Tips for Preventing Shrinking Gluten-Free Cupcakes

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Below is my vanilla cupcake recipe and mixing/baking method that I am in the process of converting from conventional to gluten free/vegan. The first ingredient I'm swapping out is the regular flour for gluten free flour. I'm using America's Test Kitchen gluten free flour blend recipe. They rise so nice, they have amazing flavor and the crumb is so beautiful, soft and fine. The issue I'm having though is once they are out of the oven for a few mins they fall some until they are just flat on top and they shrink all around... quite a bit. I'm thinking they maybe have too much fat? I can't figure it out. They are VERY moist, but when they shrink they aren't as fluffy as I want them. I know there's an answer for my issue, but I don't know what it is so hopefully someone can help.

VANILLA CUPCAKES (GF)

4 oz. organic melted butter
7 oz. Morena brand cane sugar
2 tsp. Simply Organic vanilla extract
1 TBLS. organic apple cider vinegar
2.75 oz. organic full fat sour cream
2.75 oz. 2% organic milk
7.25 oz. ATK gluten free flour blend
1/2 + 1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. xantham gum
2 egg whites, whipped to soft peak stage

1. First I preheat my oven to 325 F. I've read that you should bake GF cakes lower temp and longer time.
2. I sift together the flour, soda, xantham gum and salt in the bowl of my stand mixer and set aside.
3. In another bowl I whisk together the melted butter, sugar, vanilla extract, ACV, sour cream and milk.
4. Then I pour the wet mixture into the dry and beat in my stand mixer for 5 mins. (I've read that GF cakes should be beat for 3-5 mins to make the light and fluffy. I do this with my GF vegan chocolate cupcakes and they turn out as fluffy and light as a good cake mix and don't shrink at all.)
5. After beating I fold in the egg whites gently with a spatula in 3 additions. I watched a video from Culinary Institute of America about how to beat and fold in egg whites.
6. Then I bake (it makes 12) in preheated 325 F oven for 25-28 mins. until toothpick comes out clean. I bake in the center of the oven and have very nice high quality pans and liners. They look all fluffy and amazing, but then within a couple mins. they look awful and flat and shrink up.

Hopefully someone can help me troubleshoot this. Thanks in advance so so much!! xxoo
 
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Your post went into the moderation queue for some reason, sorry about that!

Is this a recipe that you have tried before with regular flour? If so were there any issues then?
 
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Ok, I wondered why it was taking so long to post- thanks!

And yes, this is a recipe I wrote and have made many times with regular gluten cake flour. It always turns out great. It would sink and shrink ever so slightly, but nothing like what they are doing now since I used GF flour.
 
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Below is my vanilla cupcake recipe and mixing/baking method that I am in the process of converting from conventional to gluten free/vegan. The first ingredient I'm swapping out is the regular flour for gluten free flour. I'm using America's Test Kitchen gluten free flour blend recipe. They rise so nice, they have amazing flavor and the crumb is so beautiful, soft and fine. The issue I'm having though is once they are out of the oven for a few mins they fall some until they are just flat on top and they shrink all around... quite a bit. I'm thinking they maybe have too much fat? I can't figure it out. They are VERY moist, but when they shrink they aren't as fluffy as I want them. I know there's an answer for my issue, but I don't know what it is so hopefully someone can help.

VANILLA CUPCAKES (GF)

4 oz. organic melted butter
7 oz. Morena brand cane sugar
2 tsp. Simply Organic vanilla extract
1 TBLS. organic apple cider vinegar
2.75 oz. organic full fat sour cream
2.75 oz. 2% organic milk
7.25 oz. ATK gluten free flour blend
1/2 + 1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. xantham gum
2 egg whites, whipped to soft peak stage

1. First I preheat my oven to 325 F. I've read that you should bake GF cakes lower temp and longer time.
2. I sift together the flour, soda, xantham gum and salt in the bowl of my stand mixer and set aside.
3. In another bowl I whisk together the melted butter, sugar, vanilla extract, ACV, sour cream and milk.
4. Then I pour the wet mixture into the dry and beat in my stand mixer for 5 mins. (I've read that GF cakes should be beat for 3-5 mins to make the light and fluffy. I do this with my GF vegan chocolate cupcakes and they turn out as fluffy and light as a good cake mix and don't shrink at all.)
5. After beating I fold in the egg whites gently with a spatula in 3 additions. I watched a video from Culinary Institute of America about how to beat and fold in egg whites.
6. Then I bake (it makes 12) in preheated 325 F oven for 25-28 mins. until toothpick comes out clean. I bake in the center of the oven and have very nice high quality pans and liners. They look all fluffy and amazing, but then within a couple mins. they look awful and flat and shrink up.

Hopefully someone can help me troubleshoot this. Thanks in advance so so much!! xxoo

I’ve never beaten my gluten-free cakes for considerable time. Given there’s no gluten structure to develop and capture air, I’m not sure how extended beating time would work.

What stands out to me in your recipe is the low flour to egg percentage. The egg white serves two purposes: structure and leavening. Because eggs can vary in weight I always weigh my eggs. In baking the ratios are always important, but even more so in gluten-free baking as the slightest variable will undermine structure.

Two egg whites might be 60g (approx 2 oz).

2/7.25 = 0.27. The amount of egg is significantly below the standard ratio for even a wheat flour cake. A regular wheat butter cake contains 40% egg to flour.

In the absence of gluten you need that egg to bind and support. I’d increase the egg whites.

The standard ratios for flour to eggs buy weight in various cakes are:

Butter cakes 40%
Genoise 150% - 200%
Chiffon 200%
Sponge 250%
Angel Food 350%

Just keep in mind that your eggs will count towards your total liquid hydration percentage.


I make a GF “chiffon” cake which is fluffy and does not shrink. I put quotes around chiffon cake because an authentic chiffon cake contains water and oil and no dairy. I use oil, but I also use dairy. The cake rises to the full height of the pan. I posted the recipe on an older post if you want to see my ratios and methods.

https://www.baking-forums.com/threads/gluten-free-orange-chiffon-cake.4387/
 
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Thank you so very much!!! This is so incredibly helpful!! I can’t wait to do more testing today. I wasn’t aware of the egg white to flour ratio and what it needed to be so that makes so much sense and yes, I agree, I definitely need to measure my eggs and will do that now for sure!
 
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Thank you so very much!!! This is so incredibly helpful!! I can’t wait to do more testing today. I wasn’t aware of the egg white to flour ratio and what it needed to be so that makes so much sense and yes, I agree, I definitely need to measure my eggs and will do that now for sure!

You’re welcome. Just keep in mind that egg whites are drying and GF flours are also very dry. So you may have to tweak your fat ratios. I frequently let my GF batters sit for 10 minutes before filling my pans. That allows the GF flours to hydrate and the batter to thicken some before baking.
 
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I hope you don't mind a late reply. If you're converting to vegan, then I suggest using an organic soy milk in place of the milk (unless soy is an issue too), and using a combination of flax and chia instead of the egg and xanthan gum. The result will still shrink more than gluten cupcakes, but the texture will be airy and light , especially if you replace 2 oz of the flour with fresh ground flax seeds and chia. Chia will be visible in the dough, but flax won't as long as you use golden flax.

I don't want to dig out my ATK book right now, but if I remember correctly, the ATK flour has a lot of high starch ingredients. If you can find a grain that you like the taste of (I like quinoa and amaranth and both are light enough to use in a cupcake), fresh grind a bit of it just before making this and try replacing half of the ATK flour with it. The improved protein content might help the shrinking. Starch swells a lot while baking and then shrinks more.

Let us know how you're doing with the recipe!
 

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