all kinds of coconut cake

After my failed almond bread (which was nicely recycled as French toast sticks, but I never got the chicken sandwich I really wanted) I decided to try something fun. I'd recently seen Coconut Bars from Elana's Pantry. There's a lot of coconut here so they should have been great.

They were just okay. They were not what I expected and I'm calling them cake because they seem softer than what I think of with bars.

Almond meal, shredded coconut, coconut milk and coconut oil where no problem for me to find. The coconut flour here is not as fine as American commercial coconut flour, but a few seconds in the mixer takes care of that. (Notice all the coconut products? That's why I've renamed it "all kinds of coconut" cake.) There's no stevia here, and I don't like it much anyway, so I just omitted it.

Maybe I over mixed the batter, but it was much runnier than I expected. As it baked, huge bubbles rose. After the specified thirty minutes I took it out of the oven and popped the bubbles. The batter was under baked so I put it back in the oven. After five minutes, though, I could see that the bottom was going to burn.

The dish was supposed to cool on the counter for thirty minutes and then go into the refrigerator until "chilled." So I trusted that maybe the mushiness would disappear after chilling for a little while. Several hours later I cut a little piece. Hmmm. Coconut. But something was missing from the flavor and the consistency wasn't quite right.

I let the dish sit in the refrigerator for a couple days, mocking me and my weekend of baking failures. This morning I took it out again and offered a piece to Muffin on a whim. She's had a cold, which has made her a picky eater, and I wasn't expecting her to even try it. She loved it. I cut her a piece and it's not the end of the world that she had coconut cake for breakfast. The consistency was much better after being refrigerated for a longer amount of time.

I like the coconut flavor a lot but something is still missing from the overall taste of the cake. I have two solutions to that. I'm going to try a batch with golden syrup instead of honey. It's not in the same universe of being healthy, but it has a nice toasted marshmallow flavor that I really like in some baked goods. I'm also going to try a batch with dark chocolate chunks mixed in. I need something to complement the coconut.

One long weekend, two baking projects to take back to the drawing board. 

labonel fine baking

The people of Hyderabad like their sweets. There is no shortage of chocolate cakes at bakeries, coffee shops, grocery store bakery counters, and restaurants. It's been difficult, being a gluten-free chocoholic and having to face cakes every time I leave the house. Some places offer a chocolate mousse, and I've been eating my way through the mousses of the city, but those are a topic for another post.

A couple weeks ago Mike came home and announced he'd found a gluten-free bakery. They are not specifically gluten-free, but the head baker is familiar with the gluten-free diet and has perfected a few treats with the local flours. For Mother's Day, Mike brought home a chocolate cake from Labonel Fine Baking.

Labonel uses millet flour as the base for their gluten-free cakes. The texture was great, but the flavor was a little off. I loved the chocolate icing, but the millet lends sort of a grassy flavor to the cake. It grew on me, though, and we've been picking away at the cake all week long.

Whether gluten-free, eggless, or "regular," Labonel's treats are only available as custom orders. They are a little tricky to find, being that the office is on the side of a house behind a gate with no sign. It's like a secret society. A secret, chocolate-cake-loving society. You can find their products and directions to the house on their website.

bob's red mill gluten-free specials

There are more yummy treats on sale from one of my favorite gluten-free vendors!

Monthly Specials at Bob's Red Mill:

Brownie Mix

Chocolate Cake Mix

Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

Shortbread Cookie Mix

Vanilla Cake Mix

Rolled Oats

Note that not everything on the Monthly Specials page is gluten-free. Read the product information carefully.

Enjoy!

I was not compensated for this post in any way. I'm just a fan of Bob. Image from BobsRedMill.com.

carrot cake with sweet cream butter

When our cook put this down on the table many thoughts went through my head. Carrot cake? How did he spontaneously learn how to make carrot cake? We've lived here over a year and no carrot cake. But one of the first American recipes I taught him was banana bread--with Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour substitute of course--and he came up with the carrot idea after leafing through my Martha Stewart magazines. 

