Doubling a Recipe Does NOT Always Work

I tried making my pineapple cake today, doubling the recipe of my basic yellow cake, using the DaVince Pineapple syrup for the liquid.

Well……., the cake is delicious, but did not raise to the expected 1 1/2 inches, it only made it to 1 1/4 inch.  That 1/4 inch affected the texture a bit, making it more dense (not as light).   Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed, but I learned a valuable lesson.  Just because you were successful with one layer, doesn’t mean doubling it will get you the same result.

The layer above is the single layer recipe, and this one measured 1 1/2 inches, and had a much lighter texture.  What a difference!!

My first reaction was to go to the net for info regarding this matter.  That in itself was a blessing as I found out I was not alone.  I also found out that many factors affect the outcome of doubling the ingredients- the various weights of flour, sugars, and liquids, even eggs can affect the final product.

So…, I will simply make one layer at a time.  Of course, the present cake won’t be too hard to swallow, as I threw in a bit of coconut with the filling, and added some tinted coconut on the top for my presentation.

I have made the changes in the e-book, so you might want to check that out sometime.

The strangest thing of all that comes out of this is that the chocolate cake recipe is not affected at all.   It always raises high and gives me beautiful layers.  All I can figure out is that there has to be a chemical reaction going on between  the cocoa and the remaining ingredients.  Hummmm??????????

Always striving to improve-  J

Another Chocolate Cake?

Since updating my recipes I have been dying to try my idea for a Cinnamon Mint Chocolate cake, so today I indulged.

This cake measure slightly over 4 inches in height

What changes did I make to the original?

Bake 345 degrees for approx 30-35 minutes.
Prepare 8 inch by 2 inch high round pans with liner(parchment or wax paper.    Do not grease sides. Moisten and fold towel strips. Stretch strip around pan and pin. Set aside.

By the way,  this recipe with make two nice 9 inch layers as well.

Cake
Dry ingredients-
9 tablespoons pure cocoa powder (9)
2 cups of oat flour (Arrowhead flour = 108)
4 tsps baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
2 tsp Guar Gum
1 tsp salt
2 teaspoon of Cinnamon

1/3 cup of dry milk powder

2 cups – Splenda ( measured then pulsed to fine powder)
6 large eggs
½ cup Bestfoods Mayonaise (0)
½ cup oil(0)
4 tablespoons Sugar Free Maple Syrup (0)

1 1/3 cup  DaVince SF  Mint Patty Syrup
½ tsp vanilla

How to’s-  the cake

Turn on your oven!

Beat eggs, Splenda, syrups, mayo, oil, and powdered milk together for about 1 min.  Set aside.

Sift and measure your flour.  Return measured flour to sifter and add in other dry ingredients.  Sift again.  Place in mixing bowl.

Prepare pans ( don’t forget the towel trick)

Lastly-  make well in center of dry ingredients, pour in liquids, beat no more than one minute.

Pour equal amounts of batter in each pan and bake.

Frosting

2 cups of heavy whipped cream

1 or 2 tbsp of SF vanilla pudding mix ( I use 1 tbsp)

1 tsp of mint flavoring ( or more, depending on how minty you want your frosting)

1/2 -2/3 cup of Splenda ( measured, then pulsed to fine powder)

How to’s- the frosting

Pour about 1/2 to 2/3 cup of your cream into mixing bowl.  Add in other ingredients and stir with a spoon or spatula to blend.   Beat  on high speed until mixture begins to feel heavy.  This will be a true “butter cream.”

Enjoy!

PS – Here is a tutorial for making your own baking pan jackets.

Baking Pan Jackets

 

 

J

 

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

J’s Low Carb Chocolate Cinnamon Cake II

This version of the cake is iced with a combo of sugar free vanilla pudding, and whipped cream.  The icing can be made by adding 2 tablespoons of the pudding mix, 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/2 cup of Splenda, to 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream.  Just blend this mixture with a spatula until smooth then pour in the remaining cream from your pint carton(1 and 1/2 cups), and beat  until fluffy.

Total carb count with 2 tablespoon of mix = 12, adding 1 carb to each portion of cake.

  You can increase the amount of pudding mix to a full package if you want a heavier consistency-either way, it tastes great.

Total carb count with whole package of mix = 24, adding 2 carbs to each portion of cake.

Note **  This time, before making my cherry topping with the can of sour cherries, I actually pour off the amount of water, draining the cherries, and measured the amount.  I found that the can had about 2/3 cup of liquid.  Using 1/3 cup of the water, I stirred in 1/2 tsp of Guar gum, and 1/2 cup of Splenda, returned the drained cherries to the mix, then place it in the refrigerator to cool and set.

If after refrigerating the mixture, you find it a bit runny, don’t hesitate to stir in a bit more Guar gum, just be careful, add only 1/8th tsp at a time, stir it in an let it set in the refrigerator before attempting to add more.  The least you have to add is better.

My husband loves both versions of the cake, and stands in the kitchen waiting for the finished product.  For him, this is afternoon snack and an after dinner treat.

Poor man!!

* Tip- serve this cake at room temp.

Here is an updated version of my e-book which includes this cake recipe for 9 inch pans as well.

J’s Low Carb Recipe E-book

Happy eating!

J

A Chocolate Glaze for Your Doughnuts

I just finished a batch of my low carb doughnuts and wanted to share the recipe for the glaze.

Sugar Free Chocolate Glaze

2 ounces of Bakers unsweetened chocolate

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup Splenda

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp butter

In small glass bowl, combine broken chocolate,  and cream.  Microwave for 1 minute.  Stir gently to melt chocolate.  When chocolate is well blended, stir in sugar, butter and vanilla. Beat gently until smooth.  Let the mixture thicken a bit, stirring occasionally.  Dip your fresh doughnuts, and pull them on a wire rack to cool and set up.

* You can adjust the sugar to your taste- 1/2 cup is perfect for me, but…..it’s your choice.  The only carbs to consider are the carbs in the Bakers  chocolate, which equals 1 net carb for 1/2 ounce.  As you are using 2 ounces that would equal 4 carbs, divided among 12 doughnuts.    That would be a little over .3 carbs per doughnut.

Not bad!!!

Happy Cooking!!

J

Oat Flour Discovery

This short post is to inform you that up to this point in time I have discovered that Arrowhead Mills has the lowest net carb count per cup of oat flour.  Their finely milled oat flour boasts 18 net carbs per 1/3 cup, or 54 carb per cup.  That’s works for me!

Happy cooking!

J

One Muffin to Another

I came home from church today with Bran muffins on my mind, so starting from the recipe I developed for my “Almost Cornmeal Muffins,” I began to tweak a few of the basic ingredients and came up with this.

The recipe yields 10 small muffins, which have 6.6 carb a piece.  They are great with SF jam, or peanut butter. I also believe they would be wonderful with a ham dinner, or perhaps your Thanksgiving feast.

You could make 6 larger ones, but will have to count them at about 10 carbs each.  However, they are still much less than the originals.

You might notice that I have Guar gum in the recipe.  I use it as a binder for the dry ingredients.  I personally use Bob’s Red Mills brand of this product.

Upload recipe here. J’s Oat and Bran Muffins

J’s Low Carb e-book

I’m on a roll!!

Enjoy!

J

PS- By the way, that jam that you see is Mock Strawberry made from my green tomatoes.  Yum!

** If you are a knitter, don’t forget to check out “Creative Knitting” via the link in the left hand column of this site.