0 Citrus Soy Bundt Cake (IMBB27 + SHF20 = The Joy of Soy)

I like soy. I say yes to edamame, soy milk, bean curd skins, and tofu. And a definite no to Tofutti ice cream. And I’m indifferent to some soy stuff like "doe-fu-fah" with syrup. I consider soy stuff as just foods I like to eat and not as a substitute for animal products. When I hear comments about how soy milk doesn’t taste like (cow’s) milk, I always think to myself "Of course it doesn’t taste like milk, it’s a drink made from soy beans." (Sorry for the mini-rant.)

When Reid at ‘OnoKineGrindz extended the deadline for this month’s "Is My Blog Burning?" + "Sugar High Fridays" event, I made a last minute decision to bake a cake with the theme ingredient soy. First I had to figure out what soy products I wanted to use. I always have unsweetened soy milk in my pantry so I would definitely use that. The Safeway across the street from where I work offered a surprisingly decent selection of soy products. They carried soy flour, soy butter, soy sour cream, and many others. In addition to soy milk, I decided to use soy yogurt and soy flour in my cake. I decided against using soy butter because it seemed no better than margarine (which I never use).

I based my recipe on one I found on the Kikkoman Pearl soy milk website. I replaced 25% of the all-purpose flour with soy flour. According to the package, it’s not wise to replace more than one-third of the flour with soy flour since it has no gluten and the structure of the cake will suffer. I added some soy yogurt for moistness and orange and lemon juices to up the citrus factor.

The resulting cake was moist and not too sweet but it tasted more like soy than citrus. I would classify it as a loaf or a bread (much like a pumpkin bread). Many folks detected an “herbal” or “earthy” aftertaste. Since I’ve never used soy flour or soy yogurt in my baking before today, I couldn’t tell which ingredient caused that aftertaste. As a former scientist, I would normally never change more than one variable at a time but I was short on time and this isn’t the lab. I probably won’t use this recipe again, but overall I had fun experimenting with soy.




Citrus Soy Bundt Cake
(makes one 10-inch Bundt)

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 soy flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tbsp finely grated meyer lemon zest
1 tbsp finely grated orange zest
3 large eggs, at room temp.
1/2 cup soy yogurt, at room temp.
3/4 cup unsweetened soy milk
2 tbsp meyer lemon juice
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
powdered sugar (optional)

Sift all-purpose flour, soy flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Combine soy milk and juices. Set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream butter, sugar, lemon zest, and orange zest until light and fluffy, scraping down sides occasionally. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in yogurt.

Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with soy milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Beat well after each addition.

Pour batter into buttered and floured 10-inch Bundt pan. Bake in preheated 325°F oven 50 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Carefully remove cake onto cooling rack and cool completely.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.

Tags: IMBB27, SHF20