There is a saying 'Why change something when you know it works?' But then again why not? There was nothing wrong with Betty Saw's 'Never Fail Pandan Cake Recipe'. My only concern about it is that it is quite heavily laden with sugar!!! 300g is quite a lot in my opinion.Well if you limit yourself to just one piece a day it may not be that bad for you but try telling that to a 3 year old! There has to be a way round this. My ultimate aim after all was to try to give D a gluten-sugar-diary free diet as much as possible. Would the recipe work if I replace sugar with stevia blend and self raising flour with a gluten free version?
I did a search on the web and found that it was possible to make chiffon cake with gluten free flour if xanthum gum was added to the mixture. It was also possible to make it with stevia in combination with cane sugar (in this case a reduced amount of sugar was used). However I have not found a combination for a sugar free/gluten free version. Was it possible to create one?
Baking is pretty much a science like chemistry and to substitute ingredients we need to understand what part it plays in the baking process. From what I've read sugar does not only sweeten but also adds bulk and volume. Chiffon cakes depend on sugar for its lift and volume. Gluten in the flour serves to form the network which holds the cake together. If we took some of the sugar and gluten out of the equation and compensated the loss of sugar with extra liquid (coconut milk) would it still work?
The only way of knowing is to experiment and find out. Good lab practice usually entails replacing one thing at a time but ... :P
Experiment 1:
Replace self raising flour with gluten free self-raising flour. The gluten free self-raising flour (Dove's brand) has xanthum gum premixed in it.
Added 100g sugar instead of 300g to egg white
Added 50g stevia blend plus 2 tbls of maple syrup to egg yolks
Increase volume of coconut milk from 125ml to 300ml
The result:
The cake did rise but was rather fragile and part of it fell apart when removing from the tin. Other than that it still looked and tasted like pandan cake even though it was slightly 'wetter' than usual (probably as a result of the extra coconut milk).
Experiment 2:
Same as the above except I added a tsp of xanthum gum and reduce the amt of coconut milk to 200ml!
The result:
The cake was still fragile but a bit more stable than previous. Taste wise I still preferred the one from the first experiment. Xanthum gum makes the mixture a bit too 'gummy' for my liking!
Conclusion:
It is possible to have a gluten free and low sugar version of the cake but you'll have to sacrifice the presentation so I think I'll save this version for my kids only. Guests at my house can have the Betty Saw version!
I did a search on the web and found that it was possible to make chiffon cake with gluten free flour if xanthum gum was added to the mixture. It was also possible to make it with stevia in combination with cane sugar (in this case a reduced amount of sugar was used). However I have not found a combination for a sugar free/gluten free version. Was it possible to create one?
Baking is pretty much a science like chemistry and to substitute ingredients we need to understand what part it plays in the baking process. From what I've read sugar does not only sweeten but also adds bulk and volume. Chiffon cakes depend on sugar for its lift and volume. Gluten in the flour serves to form the network which holds the cake together. If we took some of the sugar and gluten out of the equation and compensated the loss of sugar with extra liquid (coconut milk) would it still work?
The only way of knowing is to experiment and find out. Good lab practice usually entails replacing one thing at a time but ... :P
Experiment 1:
Replace self raising flour with gluten free self-raising flour. The gluten free self-raising flour (Dove's brand) has xanthum gum premixed in it.
Added 100g sugar instead of 300g to egg white
Added 50g stevia blend plus 2 tbls of maple syrup to egg yolks
Increase volume of coconut milk from 125ml to 300ml
 |
| The cake was rather fragile and broke apart when getting out of the tin |
 |
| Cross-section of the cake it. Doesn't look too bad! |
The cake did rise but was rather fragile and part of it fell apart when removing from the tin. Other than that it still looked and tasted like pandan cake even though it was slightly 'wetter' than usual (probably as a result of the extra coconut milk).
Experiment 2:
Same as the above except I added a tsp of xanthum gum and reduce the amt of coconut milk to 200ml!
 |
| Slightly better looking cake but still rather fragile |
 |
| Cross section of the cake |
The cake was still fragile but a bit more stable than previous. Taste wise I still preferred the one from the first experiment. Xanthum gum makes the mixture a bit too 'gummy' for my liking!
Conclusion:
It is possible to have a gluten free and low sugar version of the cake but you'll have to sacrifice the presentation so I think I'll save this version for my kids only. Guests at my house can have the Betty Saw version!
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