Saturday 1 November 2014

Adapting Recipes

For some, adapting any recipe, especially where baking is concerned, is one big no no! Not so in this house.  We have a few unwritten rules in this household, one of which is, if sweet baking doesn't work out how you plan, eat it with custard!

Today, I wanted to bake a gingerbread cake and my pantry just doesn't have in it what I need so the recipe has been adapted to a chocolate ginger cake muffins.

For example, 8oz Plain flour had one heaped tablespoon of flour removed whilst on the scales and cocoa powder put back into the mix to make it back up to the 8oz - hence chocolate ginger cake.

Next I needed 2 oz golden syrup and 6oz of black treacle. No black treacle, so I used 7oz of golden syrup and 1oz of ginger syrup from a jar of ginger in syrup.

The final substitution was margarine of which I needed 4oz. Nope, not enough of that either so I used 3oz margarine and 1oz of lard. Instead of some currant or sultana's, I finely grated 1 ball of ginger.

Lard works well in most cakes, except perhaps plain sponges, as witnessed by the impressive number of Wartime cakes that do so. I never substitute the whole amount unless I really have to, but quite honestly, you just cannot taste the difference.

The mixture should be put into a 7" square deep tin, which I normally do but this time, we fancied individual muffins.

The mixture was far more runny than the original but I waited a couple of minutes and it thickened up. Then I used my trusty ice cream scoop and put one scoop into each muffin case.

They were baked at 180C until risen and cooked, about 30 - 40 minutes:
Taste wise, they don't have that deep note of black treacle but otherwise, they are not too bad, but could do with more ginger! Two days later, and they now have that sticky gingerbread feel and the taste has improved even more.

Whilst the oven was on, I baked us a pork and apple pie for tea over two nights (see menu tab eventually) and our weekly two loaves of bread:

8 comments:

  1. The cakes look nice and your bread looks lovely, I could just eat some now x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. We find normal bought bread too squidgy for our tastes so bake our own most of the time.

      Delete
  2. Yum yum!! It's definitely the time of year for ginger. Anything with custard is a winner with my hubby, ginger Cake/pudding...depends if it dips in the middle...too much black treacle..oops. A wartime housewife would be adapting recipes all the time depending on whats in store and what's available, unless its a sponge cake i look at recipes as just a guide.
    Your bread looks wonderful.
    Enjoy your weekend x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you and we have had a busy weekend.

      Delete
  3. I haven't made ginger cake for ages - I think I will make one tomorrow having seen yours! I often use a spoon of black treacle if a recipe calls for brown sugar- I use white sugar and add the black treacle instead.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Must get some though as it is missed in recipes.

      Delete
  4. thanks for the tip re. an ice cream scoop to each muffin case Brilliant!
    Our failed cakes are puddings too. can't waste them can you and they are usually delicious.
    Gill

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most failed cakes make nice puddings with custard, ice cream or cream.

      Delete

I love hearing from you, will read all your comments and try and answer any questions you leave. Please leave comments in English. Don't forget to come back and read my reply! All comments are moderated so if you try to link it to a commercial web site, it will not be published.