Gluten-Free New York Crumb Cake - Easy Brunch Recipe! (2024)

FAQs

Is gluten-free cake more crumbly? ›

Some gluten free flours will produce a cake which is on the dry side. This might be due to the lack of gluten but can be for many other reasons. Lots of gluten free flour is rice based and this can result in a dry and slightly gritty texture.

One of the most common gluten-free baking tips is “let your batter rest”. Letting the batter rest gives the gluten-free flours and starches more time to absorb the moisture. In theory, it will turn your dry, crumbly cakes into delicious, moist masterpieces.

Let Your Batters & Doughs Rest

We recommend covering your batters and doughs and letting them rest for at least half an hour. Note: This will also help batters become thicker and doughs to firm up.

Gluten-free oats and oat flours add texture, which works well in biscuits and breakfast muffins. Ground almonds, pistachios and hazelnuts are ideal in a blend for dense cakes, traybakes and biscuits. Polenta has a grainy texture, but is very absorbent and so brings moisture to cakes.

Add extra liquid: Gluten-free flours tend to absorb more liquid than regular flour, so you may need to add more liquid to your recipes to compensate. This can help to keep your baked goods moist and prevent them from becoming dry and crumbly.

More mixing produces a tougher colloid. As many gluten-free recipes use xanthan gum as a binder, this will indeed be a problem with overmixing. If you are using a pre-made gluten free flour, you have to read the ingredients. If these are pure starches only, you can't overmix.

Gluten-free baked goods often benefit from extra liquid to hydrate the flour blends, eliminate grittiness, and achieve a less dense or dry texture. However, it's very important to drive off this extra moisture during baking, or you'll wind up with a gummy texture. The best way to do this? Longer baking times.

It's very common for gluten free baked goods to sink in the middle and sometimes it's even gummy or looks like it isn't fully cooked. Here's some ways to help avoid that: -Don't over-mix your dough. Mix it until everything is just incorporated and be done.

If gluten-free cakes aren't falling apart, they often turn out heavy and unpleasantly dense. That's because gluten creates little pockets of air, so baked goods turn out springy and fluffy; gluten-free flours and grains are lacking this crucial element.

Gluten-free flour blends don't have the same elasticity as flour containing gluten so often the cakes don't rise as much or will sink after rising. To combat the flat cake problem, I add ½ tsp of bicarbonate of soda to the recipe even when using a self-raising gluten-free flour blend.

Why is my gluten free cake rubbery? ›

Gluten-free batters need a longer bake time.

Because gluten-free batters contain more liquid than traditional versions, they typically take longer to bake. If you remove them from the oven too soon, you may develop a gummy, mushy texture.

Gluten-Free Bread Flour can be swapped 1:1 for all-purpose flour and bread flour by both weight and volume.

Gritty texture in GF baked goods comes from not having the right balance of moisture and fats/oils to flour. Also, a coarse grind of flour or a blend of flour that contains too high a ratio of brown rice flour will contribute to coarseness.

If the gluten free flour you are using doesn't contain xanthan gum, then you'll want to include it in your list of recipe ingredients. Even more so if you're making cake, muffins, bread and pizza crust, as these recipes typically rely on the structure gluten provides.

Ultimately, the toothpick test is just one data source to rely upon: with the trio—toothpick, edges, & centre—you can reliably know your gluten-free baked goods are, well, baked! If your toothpick comes out with wet batter on it, your cake definitely needs more time.

Your cake may not have enough structure due to using only one type of gluten-free flour. I recommend using a combination of gluten-free flours and starches to create a strong structure for your cake. I would also suggest to review what your egg replacer you're using.

Other dry ingredients that can make your cake too crumbly include things like cocoa powder and sugar. Note: sugar is sometimes considered a wet ingredient, but for cakes we treat it as a dry ingredient). Cocoa powder absorbs a lot of moisture from your cake – even more than flour.

Gluten-free flours often contain fine starches, so they absorb more liquid than conventional flour. To address this, gluten-free recipes usually call for more liquid and produce looser batters. They may also call for a larger quantity of leavening, like baking powder, to help add volume and lighten the texture.

Texture Differences

Gluten-Free cakes do not have the same texture as regular and vegan cakes; this is due to the different flour they use in these cakes. Usually, gluten-free cakes struggle with having the right texture, but the innovation of many bakers has solved this problem.