Deviously deviating from the recipe.
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I wasn’t sure what to call this bake so I settled on:
Doughy – not a regular cake mix, but not quite a pastry mix
cinnamon – well, I did use cinnamon
churro – they sort of look like churro chunks!
cakes – well they are a form of cake, right?
I was following this recipe because I wanted something with a fluffy texture that didn’t require me to buy more ingredients like tapioca flour, etc., it’s on my to-do list.
So I pretty much followed the recipe to a T until it got to the sugar quantities. I substituted regular sugar for Xylitol, which in itself wasn’t the problem, as this is a (completely natural, guilt-free) sugar alternative. I just didn’t put nearly enough into the mixture. The cinnamon aroma smelt great but it barely permeated throughout the ‘cake’. So as a rule of thumb folks, when it comes to cinnamon, more is more. Anyway, my diviation is the reason why my bake looks so different to the one I followed. I injected some much needed sweetnesss with a thick, ‘rustic’ layer of icing sugar. I will be back for round two, with vengeance (or just the correct quantities for the swirl cakes!). It was nice to make something that wasn’t as light as fairy cakes, but not as dense and crisp as Viennese. These held their squidgy texture even after being baked which made for a nice change – plus they were quick to cook.
Scroll down for the recipe.
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Without further ado, the revised recipe:
Dough:
- 280g of flour – I used a basic G.F white flour.
- 1 ts of xanthan gum
- 3/4 teaspoon of baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 120 g Xylitot
- 126 g Vitalite spread (or other dairy-free spreads)
- 2 eggs beaten
- Vanilla essence to taste
Coating:
28 g (2 tbs) of Vitalite
164 g of Xylitot
Ground cinnamon – the original recipe states 1 1/4g. However, it depends on how strong your cinnamon is! In my case – I’ll need to double this!
Place parchment paper on a baking tray and when ready, set the oven to 175/180 C and cook for 10-15 minutes.
Pour the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt and Xyliot sugar into a jug and mix.
Then add the butter, 2 eggs, vanilla essence and combine using your hands.
Place parchment paper under the dough and another layer over the dough (so the rolling-pin doesn’t stick.) Or if you’re me – so the glass cup doesn’t stick.. Roll out the dough until it is less than 1/3 inch thick – or if you’re me, roll until it touches the edges of the paper and can’t looks ‘about okay’.
Take the top layer of parchment paper off and spread a layer of butter on the dough all the way to the edges. Then combine Xylitol and cinnamon in a cup and liberally sprinkle- again, across the whole area.
Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into four sections of equal size. Starting at the long edge of one section, roll up into a tight coil and sprinkle the edges with Xylitol and cinnamon. Cut the coil, roughly into one inch chunks and place on the parchment paper that’s on the baking tray.
Repeat this for the other 3 sections.
The oven needs to be on for 180 C for 10-12 minutes no higher than the middle shelf.
Optional step: Mix up the icing sugar and glaze the cinnamon swirls (I use pre-made icing sugar and just add water). Okay, in this case, I needed to add more sweetness so I got a little trigger happy with the icing.
I’m going to repeat this recipe again in the very near future and hopefully I’ll have a couple of photos to add of how the cakes should have turned out in the first place. The raisens are soaking in black tea as I type! However, the King family enjoyed this bake – and if I hadn’t let on that I ‘deviated’, well they’d be none the wiser that they are missing out on the swirly goodness!