Then I got excited over the marscapone cheese on top. I'd imported some from South Africa and been trying to explain to our cook that it's sort of like a dessert cheese, un frommage douce, that's good with fruit. I was impressed with his initiative to put it on cake. (We've never fully adjusted to having a cook and having to give him direction. We rely on him to read our minds sometimes.)

But when I tasted a little bit of the "cheese" it was less sweet and more greasy than I expected it to be. Mike agreed. It turned out to be sweet cream butter. Genius! Carrot cake with thick, fresh, creamy butter. It was quite a large pat so I only spread about half of it on my slices of cake. I run so I can eat things like creamy fresh butter, but I do have my limits.

I'm exhausted today so I just plan to do some yoga. We went on a long, mountainous hike yesterday and my abs are still a little sore from my Friday workout. Lately I have not been successful in bringing my mileage up to a good base to start a half marathon training plan. I'm starting the running regime fresh tomorrow. 

dolce senza grano tortes

"Sweet without wheat" is what it says on these frozen cakes at Trader Joe's. I tried the tiramisu torte and the black forest torte. I preferred the black forest, but it's low on cherries. You may want to consider serving with some canned or fresh cherries or some other fruit sauce or compote. The tiramisu is tasty, but the cream left a funny, sticky feeling on the roof of my mouth. Both of these are sickeningly sweet, creamy, cakey, and gooey, just as you'd want a decadant dessert to be. While neither are as good as baked from scratch, these will do in a dessert pinch.

These cakes come frozen and the box instructions recommend thawing for 4 hours in the fridge or 2 hours at room temperature. I did one in the fridge and found that 4 hours wasn't quite long enough. Two hours on the countertop was fine for the other cake. These are both a little messy to serve, especially the black forest. The little chocolate shavings fall off the top and get all over the place. While you can take a slice and put the rest in a large ziploc bag and back in the fridge, the messiness may put you off that strategy. (But they will keep well in the fridge for a few days.) I suspect these are best eaten in one sitting, like at the end of a dinner party.

They do not try to mask themselves as health food. They are full of dairy, sugar, and fat. But no gluten.

I bought these at Trader Joe's and I haven't seen them anyplace else. They are imported from Italy. Trader Joe's rotates its stock often so before you make a trip specifically for one of these cakes, give them a call.

(Click on the photo to see the larger size on flickr.)

carrot cake

I was looking forward to the abundance of carrots in my produce delivery this week because for some reason I had a hankerin' for carrot cake. I can't remember the last time I ate carrot cake. It's not something I usually crave, but I have always loved the cream cheese icing.

I found a recipe in one of my gluten-free baking books and I was so diligent about making sure I had all the ingredients on my shopping list when I went to the store earlier this week. It uses some exotic flours, like almond meal and teff, which I have in my pantry. It calls for fava bean flour but I figured I could substitute with soy flour, which is easier to get on short notice. I cleared a few hours yesterday afternoon so I could hunker down in the kitchen. Opened my book and... I didn't have enough eggs. The recipe calls for 4 and I only had 3. Shoot.

I looked through 6 of my cooking and baking books. I could always do a Fanny Farmer and substitute the regular flour with my gf flour mix. The Fanny Farmer calls for a lot of ingredients though. Better Homes and Gardens calls for 4 eggs. This one calls for too many eggs. That one uses ingredients I don't have on hand. I was ready to give up hope.

Then I cracked open a book I hadn't used before. Some friends from New Zealand gave us a cookbook as a wedding present, Edmonds Classics: New Zealanders' Favourite Recipes. Much like the Betty Crocker cookbooks of yesteryear (which I love and have several from the 60s), it centers around Edmonds brand baking soda and other specific brands of flour and other ingredients. It has all the kitsch of the Betty Crocker books, plus the added quaintness of being from New Zealand.

