Like other Alternative Foods, these require a suspension of disbelief... But not so much that I wouldn't feed these to another human being.
These are not cakes. These are not breads. These are not muffins, either. They are sweet, but cake they are not. They happens to support butter, jam, syrup, and many such things that one might do unto bread products. Yet, they do not claim to be bread. They are prepared with the muffin method. But they are not muffins.
Think of them as a vessel for a small dose of protein (in the form of egg whites) and a hefty amount of fiber (in several forms)... At the tune of about 32 calories per serving of 6 small buns or 1 small loaf. Oh, now I have your attention.
Bear in mind, these are a bit fickle, in that they sometimes rise but then collapse partially, leaving you with a somewhat gummy interior. The oat cake photographed below held up fairly well, but did sink somewhat (look at the bottom). I promise they're still edible if this happens, but I am working hard to isolate the factors at play.
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The Basic Oat Cake
makes 2 servings , but halves well
Dry ingredients
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons oat fiber
100 g erythritol
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons whole psyllium husks
1 teaspoon konjac glucomannan
1/2 teaspoon guar gum (or just use 1.5 teaspoons konjac - guar doesn’t make as much of a difference here as it does in other desserts)
pinch salt
spices
Wet ingredients
2/3 cup water (1/3 cup water and 1/3 cup cashew milk works nicely too)
1/3 cup liquid egg whites
extracts
Preheat oven @ 375 (with convection , if you have it). These are better slightly over- than under-baked, especially if planning on reheating in microwave (20-30 s in a paper towel), which will reduce any excessive crustiness of the exterior.
Lightly oil your bakeware of choice. I never used silicone pans for baking (but constantly for agar jellies) but I like them for this application. I have tested the following pan sizes:
1 x 9" round (40-45 minutes) → less rising in this pan, expect maybe 1.5-2 cm tall
2 x small loaf pans (9x5” outside, 4.5 x 7” inside: 40-45 minutes)
12 cup muffin pan (2.5 oz cup capacity -- standard? -- 35 to 40 minutes)
Waffle iron: Use half the recipe, and replace the erythritol by a non-bulk adding sweetener
Combine all wet ingredients. Whisk all dry ingredients together, and fold into the wet (hey that's not the muffin method!). Depending on your oat fiber brand, the mixture will either stay runny (pancake batter) or become thick/fluffy (custard-like) -- pour or scoop into your mold and bake! Sometimes these will be light and fluffy throughout, sometimes a little gummy/dense on the inside but I just roll with it.
Notes on ingredients
Oat fiber: This is not the same as oat bran or oat flour. Not all brands are created equal in color (white to light brown), taste (neutral to oat/cardboard-y), and water absorption -- expect different batter consistencies. Lifesource 500 (cheaper at Netrition) is my favorite so far with a white color and neutral taste but tends to absorb more water and thicken quickly. Other brands I have tried tend to yield a more pourable batter using the same ingredients, which you might prefer for waffles.
Erythritol: If baking, you need to use a “bulk sweetener” like erythritol or xylitol - this minimum amount (about ½ cup before grinding, 98-100g by weight) for the best volume and texture. You can add other sweeteners to alter taste. If you substitute a non-bulk sweetener (pure stevia, Splenda/sucralose), you will have a much denser, drier result. In waffle form, I used 100% Splenda. Not noticing much differences between brands, but this seems the cheapest. Swerve (erythritol + stevia blend, I think) seems more readily available in stores. I used the pre-grind this (holdover form older recipes) but I recently discovered this is not needed. Thanks, Jen.
Versions with added nutrition / oat fiber replacements
Some of the oat fiber can be replaced by other dry ingredients, typically leaving ½ c oat fiber and adding 2-4 tablespoons of another dry ingredient (replaces 2T of oat fiber):
Peanut flour: 3T
Cocoa: 3-4T
Coconut flour: 3T also, but increase water by 1-2T
Whey protein isolate: Can handle up to 4T (on top of ½ c oat fiber), fairly moist result
Oat flour (freshly ground): up to 4T
Flavor combos
I love "lebkuchen": blend of German gingerbread spices similar to this with a blend of vanilla, orange, and almond extracts. I am pretty heavy-handed: up to 2 tablespoons of spice mixture... Nuke a serving for 45 seconds, serve with sugar-free pancake syrup (to which you could add orange extract) and plain yogurt thickened with guar gum and flavored with almond extract.
1/2 cup oat fiber + 3 tablespoons either cocoa powder or peanut flour (unsweetened PB2-like product) + vanilla & butter extract work well as the muffin tin variant; pretty nice as "bites" that don't really need to be nuked
Replacing some water with juiced and zested lemon/orange + vanilla & almond extracts --> great with marmalade
A non-sweetened version of this will sort of work but be denser and cardboard-like, unless you're willing to use a higher egg white to water ratio (2:1 instead of 1:2?) or some other tweaks I'm still figuring out.
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