Baking bread/cake yields different results than expected
I am trying to bake bread/cake without flour (gluten free). The friend who gave me the recipe gets a fluffy, light weight loaf, while mine tastes the same, but it is more condensed and hard even when I follow the recipe to the letter. What do I do?
This is the recipe:
(using measuring spoons)
- 6 tbs Tahini paste
- 2 tbs honey,
- 4 eggs,
- 1/2 tsp baking powder.
Lightly beat the eggs and mix well with other ingredients, pour into a lightly greased English-Cake form (long and narrow), and bake for 20 min. in a pre-heated oven at 160-180 °C. 320-356 °F.
Best Answer
Assuming this is actually a recipe that worked for your friend (it does seem pretty weird - see rumtscho's answer)...
We are both using a soup spoon, not a measured one, Yet we get different results.
That's exactly why you got different results. Your soup spoons aren't necessarily the same size.
You need to use some kind of reliable, standard measurement when baking, especially for leavening (like the baking powder), whether it's real measuring spoons, or a scale to measure by weight. If your friend can't provide you with a recipe using reliable measurements, then you won't be able to reliably reproduce it.
From your description ("condensed and hard" not "fluffy, light"), it could be that you've used less baking powder than they did, or more tahini than they did. So even if they can't give you a good recipe, you may be able to experiment on your own to find one. But if you do that, do yourself a favor, and get accurate measuring spoons or a scale.
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What are the common problem in baking?
10 Common Baking Problems and How to Fix Them- Cookies spread too much. Place cookies on a cool baking sheet. ...
- Cookies don't spread enough. Use all butter instead of shortening or margarine. ...
- Cookies are tough. ...
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- Bars baked unevenly. ...
- Bars are overbaked. ...
- Bars are gummy.
Why is my cake gummy in the middle?
It's easy to tell if a cake is under-baked: If it's high and fluffy around the edges, but fallen, dense and gummy in the centre, it needed more time. To avoid under-baking your cake, check it for doneness no sooner than 5 minutes before it's supposed to be done.What happens if you add too much flour to a cake?
If you put too much flour in, the wet ingredients will absorb the flour leaving your cake dry and crumbly. Your cake can also end up dry if you don't add enough butter or eggs. Make sure you follow the recipe correctly next time and always double check your oven temperature.Why is cake and bread different?
One of the differences between cake and bread is the leavening agent used to make the dough rise. Cakes are leavened with baking soda or baking powder, while bread uses yeast. Quick breads, which use baking powder, are not truly bread, as they tend to be sweet and have the crumbly texture of cake.Red Velvet Cake Recipe
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Answer 2
This seems to be a poorly designed recipe, or maybe something is omitted. You have absolutely no flour in it, so the baking powder doesn't get a chance to do much. It would make sense if it were a sweet souffle, but the instructions are wrong for it.
You seem to misunderstand imperial measurements, maybe you are from a part of the world which doesn't use them. You either need a measurement of the "tablespoon" size, or need to use a converter to know how much of each ingredient to actually use. For example, two tablespoons of honey are 42 grams or 29.5 ml, you have to measure that, preferably by weight. (I used http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/cooking/, but there are other converters too).
Once you've got your measurements correct, it's better to handle it like a soufflé. Beat the whites to a soft peak, beat the rest of the ingredients together, fold gently, use something rough on the walls of the pan to let it climb. Simply mixing will end up with a dense mass as you are experiencing, and it lacks either gluten or gums to be inflated by the baking powder. I have never seen baking powder work in a purely egg based mix.
Answer 3
Ok. I decided to have another go, taking into account all of your helpful remarks.
What I did was:
- Use measuring spoons for the task.
- I beat the eggs rather than just mix them in with the tahini and honey
- I used a level 1/2 tsp of baking powder
what I got is:
Then:
Slightly better result than the first time...
It smells nice, hopefully tastes nice too.
Thanks again for helping me think.
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