On 6/11/2013 7:27 AM, Bigus wrote:
> Hi
>
> I made some cupcakes the other day using the ratio of ingredients
> given in one of my cookery books for the "classic sponge", i.e:
>
> equal parts fat, sugar, egg and S.R.flour
>
> (hand beating the fat and sugar then gradually adding the egg followed
> by mixing in the flour.
>
> When looking at various other recipes for cakes based on those four
> ingredients the ratios vary.
>
> From a "scientific" point of view, what general effect do the
> different ingredients have on the texture and physical properties of
> the cake?
>
> A more specific question - for one batch of cupcakes I used vegetable
> oil for the fat, agave syrup for the sugar and oat flour. It tasted
> very nice but it was too crumbly.. how would I tweak the proportions
> of those ingredients to make it hold together better - increase the
> egg content or fat maybe?

One cause can be insufficient gluten development. You don't want very
much in a cake, but you need some to hold it together. Oat flour has
no gluten. Try making the recipe with a combination of wheat and oat
flour, and maybe add a spoonful or juice or water to the flour mixture
and stir briefly before adding the remaining ingredients.

Food scientist Shirley Corriher (author of 'Cookwise' and 'Bakewise' -
two of the key texts on the chemistry of cooking) goes into some
details about the effect of ingredients in cooking in this article:

http://www.cookinglight.com/cooking-...0400000001071/

More on how ingredients work:

http://www.meredith.edu/graduate/nut...1_corriher.pdf

http://www.culinate.com/articles/fea...king_chemistry