The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

I screwed up!

Grandpa Larry's picture
Grandpa Larry

I screwed up!

I made a serious mistake this morning, and I am wondering if anyone on this forum might have a way out for me.

I was baking a chocolate cake. I'd weighed out flour, baking powder, baking soda, white sugar and brown sugar, when I discovered that, rather than weighing out and mixing in all purpose flour, I had used bread flour! I had sifted and mixed all of my dry ingredients except for the cocoa.

My first impulse was to throw it all away, but I'm not a person to casually toss out otherwise good food.  I am aware that there is a way to use all purpose flour as cake flour by adding corn starch, though I've never used it. I was hoping someone on this forum might know of some way to salvage my ingredients in a similar fashion, or otherwise do something useful with it.

I can think of nothing.

Laurentius's picture
Laurentius

Bake it, mistakes, failures and pain are the greatest teaching tools. If its no real hardship for you, bake another one with the right ingredients and compare.

Jon OBrien's picture
Jon OBrien

...which impeded gluten development to help.

Corn starch, rice flour, ground almonds, ... what's in your store cupboard?

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

add some oil and call them brownies.

Jon OBrien's picture
Jon OBrien

.

dobie's picture
dobie

.

hanseata's picture
hanseata

Many AP-flours (like King Arthur's) have such a high protein/gluten content, that they can be used instead of bread flour, anyway. In a cake batter that contains a lot of eggs, sugar, and fat the effects of the gluten will be mitigated. Just don't mix it too long. The cake might be chewier, but the taste will be the same.

Good luck, 

Karin

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Mix it with a spoon as little as possible - no machines.  Should be fine but I do like brownies more than cake so I would probably change it over to them like Mini would:-)

Grandpa Larry's picture
Grandpa Larry

What I've got would make for mighty odd brownies. Most brownies have little or no leavening. I have both baking soda and baking powder in my concoction.

Grandpa Larry's picture
Grandpa Larry

I added 2 tablespoons of potato starch(to effectively lower the gluten) and 3 ounces of cocoa to the dry ingredients I'd already mixed. I then mixed in the eggs, vegetable oil, milk, and boiling water, then baked it.

It turned out fine. I never doubted it would.