Gluten-free flours 9.30.12

I went through all of my flours in the pantry and tasted them.

Potato Starch
taste: mild potato
grain: fine

Tapioca Flour
taste: bland
grain: fine

Sweet Rice Flour
taste: mild rice
grain: small fine

White Rice Flour
taste: moderate rice
grain: large fine

Brown Rice Flour
taste: moderate and hearty rice
grain: small coarse

Soy Flour
taste: strong soy
grain: coarse; glutinous

Almond Meal
taste: delicious almond
grain: large coarse

Sorghum Flour
taste: a little nutty, slightly sharp
grain:  coarse

Oat Flour
taste: mild oat
grain: small coarse

Amaranth Flour
taste: grassy
grain: small coarse

Flax seeds
taste: mild nutty
grain: large coarse

Chia seeds
taste: mild
grain: large coarse

Cornstarch
taste: mild
grain: small fine

xantham gum
taste: plastic
grain: fine, glutinous

whey powder
taste: sharp strong, cheese
grain: small coarse; slightly glutinous

vanilla whey powder
taste: sharp, raw vanilla, sharp whey
grain: large fine

corn meal
taste: popcorn
grain: large coarse



Wheat flours 
The wheat flours have a light planty flavour

Cake flour (wheat)
taste: mild
grain: fine glutinous

AP flour (wheat)
taste: slightly, sharp
grain: large fine

Bread flour (wheat)
taste: sharp -but not like soy
grain: large fine

Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
taste: slightly, sharp mild
grain: large coarse

Whole Wheat Flour
taste: good, like whole wheat bread
grain: large coarse

Fluff Angel Food Cupcakes VII 9.27.12

Fluff Angel Food Cupcakes

3 oz cake flour
1 oz sweet rice flour
6 oz sugar
4.5 oz fluff
14.4 oz egg whites
1.5 t lemon juice
0.25 t salt
1.5 t vanilla
0.5 t almond extract

Method: Sift half sugar with flours.  Beat egg whites until foamy.  Add lemon and salt; beat until almost soft peaks.  Add remaining sugar until soft peaks. Mix quarter of egg foam with fluff.  Stir in flavors.  Fold in flour mixture.  Fill free standing cupcake liners almost to top.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 mins.  Tops should be medium golden.

(Can also try in a muffin pan.)

These came out fabulously.  They taste great and have excellent texture.  The sorghum flour was a bit too coarse for this delicate cake, but the sweet rice flour was perfect.  The cakes did not shrink too much after they were cooled.  Here's the cupcakes right out of the oven.

Here are the cupcakes after they are cooled.

I may try them in a muffin pan next time.  I tried to fill them as well.  They cored easily enough, but the filling is heavy and handling the cupcake (even taking it out of the wrapper) causes the cake to lose some of it's fluff.  The sides become compacted and the airy soft interior is lost.  So I think these just need a dollop of strawberry fluff frosting, and they are ready to go.

Fluff Angel Food Whoopies

Fluff Angel Food Cake
3 oz cake flour
1 oz sorghum flour
6.3 oz sugar
4.2 oz fluff
14.4 oz egg whites
1.5 t lemon juice
0.25 t salt
1.5 t vanilla
0.5 t almond extract


Sift half sugar with flours.  Beat egg whites until foamy.  Add lemon and salt; beat until almost soft peaks. Add sugar and beat until soft peaks. Mix quarter of egg foam with fluff, or enough to fold in with remaining egg foam.  Stir in flavors.  Fold in flour mixture.

For whoopie pies, fill free standing cupcake liners to the top.

They were so fluffy, so delicious.  They tasted great. They were supposed to be cupcakes, but they spread out in the liners so much they are now the perfect shape and thickness for whoopie pies.  The only problem is that they are very sticky, so they would be hard to handle as a whoopie.  ....but maybe with some strawberry buttercream.  

Next time I'll try these in a muffin tin.  Hopefully, they won't shrink too much.  But perhaps whoopie pie is the perfect thing for these cakes since they are so delicate.  

