So the other day, we had friends over for coffee and they brought some cake. It was super delicious (and a really nice afternoon 🥰) and I wanted to have the recipe. She sent me the ingredients listed below. I thought – this looks lovely. Let me see, though, whether I can adjust it to my dietary requirements and make some changes. So here is how to adjust recipes – (the) baking edition.
How to Adjust Recipes – Baking Edition
I am going to take you on the exact journey of how I changed the recipe. You will always come across recipes that may not fully align with your dietary requirements. Some swaps may be easier than others or less obvious so maybe this is helpful to you 😉?!
Eggs
If you have been with me for a while, you know how much I rave about eggs and their nutritional profile. I truly consider them a powerhouse for both protein content and deliciousness. As I eat eggs as part of my diet – I did not feel that I needed to change that.
Sugar / Vanilla Sugar / Pudding Powder
I will touch on the pudding powder again in a different context, but really, all three of these add sweetness to the cake. I swapped in coconut sugar for the sugar and also added a bit of maple syrup because I knew that the pudding powder and vanilla sugar also added a lot of sweetness.
Butter
Now, this does not always work but it does in some cases. Butter can be replaced with equal amounts of apple sauce in recipes, which is what I did. Apple sauce also applies an additional element of sweetness (in relation to the point I mentioned above).
Spelt Flour
Whereas I personally do eat gluten from time to time, I try to make as many recipes as possible gluten-free, especially at home. As you know, the entire blog is gluten-free anyways, because I truly believe that if you are facing any form of health challenge it is one of the first things ready to be eliminated as it can mess so much with our bodies. You can learn more in my What is Gluten post. For this recipe, I took out my gluten-free flour guide and looked at what flour could be a good replacement. I settled on cassava flour. The pudding powder does not only add sweetness, it also likely acts as a binder and stabilizer in this recipe. So I added tapioca starch instead.
Milk
This is an easy swap that I make all the time. Simply use non-dairy milk instead of regular milk in equal measures. I reduced the non-dairy milk as I added maple syrup as a liquid.
Crumble
I did not want to buy store-bought crumble, and I also did not have my own granola at hand. So I decided to make the crumble topping that I have used from my plum crumble (or rhubarb streusel cake – same topping).
Remainder of the ingredients
I used more cinnamon than stated in the recipe (something about cinnamon and apples – I just love the combo). Baking powder is absolutely fine to stay as part of the recipe. So are the apples (obviously else it would not be an apple cake 🤣).
The result? Is this delicious Apple Crumble Cake.
I hope you enjoyed this creative process and it may help you in adapting recipes. Whether you have loved them for years and can currently no longer eat them or you are searching a new recipe and want to make a few swaps. Would you like me to also make a savory edition of this thought process? Or do you have a recipe you are currently stuck on for swaps? Let me know in the comments below and I am more than happy to help you 🙌🏻. Beautiful cover photo by Alfred Kenneally on Unsplash.
