with bananas and whipped cream.  Yummm!

I know – a few more carbs, but who’s counting?

Oat Flour vs Wheat

I have been perusing the web for all the information I can get on how to work with oat flour as my main ingredient.  One of the best sites I have come across so far is “Living Strong.”

What is so neat about it is that it gives you some general guidelines for leavening the flour with baking powder, and yeast.  With this information it makes it much easier to alter your current favorite recipes.  Here is another link from King Arthur that gives you info on using baking powder and soda.

Now, you couple that with the info on the Splenda site about baking, and you at least have a little bit of an understanding of how to go about creating your own great recipes.

Just thought I’d share-

J

PS :  Check it out the links.  I did, and now I am revisiting some of my own creations to see if I am in the ball park.

Don’t forget to checkout the e-book recipes for the latest updates.

The Perfect Layer

As you know, as one who is always striving for perfection, I tried the alterations mentioned in the last post when making my Cinnamon Chocolate cake.  I have updated the changes in my e-book (just click on the tab above) so you can try it too.

The cake layer you see in the picture is in a 8 by 2 inch round pan.  I used wax paper in the bottom, and surrounded the pan with my towel on the sides, baking it at 345 degrees for 30 minutes.   I also mix the Splenda in with the liquid ingredients to further insure that it was dissolved.  You can see that the cake  raised beautifully, and there is no mountain in the middle.  I seriously don’t think that I can do any better than this.  At least for me, it is time to stop dink’n around.

The depth of the layers are about 1 1/2 inches, making a perfectly acceptable cake for a great presentation.  Look’s is everything, you know!  🙂

I hope you with try the recipe.

Both cakes, the yellow (pineapple version) and the chocolate have gotten rave reviews from my family.  No one can believe that they are low carb.

By the way, I think I will add a bit of cinnamon to my chocolate whipped cream frosting when I put it together this afternoon.

Happy Baking!

I added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to the whipped cream frosting, and sprinkled a bit more on the top.  Yum…….!

This recipe would work just fine in 9 inch pans, although it would be slightly less in thickness- but it’s the taste that counts.

I also think that next time I might try adding some mint extract in the cake and icing, as chocolate and mint go so…. good together.

J

What a Temp Change can Do

Last post I share the “towel wrap” trick.  I also told you that I baked the cake at 340 degrees for about 40 minutes.  This time I tried baking the same recipe (single layer) at 345 degrees, for 30 minutes- the difference was very evident, cracks.

However, these are definitely crack you can live with, as they are not more than a 16th of an inch deep.

I did not grease or flour the sides of the pan, as I have found that the recipes I make with Splenda and lots of eggs raise better just using a parchment insert.   Since this pan is 2 inches in depth, you can see that the cake rose nicely.

Here is a side view of the layer.  It baked very even.  You can also see that the few drops of yellow food coloring took care of the “oat flour” color quite nicely.  They’ll never know!  🙂

J

PS-Today I have made a peach filling, and will combine it with the Citrus whipped cream frosting.  Yummmmmm!!!!!  I can’t wait to get into it.

Here is the one layer version to practice with.

One layer version of Pineapple Cake

Pineapple Cake Update

As always I am constantly striving to improve my baking skills, so I tried a couple of things using  half of this recipe.  The minor ingredient amount changes  are in my recipe book page on this website.

The biggest discovery and great results came as I tried baking my single layer, surrounded by a towel strip that I pinned around the sides of the pan.  Not only did it eliminate the cracking, but also took care of the bulging in the middle.

The crumb of the cake was excellent, it was moist, and  baked evenly throughout.

I also baked this cake at 340.  Next time I will up it to 345 and see if it makes a difference.  I will let you know.

Below is the website that explains it a bit better.  Take the time to look it up.  It really works.

Baking an even cake!

Happy baking!

J