The texture was slightly more open than the previous cupcakes, but they were not soggy at all.  I hope these will work either as free standing in foil liners, or in muffin tins.  

Fluff Angel Food Cake 9.25.12

Fluff Angel Food Cake
3 oz cake flour
5.25 oz sugar
5.25 oz fluff
14.4 oz egg whites
1.5 t lemon juice
0.25 t salt
1.5 t vanilla
0.5 t almond

Sift half sugar with flour.  Beat egg whites until foamy. Add lemon and salt; beat until almost soft peaks.  Add sugar and beat until soft peaks.  Stir in flavors.  Stir a quarter of the egg foam with fluff.  Fold fluff into egg foam.  Fold flour mix into egg foam.

They still shrink back a lot from the pan.

The inside is a little soggy.  Maybe I could add something to soak up the moisture, but add flavor.  hmm...rice flour, dried egg whites, cake flour, amaranth or sorghum flour?

I also tried unsupported liners, but these didn't work so well.  If I try standard size baking cups, I think it will look marvelous.

White Butter Cake 9.23.12

Wow, delicious-smelling melt-in-your-mouth white buttery cake. I might even describe this cake as dense and rich.

White Butter Cake

5 oz egg whites
3/4 cup whole milk
2 1/4 t vanilla extract (9 grams)
11 oz cake flour (use 10 oz for a more moist cake - careful batter may look curdled)
12 oz sugar
1 T plus 1 t baking powder (19.5 grams)
3/4 t salt (5 grams)
6 oz unsalted butter, cut into cubes

Combine and stir the egg whites, one third of the milk, and the vanilla. Set aside.Mix dry ingredients on low speed.  Add the butter and remaining milk.  Mix until moist, then mix on medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes.
Add the egg mixture in 3 separate batches; beat on medium speed for 20 seconds after each addition.  Bake at 350°F.

It's kind of ironic that I'm calling this a white cake since it uses only egg whites, but the butter and flavoring makes this a very yellow tinged cake.

King Arthur Tender White Cake 9.21.12

A simple white cake, well balanced.  One might say a kind of boring, dry cake.

2 3/4 c Cake Flour
1 2/3 c sugar; superfine is best
1 T baking pwdr
3/4 t salt
3/4 c butter
4 large egg whites plus 1 whole large egg
1 c full-fat vanilla yogurt or
  1 c whole milk
2 t vanilla
1 t almond extract

I decided to fill and decorate these.  Filled with strawberry puree.  Frosted with strawberry buttercream and topped with a glazed strawberry.

Chocolate Pudding 9.20.12

I used chocolate this time, not cocoa powder. I stirred in some butter at the end as well.

1 egg yolk
1/4 c sugar
1 1/2 T cornstarch
1 1/2 c milk (I used skim)
2.5 oz bittersweet chocolate
smidgen salt
1/2 t vanilla

The pudding was good.  A little sweet, but well balanced.

I still have chunky pudding.  I think I burn the milk on the bottom of the pan. :(

Fluff Angel Food Cupcakes 9.20.12

I reformulated this recipe trying to use a lot less sugar.  The cupcakes were noticeably less soggy, but still shrank a lot.

Fluff Angel Food Cucpakes
1.5 oz    cake flour
1.5 oz    bread flour
3.25 oz  sugar
9.25 oz  Fluff
10.4 oz  egg whites
1.5 t      lemon juice
0.25 t    salt
0.5 t       vanilla
1.5 t      almond extract

I tried some different methods here.  The cupcakes without liners shrunk off the bottom of the pan.  They had great texture (small grained and very moist), but were too soggy.  I'm beginning to believe this is from the Fluff which liquefies during baking.  Also, it was difficult to depan these without mangling the cake.

I also tried adding (cornstarch to the flours.  The cake was not as moist.

I tried mixing in a cornstarch gel (4 tsp in 1/3 c water), but the cake did not rise very well at all.  The cake did not taste as good either.

I also tried adding xantham gum to the dry ingredients.  This cake had poor flavour as well.

