Thursday, September 10, 2009

Babycakes

So annoyed with this cookbook. I've tried 3 different recipes and all 3 I've had to change the bake time. This book is from a bakeshop in NYC that does mostly wheat and/or gluten-free and some celebrities rave about her baked goods. I think she's famous for her cupcakes but her cookbook has scones, tea breads, and pies as well.

The first incident happened over a month ago, the morning we were leaving for our road trip out East. I wanted to bake a gluten-free banana bread for my friend, who we were visiting in New Brunswick, who has Celiac's (allergic to gluten). Chris didn't think it would last the road trip as it would be hard to resist a baked good in the car that he wasn't allowed to eat! However the banana bread didn't even make it in the car - it was raw inside when I pulled it out! I had even left it in the oven an extra 10 minutes. I didn't give it much thought because I was in a rush, maybe I didn't measure something or forgot something so vowed to try it again after the trip. Tried it again and really took my time and same thing! Last week I halved the recipe and kept the same loaf pan and it worked - AND it was delicious - could not tell it was gluten-free. DELICIOUS but how frustrating.

This past Monday night after we got back from Waterloo I wanted to try something else so the apple toastie bread was the next thing that caught my eye. Quite a lot of sugar in the recipe but again gluten-free, this time using chickpea flour, and I kept checking and checking and checking this loaf until finally 30 minutes after the 'scheduled bake time' I took it out and it was done.

Now I've baked quite a lot, especially in the last 5 years, mostly wheat or gluten-free, some from recipes, and some by just making it up as I go along and I have never, NEVER, had any issues before. Sure some of my creations weren't delicious, but were edible and most of the time I knew they weren't going to be moist and wonderful.

The author and owner of the store, Erin, does a beautiful job with the look of the cookbook, the pictures, the little stories, but maybe there is a little trick I'm missing..... I've even read all the preamble at the beginning but there is nothing I don't know. I'm going to try one of the scone recipes this weekend and maybe a cupcake recipe but if it doesn't work out, I'm not wasting any more ingredients on this cookbook!

2 comments:

MsC said...

I have made both the gf chocolate, the gf vanilla cupcakes and both turned out better than perfect. Once was in a commercial oven, next time was in my oven at home. Also made the frosting, it was wonderful as well....

Anonymous said...

Hi Carol,

Thank you for posting about the cookbook! We are sorry to hear about your frustration. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with any questions (info@babycakesnyc.com). We are more than happy to help troubleshoot and answer any questions that come along with using alternative ingredients. We hope you continue to enjoy baking recipes from the book!

xoxo
BabyCakes NYC