Not only does the Edmonds carrot cake recipe use only 3 eggs, but it uses two other elements I was sad to give up if I had to use a recipe other than the one I originally wanted to use: pineapple and a bundt pan. Pineapples and bundt pans are so fancy! They turn any old cake into a celebration.

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup Amco canola oil
2 cups Champion standard grade flour
1 tsp Edmonds baking powder
1 tsp Edmonds baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots
3/4 cup (225 g can) drained unsweetened crushed pineapple
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp grated orange zest (optional)

Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease a deep 20 cm ring tin. Line base with baking paper. Beat together eggs and sugar for 5 minutes until thick. Add oil and beat for 1 minute. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Combine carrot, pineapple, walnuts and orange zest. Fold into egg mixture. Fold in dry ingredients. Spoon mixture into prepared tin. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave in tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. When cold, spread with Cream Cheese Icing and garnish with orange zest and coconut.

The handy conversion table in the front of the book told me that 180 C is about 350 F. I did not check my bundt pan to see if it was anywhere near the size of a "20 cm ring tin." I figured it was roughly the same shape and I'd keep a close eye on it while it's in the oven.

For the New Zealand brand ingredients, obviously, use whatever counterparts you'd normally use. Of course I used Bob's Red Mill GF All-Purpose Baking Flour. I also used chopped pecans instead of walnuts because I like them better. I had the orange zest on hand so I added it. The can of pineapple I had said 227 grams, but after draining I assumed it would be close enough. (I reserved the juice in case I needed to make the batter moister.)

This was not a quick recipe for me. I'm slow in the kitchen. First I sifted together my dry ingredients, then I grated the carrots--by hand--and put the carrot mixture together. Then I turned on the oven, greased the pan (I didn't use paper because my pan is rounded), and got the eggs-sugar mixture going.

It was at this point I learned that you should not stick a rubber spatula into a KitchenAid Mixer while it's turned on. A kitchen angel must have been watching me because thankfully the damage was minimal. I think the worst part was the awful clanking sound as the whisk went awry and the bowl popped off the stand. Mike came running into the kitchen, certain I had chopped my fingers off or something. But not even any eggs-sugar had spilled! Mike was able to bend the whisk back into useable shape and I learned a very valuable lesson.

The rest of the mixing went quickly. The batter poured easily into my bundt pan and I put it in the oven. Somewhere between 40 and 45 minutes I checked it, and it was golden brown on top and the toothpick came out clean so I took it out. It slid from the pan gracefully and looked so pretty! Nice and golden brown.

This morning I made the icing. I used the cream cheese icing that goes with the carrot cake recipe I had planned on using in the Best-Ever Wheat- and Gluten-Free Baking Book. This book lists the ingredients for the icing but forgot the instructions.

3 oz (85 g) GF cream cheese, softened
2 cups (200 g) GF confectioners' sugar
2 Tbs (30 ml) milk
1 tsp almond flavoring or extract

I put the cream cheese, milk, and almond extract into my mixing bowl, started it up, and added the sugar gradually. This made a thick frosting. I wanted a thin, drizzly icing so I added quite a bit of water until I got the consistency I wanted.

As I was spooning the icing over the cake, Mike said, "Wow, that looks like a picture!" This cake is so pretty and so delicious that it might have to make an appearance at Thanksgiving or Christmas.

I think carrot cake is a recipe that works well with the gluten-free "translation" because the carrots and the pineapple make the batter very moist. Moisture is always a factor in gluten-free baking. I did not need to add the reserved pineapple juice--this batter was perfect.

This icing and cake combination is perfect. This is a very understated, mild carrot cake, and the small dose of super-sweet icing complements it perfectly. I guess it turned out to be serendipitous that I didn't have enough eggs for the recipe I first wanted to use, which has more spice and sugar. Mike's always claimed he hates carrot cake, but he likes this one.

**Dairy-free if you omit the cream cheese icing.