Gluten-free baking with Cassava flour
Plus a deliciously drizzly Lemon Drizzle Cake that's GLUTEN-FREE & PALEO-FRIENDLY
Hello, and Happy Weekend. While the weather has hit new levels of icy bitterness here in Melbourne, I have been busy baking rounds of warmly-comforting Lemon Drizzle Cake, my new favourite winter cake, that is cooked with a base of gluten-free Cassava flour, and drizzled with generous dollops of rich cream and lemon juice.
If you haven’t tried it, I urge you to give Cassava flour a red-hot-go. For anyone with food allergies, it’s an all-round winner as it’s gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free, and easy to digest. This makes it an ideal lunchbox substitute for conventional cakes, biscuits and bread loaves (try my gluten-free blender bread, as Cassava flour is the key ingredient. Hello sandwiches, bread puddings and french toast!).
Cassava flour is made with the grated root of the Cassava (or yuca) plant (Manihot esculenta). Unlike tapioca or arrowroot powders, Cassava uses the whole root and is less refined, with more available nutrients. It’s also an excellent substitute for conventional white flour, as (with a few small tweaks to recipes) it can imitate the lightness, fluffiness and elastic properties of traditional gluten-containing flours.
How to Cook with Cassava flour -
Most recipes recommend that Cassava flour replace white flour in a 1:1 ratio. While this does work most of the time, here’s what I have found during my experiments in the kitchen -
For sweeter dishes, that require a lighter, fluffier texture, I usually substitute with a ratio of 3/4 Cassava flour and 1/4 Tapioca or Arrowroot flour. The combination of the less-refined Cassava flour, with the lighter, airier flours provides a good balance, and is excellent for cakes and baking.
For more savoury dishes, combine the Cassava flour with more fibrous flours - such as coconut flour, chickpea flour or psyllium husk. As an example, for a savoury bread recipe: try adding an additional 2 tablespoons of coconut or chickpea flour, or 1 teaspoon of psyllium husk, for every 1 cup of Cassava flour.
To keep the texture light and fluffy, Cassava does work well with cream, butter and eggs.
Cassava doesn’t contain any rising agents. If you are substituting Cassava flour for self-raising flour, try adding an additional 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder for every cup of flour.
And One More Thing…
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Recipe: Gluten-Free Lemon Drizzle Cake
This is a perfect winter-warming cake, that’s delicious served on it’s own, or dolloped with generous helpings of cream and lemon syrup. My kids enjoy thick slices in their lunchboxes, and the cupcake version is perfect for birthday parties and celebrations.
Please note - In sharing this recipe, I noted some conflict as to the ideal topping for a lemon drizzle cake. Most recipes recommend a traditional lemon drizzle syrup, yet my kids prefer adding cream or coconut milk to make it just that little bit creamier.
And then over the weekend, we did a cupcake tray for our soccer team and opted for a lemony cream cheese icing - this definitely looked more like traditional cup cakes, and the kids loved the process of piping the icing on… I’ve included all recipe variations below, plus some notes on sweeteners and ideal sugar:cream ratio. Enjoy!
You Will Need -
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