Pure brown rice flour has a fibre content of about 2% and
has a rather distinct flavour that can be noticeable in delicately-flavoured
cakes. Some gluten-free flour blends are lower in fibre because they contain
pure starches, like tapioca, potato or corn. They may also contain additives,
sugar and milk powder. On the plus side, they tend to taste more neutral and
are a better choice for a Victoria sponge, as I have discovered while trying to
create my own.
However, with gluten-free foods moving more and more towards
convenience, there are now lots of mixes dedicated to cake-baking, as well as
others that offer high fibre. The question is, which would perform best as a basic
sponge? I chose six popular products and made a classic Victoria sponge with
each. If a recipe for sponge was given on the pack, I used it because I figured
the manufacturer knew how to get the best from its product (Juvela, Isabel’s
and Mrs Crimble’s). If not, I used Delia Smith’s classic Victoria sponge recipe
and replaced the wheat flour for gluten-free.
My testing crowd (all able to eat wheat, and therefore well
placed to compare with a standard Victoria sponge) were told to judge by
tastiness, appearance and lack of crumbliness. I know how difficult it is to
make a tasty sponge – in my book, Gloriously Gluten Free, I ended up using a pre-cooking method to prevent crumbliness
without the need for gums and used some ground almonds give it that
can’t-resist-another-slice moreishness.
Ingredients: Maize starch, rice flour, potato flour,
modified potato starch, sugar, stabilisers (guar gum,
hydroxypropylmethylcellulose, sodium alginate), raising agents (glucano delta
lactone, sodium bicarbonate), thickening agent (pectin), iron powder, niacin,
thiamin, riboflavin, B6, folic acid
Sugar content: 4%
Fibre content: 2%
Bonus: Added b-vitamins, iron, folic acid and calcium
2. Glutafin Gluten-free
Multipurpose Fibre Mix
Ingredients. Maize starch, potato starch, sorghum flour,
dextrose, thickeners (powdered cellulose, hydroxypropylmethylcellulose), maize
flour, vegetable fibre, pea protein, sugar beet fibre, teff flour, calcium
citrate, rice bran, folic acid
Sugar content: 6.2%
Fibre content: 12%
Bonus: added calcium and folic acid
3. Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-free
1-to-1 Baking Flour
Ingredients: Sweet white rice flour, whole grain brown rice
flour, potato starch, whole grain sweet white sorghum flour, tapioca flour,
xanthan gum
Sugar content: 0%
Fibre content: 4%
4. Orgran Gluten-free
Self Raising Flour
Ingredients: Maize statch, tapioca flour, rice flour,
raising agents (glucano delta lactone, sodium bicarbonate), vegetable gum (guar
gum)
Sugar content: 0.1%
Fibre content: 1.5%
5. Mrs Crimble’s Home
Bake Muffin & Sponge Mix (needs just butter, water and egg to make
sponge)
Sugar, maize flour, rice flour, potato starch, emulsifiers
(mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids and polyglycerol esters of fatty acids),
raising agents (disodium dihydrogen phosphate and sodium bicarbonate), salt,
stabiliser (xanthan gum), flavouring
Sugar content of sponge, baked as per instructions: 19.8%
Fibre content of sponge, baked as per instructions: 0.5%
6. Isabel’s
Dairy-free Sponge Cake Mix
Ingredients: Brown rice flour, potato flour, cassava starch,
disodium diphosphate, sodium bicarbonate, vanilla flavouring, salt
Sugar content: 3.4%
Fibre content: 0.8%
My cakes were baked, filled with jam and served to my testers. There was quite a variation in appearance (eg see four of the cakes, above), with most looking as you’d expect although Mrs Crimble’s gave a very yellow cake and Glutafin was more brown in colour. Texture-wise, five were light, moist and springy and Isabel’s in particular was very bouncy. Unfortunately Glutafin’s Fibre mix did not perform well and turned to crumbs at the slightest touch, no doubt because it did not contain any added gums so scored very badly for this reason (interestingly, neither did Isabel’s, but it is a very starchy mix and the recipe used more eggs than a standard sponge, so this may be why that cake worked well).
The flavour varied from cake to cake. While most were good,
or just OK, in some cases we felt it would actually be difficult to eat a whole
slice. The mouthfeel and textures also varied somewhat.
There were two stand-out performers: In second place was Juvela’s Gluten-free Harvest White Mix,
which had a delicate flavour, and a bouncy and well-risen texture, placed in
first or second place by five reviewers.
The obvious winner was Bob’s
Red Mill Gluten-free 1-to-1 Baking Flour – five out of six reviewers placed
it first. It was golden, looked the part, had a good level of fibre and
produced a tasty all-round sponge that resulted in one reviewer saying she
“wouldn’t complain if it was served to me in a cake shop”. Well done Bob!
NEXT TIME: I compare this lot while making muffins!