The Best Fruit Cake Recipe (Almond Flour, Gluten-Free) (2024)

FAQs

What does almond flour do to cakes? ›

Sometimes tenderness is what you're after, especially in cakes or muffins, and that's where almond flour shines. Used alongside all-purpose or whole grain flours, it can lighten a batter or dough, adding depth and softness without heft.

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.

The Gluten Free Cake is Dry or Crumbly:

If your cake is dry, most likely you didn't use enough liquid ingredients (or you had too much flour.) See above for gluten free flour measuring tips. Another cause of a dry cake is overbaking. If you bake your cake too long, moisture is baked out of the cake.

One of the most common gluten-free baking tips is “let your batter rest”. Letting the batter rest gives the gluten-free flours and starches more time to absorb the moisture. In theory, it will turn your dry, crumbly cakes into delicious, moist masterpieces.

A good rule of thumb is to use 1/2 to 3/4 cup of almond flour for every 1 cup of wheat flour in a recipe. But not all recipes are suitable for almond flour substitution. Recipes that rely heavily on gluten, like bread or pizza dough, may not work well with almond flour. But I find it works so well in baked goods!

Gluten-free flours often contain fine starches, so they absorb more liquid than conventional flour. To address this, gluten-free recipes usually call for more liquid and produce looser batters. They may also call for a larger quantity of leavening, like baking powder, to help add volume and lighten the texture.

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.

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.

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.

A cake can crumble for a variety of reasons: overmixed batter, too much flour, not enough sugar or not enough shortening. When you bake your cake, make sure you use the flour your recipes calls for, preheat your oven and bake the cake at the correct temperature.

How do you add moisture to a gluten-free cake? ›

The trick here is to mix gluten free flour mixture with a bit of an almond flour, which works wonders at keeping cakes moist and fluffy for days, mostly because of its high fat content.

Sorghum flour: great for cakes

Because sorghum is often processed on shared equipment with wheat products, you need to be careful about finding a product that is certified gluten free. Sorghum flour is a great option for cookies and cakes, but it is best combined with other gluten free flours because it is so heavy.

Xanthan Gum adds thickness and viscosity to gluten-free breads and other baked goods. Without xanthan gum, your gluten-free baked goods would be dry, crumbly and flat. Because xanthan gum is gluten-free and vegan, it's the preferred thickener for those home bakers with food allergies.

Almond flour is a little more moist than wheat flour, and doesn't have quite the same binding qualities. You'll do best to substitute 1:1 to begin with, as many recipes respond well to this direct replacement. But be prepared to add more almond flour as you go to compensate for the wetter batter.

Use the finest grind of almond flour (Blue Diamond) for the lightest baked goods. The more texture the almond flour has, the more grainy texture your finished product will have. The coarser the grind of almond flour or meal, the more your recipe will be flat or spread during cooking.

Almond flour's high-fat content means it can brown more quickly, so a moderate oven of around 325 F (165 C) can prevent burning while allowing the interior to cook thoroughly. Moreover, due to their moisture content, almond flour baked goods might need a longer baking time to set properly.

Almond flour is also gluten-free, while wheat flours are not, so it's a great option for people with celiac disease or a wheat intolerance. In baking, almond flour can often replace wheat flour at a 1:1 ratio, although baked products made with it are flatter and denser because they lack gluten.