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?
>
> Thanks
> Bigus

You can't just sub in one sweetener for another and especially not one flour
for another The agave is a liquid so you can't sub that. You could sub
another granular sweetener, like coconut sugar.

I do not think you could just sub the oat flour here. The texture would be
off. Try a mix of other flours. If you are avoiding wheat, you could use
brown or white rice flour...I'd probably use white here to lighten it, and
two or three other flours or starches like potato, tapioca or corn. The
problem with subbing for wheat flour is that you have no gluten. And gluten
gives texture and helps to leaven. When you are working with alternate
flours, you also need to add xanthan gum. I no longer bake gluten free so
can't remember the proportions but it should say on the container.