Eastern Lamejun Bakers 9.20.12

Eastern Lamejun Bakers, 145 Belmont St, Belmont, MA

Date Cookies 
12 pcs. Dates, flour, butter, milk, b.p. baking soda, orange juice, corn oil, walnuts

I also see sesame seeds on top.

Pitachio Cookies
Flour, Sugar,butter, eggs, b.p. vanilla, pistachio

Fluff Angel Food Cupcakes 9.19.12

I tried increasing the flour this time.


Fluff Angel Food Cucpakes
1.5 oz  cake flour
3 oz     bread flour
7 oz     sugar
7.2 oz  Fluff
9.6 oz  egg whites
1.5 t     lemon juice
0.25 t   salt
0.5 t     vanilla
1.5 t     almond extract

Tried spraying the pan with grease before lining the pan.  I also tried foil liners.  But I think I may need to forgo the liners all together.

Also, the crumb was not as tight and soft as last time.

Fluff Angel Food Cupcakes 9.18.12

Round 2.  Here I've kept some of the egg whites in the recipe.

Fluff Angel Food Cucpakes
1.5 oz  cake flour
1.5 oz  bread flour
7 oz     sugar
7.2 oz  Fluff
9.6 oz  egg whites
1.5 t    lemon juice
0.25 t  salt
0.5 t    vanilla
1.5 t    almond extract

I beat in the fluff with the egg whites.  The cupcakes lost some of their volume after baking.  I only baked them 11 minutes at 350.  They were also extremely moist, almost soggy.  So first I will try increasing the flour.  If they are still soggy (and sweet), I can reduce the sugar (probably, especially the sugar that is mixed with the flours). They also needed to be baked more.  They are a little too pale on the tops.

The crumb was perfect, so I am very excited about that.  A tight crumb, light and airy, soft and tender.  Almost looks light tightly crumbed white bread.

It is very strange what these cupcakes did.  When the baked they rose away from the bottom of the paper cupcake liner.  So the bottom third of each cupcake is hollow inside the paper.  I'm not quite sure how this is due to the recipe-air bubbles (because it happened to all of them), so I'm going to try some nonstick spray underneath the liners, so they stick to the pan better and no air gets trapped under the paper.  Foil liners might also be worth a try.

Fruit Glaze 9.17.12

I'm looking for a homemade fruit glaze to dip my (possibly fanned) fresh strawberry garnish in.

Strawberry Glaze
1 c sweetened strawberry juice
2 T cornstarch
2 T corn syrup

Boil half of juice.  Dissolve cornstarch in remaining juice. Add dornstarch mixture to the boiling juice and stir until thick.  Stir in corn syrup and bring back to boil.  Cool and drizzle.

Nice, shiny strawberry!  The glaze looked great going on, but was too thin and ran off the strawberry in a few hours.  Perhaps this glaze was meant more like a sauce.  I'll need to thicken the glaze next time so that it firms up when it cools.  The glaze was also too sweet.  Hopefully, the less sweet macerated strawberries will fix this, but if not I can add water to the juice.  

Here's the original fruit glaze recipe:

Fruit Glaze

1/2 c sugar

2 T cornstarch

1 c fruit juice

2 T corn syrup

Strawberry Pudding 9.17.12

I needed to do something with all this leftover strawberry juice, so I tried to make strawberry pudding.  It doesn't really even sound very appetizing.

Strawberry Pudding

1 egg yolk (5/8 oz)
2T sugar
1 1/2 T cornstarch
1 c milk (I used skim)
1/2 c sweetened strawberry juice
1/2 t vanilla

Blend cornstarch and 1.5 oz cold milk.  Blend egg yolk and sugar carefully.  Add yolk mixture to cornstarch mixture.  Boil remaining milk and juice, then temper with egg mixture.  Combine all liquids over the stove and heat until thick.  Stir in vanilla and cool.

Strawberries and eggs, yuck!  I'm going to stick to strawberry mousse.

