Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Hi,

I made a batch of vegan/gf cupcakes today--vanilla ones. They turned out pretty good except for a really bitter aftertaste. I used agave for the sweetener, along with N-ergy egg replacer (recipe called for it) as well as baking powder and baking soda, both of which were also called for. I followed the recipe other than the agave exchange.

Does anyone know if the combination of the baking soda/powders and the N-ergy egg will cause bitterness? I had to toss the whole batch. :/

Thanks-

Daphne

I haven't had problems with baking soda, baking powder, and commercial egg replacer.

How old is your baking powder? Old or poor quality baking powder can be bitter.

Baking soda or possibly rancid oil or maybe flax or nuts if those are in the recipe.

I have occasionally had problems with bitterness when using Ener-G egg replacer. Also with old-ish baking powder.

I was really happy to learn that flax seeds make a fine egg replacer in most recipes, even better than Ener-G.

the baking powder is new. I didnt think about the oil...I used coconut oil. I will taste it and see. Im going to try making them using flax the next time and see if that works. Thanks for the feedback!

Did you use any chick pea (besan) flour in the recipe? For some reason, it always tastes bitter to me, even after thoroughly cooking it. I've even tried a few different brands from the local Indian grocery, but all were bitter. Weird cause I'm obsessed with chick peas and chana dal.

i've noticed that taste with ener-g, especially in combination with baking soda/powder, and i try to work without it now.

What kind of gluten free flour did you use?

I used Bobs Red Mill GF mix--never had problems w/it before...I did have to add a little more flour ( I ran out of Bobs) so I added a little chick pea flour...havent noticed bitterness from the chick pea flour before either--and I make socca all the time!! Anyway--going to try the recipes again. Hopefully will turn out better next time!

I often find chickpea flour very grossly bitter - so I've started grinding my own.

But this sounds like it could be too much baking powder or baking soda?

Hmm.. Daphne, good luck with the redo recipe, interested to hear how it turns out.

mattomic: That's a good idea. Which type of chick peas do you use, the standard big, round type (aka kabuli chana and often canned), or the Indian chana dal type (smaller and often split)?

The ones I use look like the ones termed "kabuli chana" above. In the packet, they're like the big ones, just smaller than I usually get in a can (DON'T SHOOT ME). But it does vary.

Haha, gotcha! I'll give it a try.

When I use Bob's AP GF flour, it ALWAYS leaves a weird after taste :/ It makes me want to blend my own GF mix or just chuck it all and go back to regular AP flour, as I don't have gluten issues, I just prefer the nutritional profile of GF flours. Let us know if you solve the riddle!