You can make wonderful versions of almost any type of cake from Lemon Drizzle, Madeira, and Chocolate Cake or Christmas Cake using FREEE Flour.
We recommend you follow a gluten free cake recipe but if you are following your own recipes, you will probably need to add extra liquid. FREEE Self Raising Flour is ideal for everyday cake baking but you can also make delicious cakes with all types of Gluten Free Flour.
Here are a few tips to help you get the best results from your gluten free cake baking.
- Chop the baking block or butter into small cubes before adding it to the sugar
- We test our cakes using mixed size organic eggs
- Beat well after the addition of each egg to prevent curdling
- Adding a spoon of flour after each egg can help stabilise the mix if it split
- Pre-heat your oven 20 minutes before you want to bake.
- To check if your cake is cooked, press a cocktail stick into the middle and if it comes out clean it is cooked
Gluten Free Cake Troubleshooting
Even the most experienced cooks can have trouble with their bakes. Our troubleshooting guide below should help you get out of many sticky situations!
The cake mixture looks curdled
Possible Cause
- Fat was too soft
- Eggs were too cold
- Egg not beaten in sufficiently
- Over-mixing
Possible solution:
- Use room temperature eggs
- Mix in a spoon of the flour before adding in any more eggs
Top of the cooked cake is cracked
Possible Cause
- Oven too hot causing top to cook before inside has risen
- Too much raising agent
- Cake mixture too wet or too dry
- Cooked for too long
- Traditional for Madeira Cake, no action required
Possible solution:
- Lower temperature next time
- Disguise cracking with icing sugar or a topping
- Check raising agent especially in lemon cakes
Cake is sunk in the middle
Possible Cause
- Undercooked
- Oven door opened during cooking
- Mixture too wet
- Too much raising agent
Possible solution:
- Increase cooking time
- Try not to open oven door
- Reduce liquid
- Reduce raising agent
Cooked cake is crumbly
Possible Cause
Possible cause:
- Insufficient liquid in the cake
- Cooked for too long
- Gluten Free Flour is not very elastic
Possible solution:
- Add a little more liquid
- Add a pinch of FREEE Xanthan Gum next time
Dried fruit has sunk in the cake
Possible Cause
- There is syrup on the fruit
- The cake batter is too liquid
Possible solution:
- Wash and dry fruit covered in syrup
- Dust dried fruit with some of the flour from your recipe
Cooked cake is flat and heavy
Possible Cause
- The oven wasn’t hot enough
- The cake was overmixed and deflated in the oven
Possible solution:
- Pre-heat the oven 20 minutes before baking
- Fold in flour without overmixing
Cake stuck to tin
Possible Cause
- Tin not rubbed with butter or oil
- Tin surface scratched or washed in detergent
- Sugar has caramelised causing sticking
Possible solution:
- Rub tin with butter or oil before baking
- Soak tin in cold water and rinse in hot water avoiding detergent
- Replace the tin
- Ensure no excess sugar
