Sponge cake is an all-time classic that perfectly blends sweet and sharp flavours to create a wonderfully moreish treat, whether as a classic Victoria, a lemon drizzle or something even more daring.

It’s a relatively easy cake to whip up, but if you’re wanting to do a gluten free version then it can be difficult to master the same light and spongy texture. Gluten free cake can often be crumbly as they lack a protein in wheat flour which gives cakes their structure and elasticity. Not only that, if you don’t get the baking time right, or your oven temperature is too high, then the resulting bake will be dry.

But adding one ingredient to your mixture can help to combat these problems by improving the structure of your cake to give it a deliciously soft and moist texture. Xanthan gum is a handy ingredient that is used to thicken and bind foods - particularly in gluten free baking.

It mimics the role of gluten by binding the ingredients together and giving the cake elasticity, which will prevent it from crumbling once baked. It also helps cakes to retain moisture to result in a softer, moisture overall texture, that isn’t dry when you cut into it.

Coeliac UK explains: “Xanthan gum is used to improve the texture and shelf life of gluten free products. It mimics gluten in terms of keeping the baked products moist and the texture soft. It comes in powder form which dissolves easily in water.

“Mix it with the gluten free flour mix before adding any liquid — you may need to use more liquid than usual as xanthan gum can absorb quite a lot. It does not need heat to thicken and is not affected by oven temperatures either, making it versatile to use.”

As gluten free cake lacks elasticity it can often be quite dry and while xanthan gum helps with this problem, adding more liquid to your cake mixture will help even further, which is why lemon drizzle cake is a good option to try as you can add in an extra dash of lemon juice.

Gluten free flour typically absorbs more liquid than regular flour so the added lemon juice and zest, along with a drizzle topping, will bind well with the xanthan gum to help prevent your cake from drying out.