Fluff Silver White Cake 9.17.12

Much improved, this cake still needs more leavening and structure, that I took away by using Fluff.  It's interesting that substituting Fluff is similar to gluten-free baking.  Replacing eggs in the Fluff recipes loses structure, while in gluten-free batters structure is lost due to gluten removed.  Also, eggs add leavening, usually when they are whipped up.  Leavening can also have trouble in gluten-free mixes as the batters do not have structure to hold air.

Fluff Silver White Cake

6.6 oz   Fluff

10 oz    cake flour

6 oz      sugar

3 1/2 t  baking pwdr

1 t        salt

4 oz     butter

8 oz     milk

2.2 oz  egg whites

1 t       almond extract

Cream butter and half sugar. Blend dry and wet ingredients separately. Add wet and dry mixtures, alternating into the creamed butter. Whip egg whites separately with other half of sugar and salt, then add fluff.  Fold egg whites into butter mixture.

If I add fluff at the beginning of beating the whites, will the whites still aerate?

These look better, although they are very flat on the top.  I'd like a little more leavining next time.

The cake is super crumbly; there is barely enough structure.

Crumb is pretty moist and light.  Flavor is pretty good. Tastes like almond white cake.

I think I prefer the angel food cake, which is also related to Fluff, so I'm going to stop developing this recipe.

Fluff Silver White Cake 9.16.12

After seeing a dense angel food cake and a dry tea cake come out of the oven, I thought maybe I need to try a conventional white cake.

Fluff Silver White Cake
14.4 oz    Fluff
10 oz       cake flour
0.7 oz      sugar
3 1/2 t      baking powder
1 t            salt
4 oz         shortening
8 oz         milk
1 t           vanilla
1T           xantham gum
1 t           almond extract

Original recipe called for a two stage mixing method.  I made something up here that seemed to make sense. Cream shortening and sugar.  Blend all dry ingredients and wet ingredients, separately.  Add wet and dry mixtures, alternating.  Blend in the Fluff last.

This was one of the most disgusting cakes I've ever had in my life.  I added way too much xantham gum, which made the cake so rubbery and dense.  Yuck!  

The batter was so thick and gummy, like a bread dough.  You can see the cupcakes still held the shape of the batter.

So dense and gummy!

Fluff almond genoise 9.14.12

This recipe was for an almond genoise.  I used fluff in the recipe.  Again, not really enough structure, so next time I would use part bread flour or add some xantham gum maybe.

Fluff almond genoise

Fluff 27 oz
egg whites 3.3 oz
yolks 11.6 oz
vanilla 0.25 (2t)
cake flour 12 oz
almond flour 14 oz

Whip eggs and fluff over a hot water bath until light and thick (110 degrees).  Stir in vanilla.  Fold in the sifted flours.

Dense crumb with lots of texture.  Tastes like an almond tea cake!  A little on the dry side, so maybe serve with a dollop of whipped cream.  Yum!

Fluff Strawberry Seven Minute Frosting 9.14.12

I tried this frosting to compare to the buttercream.  I don't feel the seven minute frosting was as successful as the buttercream.  I was very loose; I'm sure I would worry about it falling off the cupcakes when frosting.  It was slightly firmer than fluff.  It also had a sticky, honey like (Fluff like, you could say) texture.

Besides the consistency, I didn't like the flavor.  It was sharply sweet, like Fluff.

I think I appreciate more the Fluff flavor, than the frosting actually seeming like Fluff on a cupcake. The buttercream had a great Fluff flavor, but also a fresh strawberry flavor and the consistency of a buttercream.

Fluff Strawberry Seven Minute Frosting
2 oz   Fluff (0.5 c)
1 ea   egg white
2 7/8 oz   sugar
3 drops    lemon juice
1/16 t       salt
3T      sweetened strawberry juice
1/2 t   vanilla

Combine all ingredients, except strawberry juice and vanilla over a hot water bath.  Beat until soft peaks form. Remove from heat and continue beating until stiff. Beat in strawbery juice and vanilla.  

