gluten-free cake

Gluten-Free Carrot Cake

January 18, 2012 Leave a Comment

This is moist and delicious, and is perfect with Mom’s Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below). I just put the carrots in our blender to grind them up, which makes nice, fine carrot pieces, but they can also be grated.

Ingredients:

Gluten-Free Carrot Cake with Mom's Cream Cheese Frosting

1 ½ cups cornstarch

1 cup gluten-free oat flour

½ cup rice flour

1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups sugar

1 cup light olive oil

4 eggs

1 ½ cups ground or grated carrots, peeled

1 cup walnuts or pecans, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease WELL two nine inch round cake pans for a two-layer cake, or a single eleven inch round cake pan. You can also use a 9 by 13 inch glass pan.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the cornstarch, oat flour, rice flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the olive oil, eggs, and sugar until well blended. Stir in the flour mix and fold in the carrots and nuts.

Cook for forty to forty-five minutes, see ‘Cake and Cupcake Tips’ in the ‘tips’ section for checking doneness.

Mom’s Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

4 ounces, (½ a stick) cream cheese

¼ cup (½ a stick) butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, more or less

1/4 cup cream, half and half, or milk

In a double boiler (see tips), melt the butter and cream cheese, the butter until it is completely melted, the cream cheese until it is soft. Beat with electric mixer, then add vanilla extract and one cup of the powdered sugar. Beat, then add another cup. If the frosting is at about the right consistency and tastes sweet enough, then don’t add the remaining half a cup of powdered sugar. If you think it needs more, add the rest, and continue adding sugar until you think it is just right. Once frosting is at its perfection, you can add food coloring if you like. If you want chocolate frosting, add a tablespoon of cocoa. Spread onto your cake, cookie, or cupcake, with a knife or small rubber spatula.

Gluten-Free Cake and Cupcake Tips

October 4, 2011 Leave a Comment

Here are a few tips for making tasty gluten-free cakes and cupcakes.

Moist and soft, this is the Chocolate Coffee Brownie

Do Not Over Cook!

There are a lot of notices like this in cake and cupcake recipes on this blog. This is because a gluten-free cake or cupcake can get dry fast. You might find that eating it makes you want a drink of water, or the cake/cupcake is very crumbly. This is probably because that baked good has been over cooked! Here are a few things to know when a cupcake or cake is cooked:

-When you take them out of the oven, they should not wiggle at all.

-If they have cracks in the top (Unless if it is a cheesecake), it is definitely overcooked.

-If it feels really firm, it is overcooked.

-When you touch it with your finger and the place you touch makes a hole, it is not cooked.

This toothpick has several dry crumbs on it

-A toothpick inserted in the center should come out with dry crumbs on it, meaning that these crumbs should not be smeared all over the place. If the cake/cupcakes contain chocolate chips, then expect melted chocolate as well.

-If the dough is runny, it is definitely not cooked.

-With cupcakes, if I have an extra one, I usually break it open just to check.

Does it Stick in Your Teeth?

If the cupcake or cake sticks in your teeth, there’s a problem.

A good way to take care of this problem is by using a little less xanthan gum. If it crumbles too much, however, then you are using too little xanthan gum. If it sticks in your teeth, this may also mean it is slightly under cooked.

Make Sure You Have All The Ingredients:

We live about an hour away from a store, so when I bake I need to be sure that I have all the ingredients. This doesn’t just apply to cakes and cupcakes. It applies to any recipe that you bake.

Is it Sticking to the Pan?

A good way to make cupcakes is to use wax paper liners. They are available at the local grocery store and keep the pans clean and the cupcakes nicely contained. For cakes, if the dough is sticking to the pan, try adding a little more butter/oil to the pan when you make it. Also, if the pan is even slightly wet, the dough will stick badly. I learned this the hard way once when I made brownies in a wet pan. It was virtually impossible to get them out.

One way to make sure it doesn’t stick is to cut out the edges around the pan before it cools. When it cools the edges may harden to the pan, so if you cut them loose beforehand, they wont stick.

If none of this works, line the pan with wax paper.

Filed Under: cakes, Gluten-Free Tips Tagged With: cake, cakes, cupcake, cupcakes, gluten-free cake, gluten-free cake and cupcake tips, gluten-free cupcake, gluten-free tips, tips

Chocolate Coffee Cake / Cupcakes

October 4, 2011 Leave a Comment

Gluten-Free Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes with powdered sugar and strawberries.

This is tasty. Anything with coffee and chocolate combined would be. The key is not to over cook it. This recipe can be used for cupcakes or cake. If you want, you can add ½ cup chocolate chips to the batter.

Dry Ingredients

¾ cup rice flour, or GF oat flour

¾ cup GF cornstarch

¾ cup cocoa powder

1 cup pure granulated white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon xanthan gum

½ teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients

½ cup lukewarm coffee

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 egg

½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 inch round cake pan or place wax paper cupcake holders inside a cupcake pan.

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add in the wet ingredients and beat with electric mixer until smooth.

Place the batter in the cake pan or fill each wax paper cupcake holder until the dough is about ½ an inch from the top.

Bake on a rack positioned in the center of the oven for 20-25 minutes, until surface is just set. Do NOT overcook.

Cool completely. You can frost them or coat them with powdered sugar.

