Although I do not have to eat gluten free flour for dietary reasons, I have heard a lot of good things about alternative flours and wanted to try them out in my baking. I am experienced in using regular flour to make some delicious treats, however it is difficult for most people's bodies to process. We all know that bloated feeling you get after too many carbs! So I decided to try the alternative flours out and see how it worked...
Recently my local Tesco have started selling coconut and almond flours. Coconut flour is high in fiber which will make you feel fuller for longer, it also contains iron and vitamin C. Almond flour is rich in vitamin E and has a high protein content. Both are of course naturally gluten free. I combined them in this recipe as it is usually best to blend alternative flours together to get the best results.
I decided to flavor these cupcakes with cola to fit in with this month's Treat Petite theme of 'Childhood Memories' as cola bottles were my absolute favorite sweet growing up, and I still enjoy them now! I found this bottle of flavouring in Sainsbury's.
I started by whisking together 3 eggs, 400ml sour cream, 3 tsp cola flavouring, 4 tbsp soy milk (you can use regular milk if you wish), and 300g caster sugar. I whisked it well by hand for about a minute until it frothed.
I sieved together 110g coconut flour and 95g almond flour, along with 2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda.
I added the flour to the wet mixture until it formed a batter. It wasn't as smooth as a regular flour batter. I put it into cupcake cases. This mixture made about 18 large cupcakes.
I baked them on 160C/325F/Gas Mark 3 for about 25 minutes. It's a bit more difficult to tell when they are done because they don't spring back when you press them. They also came out a lot paler than regular too. I used a very thin skewer to test them.
I iced the cupcakes with cola icing which was a mixture of 200g butter, 400g icing sugar and 4 tsp cola flavouring. And topped them with a fizzy cola bottle sweet. For extra fizz, you could sprinkle some popping candy over the icing too!
The cupcakes baked well and had a spongey texture, they tasted really nice too! A friend said they reminded him of Indian sweets. They didn't have the same spring as regular sponge, which I assume is because of the lack of gluten, and they broke apart a lot easier. I took them to a party and got lots of good comments, my friend's niece loved them so they pass the kid taste test! Overall I think I definitely need a lot more practice with alternative flours, but I'm going to continue experimenting as the health benefits are so worthwhile. Let me know if you have used them before and have any tips!
I am entering them into myself and Cakeyboi's blogging challenge Treat Petite with this month's theme of 'Childhood Memories' as cola bottle were my favorite sweets growing up.
