The Cake Trials Near Their End

5/20/11: Vegan Layer Cake Recipe

This one came out very moist, crumbly, and rather unfamiliar texture-wise.
I brought it to work yesterday to the delight of my vegan coworkers, one of
whom is a pastry chef, so I guess the recipe is worth sharing. The idea that
inspired this recipe was that adding seltzer instead of rice milk or water
would add some lift. It didn't.

On a happier note, I finally figured out why all my cakes have a slightly bitter
taste. I've been using olive oil since we ran out of canola oil, and our olive
oil is quite flavorful and rich and wonderful, as long as you aren't using it
in a cake. Helen got a good laugh out of that when I had my epiphany last
night.


3/4 c potato starch
1/2 c brown rice flour
1/4 c sorghum flour
1/4 c millet flour
3/4 c sugar
3/4 t xanthan gum
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

1 c seltzer
1/4 c oil
1/4 c flax seed meal
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 t vinegar

bake at 350 for 33 minutes. Once it has cooled, flip it onto a cutting board
and out of the pan, slice in half, and carefully remove one half. Fill with
whatever you have on hand (jam, chocolate, whipped cream, etc) and
replace the top half.

So then it got to breakfast time, and I fried myself an egg. Now it wasn't just
any egg, but a beautiful medium brown egg from Soul Food Farms in Vacaville,
CA. I've heard tales of these eggs, but I was still amazed by how sweet and tasty
it was, and how tall it stood when I cracked it in a pan. Just look at that happy
egg yolk!



So I got to thinking, why do I try to bake vegan things anyway? And thus,
I wrote myself another recipe, with eggs and milk and butter, and voila! It
worked a charm. It had just the texture I've been trying to get all week. And
now that I have a recipe that works, I can go ahead and veganize it, if I really
want to.


Gluten Free and NOT vegan Crumb Cake

Preheat the oven to 375

3/4 c sugar
1/2 c brown rice flour
1/2 c white rice flour
1/2 c tapioca starch
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t xanthan gum

1/4 c oil (note: the olive oil actually tasted good here, more than 1/4 c would
not have)
1/2 c milk
1 egg

Mix these all together in a bowl and pour into a well oiled cake pan.
Then mix together:

1 T butter
1 T white rice flour
1/4 c sugar (brown sugar if you have it)
1 t cinnamon

My mix was a little dry so I added some milk. Crumble this mix over the
batter, and stick it in the oven for 25 minutes (I left it for 30 and it dried
out slightly too much). Enjoy warm!