Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Cake - Rhian's Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Why do gluten-free cakes not rise? ›

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.

2 teaspoons of baking powder per cup of gluten-free flour is necessary to ensure proper leavening. Baking soda and buttermilk can be used to leaven instead of baking powder, but 1-1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar should be added for each 1/2 teaspoon baking soda used.

CAKE NOT RISING

This can be caused by a few things already mentioned such as using the wrong egg replacer or over mixing. I always recommend using fresh raising agents. Generally, baking soda and baking powder only stay active for 3 months after opening.

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.

Oat Flour. With its creamy, earthy flavor and delicate texture, gluten-free oat flour is a staple of my gluten-free baking recipes. It bakes up soft and smooth, adding necessary starch to many GF baked goods and keeping them moist and tender due to its high fat content and stable protein structure.

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.

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.

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.

Vinegar works a little bit differently from flax and chia; it reacts with the baking soda in the recipe to create extra lift, resulting in the lightest, fluffiest vegan chocolate cake you'll ever have. And no, you won't taste the vinegar—it simply enhances the overall flavour of the cake without distracting from it.

Why are vegan cakes so dry? ›

Lack of Eggs: Eggs provide structure, moisture, and leavening in traditional cakes. Vegan cakes typically replace eggs with alternatives like flax eggs, applesauce, or mashed bananas, which may not provide the same lightness and binding properties.

Why does an eggless cake turn bitter? (It is mostly the overuse of baking powder/soda, but it has happened twice, even after reducing the baking powder.) Yes , usually its because of baking soda , but if you are making a chocolate cake and using cocoa powder , excess of same could cause the bitterness to occur.

However, you can actually mix a batter containing xanthan and/or guar gum to a point of diminishing returns. You can overwork the gums and end up with a stringy cake batter or rubbery cookie dough. (Having said that, doing this takes some work. Just don't take your aggressions out on a gluten-free cake batter.)

The Cake Is Gritty:

If your cake turned out gritty, you used a gluten free flour blend that isn't milled as finely. Usually, rice flour is the main culprit of gritty gluten free cake.

Xanthan gum (along with other thickeners like guar gum and arrowroot) acts like a binder in gluten-free baked goods to maintain their structure. Without it, there's a good chance that your brownies or muffin will crumble and fall apart.

You have to have the correct balance of structure (gum or other binder) and liquid. To troubleshoot gluten free dough with too much binder, add more water or other liquid and allow it to rise again. If your dough doesn't rise enough, you can also add additional yeast the next time you make it.

An easy way to create a good environment for gluten-free bread to rise is to turn your oven to 200 F; when it reaches this temperature, turn off the oven and place a shallow baking pan partially filled with hot water on one of the shelves.

Gluten-free baking is a lot harder than traditional baking because gluten protein is what gives baked goods their structure. Bread without gluten or any gluten substitute will be thick and crumbly when it comes out of the oven.

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.