Fluff Strawberry Buttercream 9.14.12

I love this buttercream.  It is so delicious.  I'm so happy I don't have to work on the buttercream anymore, because this was perfect on the first try.

No picture yet, because I'm waiting to develop the perfect cupcake to frost.

Fluff Strawberry Buttercream

4 oz    Fluff
4 oz    butter
1 oz    organic powdered sugar (contains tapioca starch)
0.5 t    vanilla
1.5 oz (3T)   sweetened strawberry juice

Whip butter, then add Fluff.  Blend in vanilla and strawberry juice.  Add powdered sugar for taste (sweetness) and consistency.

I would try adding more strawberry juice next time for even more strawberry flavor.  Try 2 oz (1/4 c).  I'd prefer not to use powdered sugar at all.  I don't like the cornstarch taste in conventional powdered sugar, so I'm thinking I could try the organic version.  But I've never tasted that either, so maybe I won't like the taste of tapioca starch either.  For sweetness, I could add sugar to the strawberry juice and dissolve the sugar by heating the juice slightly.  However, I'm not sure if consistency would become a problem; I might need to add powdered sugar anyway.  

Sweetened strawberry juice
16 oz    strawberries, sliced (1 pt)
4 oz      sugar
0.5        lemon juice

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate for 12 hours, stirring once during refrigeration.  After maceration, mash strawberries (I use a potato masher) and strain the mixture resulting in sweetened strawberry juice and strawberry puree.  Save puree and refrigerate to later use to fill the cupcakes.

Fluff Angel Food Cake 9.13.12

I tried to replace (some of) the egg whites and sugar in this angel food cake with fluff.  I think I lost a lot of the structure, since the cakes collapsed during baking.  I may try using part bread flour next time, or adding some xantham gum.

Fluff Angel Food Cake
fluff 48 oz
egg white 16 oz
lemon juice 1 1/2 t
salt 1 t
vanilla 2 t
almond extract 1 t
cake flour 12 oz

Whip egg whites until foamy.  Add lemon and salt.  Whip until stiff.  Blend in fluff and vanilla.  Fold in the sifted flour.

The cake came out too dense from all that shrinking.  :(  Flavor was pretty phenomenal, though.  Nice Fluffy marshmallowy taste.

Icing Animalooza! 9.10.12

Day 10
Donkey

Happy Donkey

Minty Chocolate Chews 9.12.12

I finally measured out my mint.

10g fresh mint
2 oz light corn syrup
4 oz semisweet chocolate
1/4 t warm water

I left the minty corn syrup in the fridge overnight, and I think either the sugar crystalized strangely or the syrup got moldy because after demolding the chocolates they look moldy.  It could also mean I need to cool the chocolate quicker or store the candy in the fridge.  But considering the nature of the ingredients, as with most candy, these should be fine at room temp.  So I blame trying to make these over two days. From now on I'll do it all in one day.

I do really like the new molds, though.  And I found paper cups that fit these candies well.  (Wilton candy cups, 1 in diameter)

Treat Cupcake Bar 9.10.12

Treat Cupcake Bar, 1450 Highland Ave, Needham, MA

I stumbled on Treat's cupcake kiosk at the Natick Mall.  The Treat store is in Needham.  I think I may need to experience making my own cupcake at the cupcake bar.  Until then, I'm just glad I got to try some of these yummy cupcakes.

Two large cupcakes come in a nice box.

Half moon cupcake (right)
Marble Cake/Cream Cheese Frosting/Ganache
Gluten-free chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting (left)

Half moon cupcake (left) and gluten-free chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting (right).  Turns out the gluten-free cake was not as yummy as the marble cake.  The marble cake was moister and had a velvety feel in my mouth.  You can see the GF cake has a tighter crumb and darker color. The flavor was good, but nothing special.  I do really love the frosting to cake ratio.  It was perfect.

Notice these are very large cupcakes, which helps that frosting:cake ratio.  Here's one of the cupcakes pictured next to a standard size baking cup.  The treat cupcake looks jumbo sized!