Filed Under: cakes, gluten-free recipes Tagged With: gluten free cupcakes, gluten-free cake, gluten-free chocolate, gluten-free chocolate coffee cake, gluten-free chocolate coffee cupcakes, gluten-free chocolate cupcakes, gluten-free coffee cupcakes

Gluten-Free Chocolate Zucchini Cake or Cupcakes

September 30, 2011 Leave a Comment

This is Delicious

Gluten-Free Chocolate Zucchini Cake

The first time I made it we brought it to a picnic with some friends. It was soft and moist, which is sometimes hard to get in gluten-free cakes. I have used this recipe a number of times when I need to cook a simple batch of cupcakes for a party or a tasty birthday cake. When I first made this in the cupcake version I brought it to another picnic. I watched as they rapidly disappeared. Nobody would possibly guess this is gluten-free!

Cream (check ‘tips’ section for directions on ‘creaming butter’):

1 stick ½ cup butter, soft but still cold

1 2/3 white granulated sugar

Add and beat:

2 large eggs

Add:

1 cup gluten-free oat or rice flour

½ cup cornstarch (check label for gluten-free)

1 cup pureed fresh zucchini (I use our electric mixer)

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (try dutch cocoa for extra-dark chocolate yummyness!)

¾ teaspoon xanthan gum

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

Beat until well-blended and smooth. You can use a greased 8×8” square baking pan, a 9” round one, or a 12 cupcake pan with waxed paper cupcake holders. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes.

Makes 1 cake or 12 cupcakes.

Filed Under: cakes, gluten-free recipes Tagged With: cake, chocolate cake, chocolate zucchini cupcakes, cupcakes, gluten free cupcakes, gluten-free cake, gluten-free chocolate zucchini cake, gluten-free zucchini cake, gluten-free zucchini cupcakes

Delicious Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake

July 5, 2010 Leave a Comment

Gluten-free chocolate cake makes a tasty dessert

We have used this recipe many times for birthdays, holidays, and normal desserts. It is delicious with frosting, or without, and it would also be very good with chocolate chips or nuts.

Ingredients:

¼ cup salted butter, melted

¾ cup sugar

2 eggs

½ cup plain yogurt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup cornstarch, potato starch, or half-half potato starch/ rice flour, or cornstarch/rice flour mix, whichever is available. Rice flour will make cake grittier and slightly dryer.

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon xanthan gum

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 inch round or square baking pan.

In your bowl, mix the butter with the sugar and beat with electric mixer. Add the eggs, and beat until lighter and thicker. This will take about two minutes. Add the other ingredients. Beat well. The batter will be a thick cake batter. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick tests cleanly, and cake doesn’t jiggle.

Filed Under: cakes, gluten-free recipes Tagged With: chocolate cake, gluten-free cake, gluten-free chocolate cake

Gluten-Free Cheesecake

February 2, 2009 Leave a Comment

Gluten-free chocolate cheesecake

You’ll need softened (room temperature) cream cheese in this recipe. If you don’t have enough time for it to get soft, you can soften it in a double boiler. This can be a chocolate cheesecake as well as a regular one, simply add 1 tablespoon cocoa powder.

Almond crust:

2 cups sliced almonds

1/3 cup plus one tablespoon cold butter

1 cup rice flour or GF oat flour

¼ a cup sugar

You can use a 9” diameter cheesecake pan, or a 9 by 13” one. The larger one will make thinner cheesecake, but is still good. Butter your choice of pan, set aside. Pour almonds into a separate bowl. Grate the butter (or cut into small slices) into the almonds. Blend them by hand. Pour the flour and sugar in, and blend (by hand) it with the almonds and butter. Make sure all is completely blended, without chunks of butter. Dump mixture into pan, and spread out, mash it onto the bottom of the pan. Cook almonds until light brown. Remove from oven, and immediately pour 1 ½ cups of chocolate chips over the browned almonds.

Cheesecake mixture:

2 pounds cream cheese

1 cup pure, granulated sugar

5 eggs

3 tablespoons vanilla

Place cream cheese into a clean bowl, and beat with an electric mixer on medium low. As soon as the cream cheese is well-beaten, pour in the sugar. Beat the sugar in. When well blended, add one egg. Beat. Add each other egg, one at a time, beating after each one. Add the vanilla and beat Scrape the cream cheese off the bottom of bowl. Beat one more time, then pour onto prepared pan with almonds and chocolate chips. Put it in the oven at 350 degrees. Cook for ten minutes, then, lower heat to 225 degrees. Cook for another hour. DON’T PEEK! After cheesecake has cooked for one hour, stick a toothpick in the center of the cheesecake. The toothpick should come out almost clean. If you are uncertain about whether or not the cheesecake is done, feel the top with your finger. The cheesecake should feel firm.

If it is not done, cook for another fifteen minutes.

When the cheesecake is cooked turn off the oven, open the oven door a few inches, and let it cool for half an hour. Then, remove it and place it on the counter to cool for another half hour before putting it in the refrigerator. This slow cooling process should prevent the cracking of the cheesecake. If it does not, try this instead:

Remove the cheesecake from the oven when it is done, and place it on the counter. Put a pan lid or a bowl over top of it and let it cool this way for about an hour before refrigerating.

Filed Under: cakes, gluten-free recipes Tagged With: cake, cheesecake, gluten-free cake, gluten-free cheesecake