Frosting

When I first went gluten free/dairy free the first thing I wanted to figure out was a decent frosting recipe. There was many, MANY failures. The first adaptation I tried was 1 Tbsp margarine to 1 Cup icing sugar to enough water to create the right consistency. WOW what a disaster, it looked great for the first  10 minutes but quickly melted down the sides of the wrappers, on top of that it was sickly sweet and had the consistency of goop, you know that stuff that you make at primary school out of cornflour that's hard when you hit it and soft when you let it go. It wasn't that extreme but it was REALLY hard to pipe and then just disappeared.

The next one had 1 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 Tbsp almond milk, 1 Tbsp margarine and enough icing sugar for the correct consistency required. This one was heaps better BUT it was still lacking something, that whipped cream texture that I loved about my birthday cakes as a kid. It was here that I learnt that some sort of essence should never EVER be left out of a good frosting recipe.

I was lost by this point, even this recipe from Martha Stewart's website was lack luster to my newly dairy free taste buds, then I started experimenting with the ingredients I always have in my pantry, including a really good quality organic coconut cream. I use Macro brand (no they didn't pay me to say that) because it consistently has a layer of thick cream at the top of the tin. Due to the high water content of margarine, the creaminess to water ratio tends to have a lot more water than creaminess, creating a frosting that has no ability to get aerated and go fluffy, even if you could get it to go fluffy, it won't hold for long because the water continually dissolves the sugar, making it melt really quickly.

So the "secret" to a frosting that you could eat by the spoonful... Thick coconut cream, good quality margarine, natural essences or extracts and a hand mixer or stand mixer and enough time to whip it up.

Gluten Free Savoury Crepe Stacks (Summer BBQ Survival!!)

Sometimes social gatherings can be a source of anxiety for people with allergies, these tasty hot crepe stacks are made in a way that is share-able, freezable and have a very slim chance of getting cross-contaminated in a party situation. Just wrap them in foil and toast them up on the barbecue. I made these for a smallish get together at a friend's place this long weekend, making a total of 8 half 'sandwiches' and wrapping them in baking paper and then tinfoil, I then made some more without the middle .

I found the crepes themselves to taste kind of like hummus and the fillings to encompass a whole meal that really didn't make me feel like I was missing out on anything.

I find I'm OK with Goats feta, if you aren't just sub it out for pine nuts or walnuts or roasted garlic pieces, also, if you don't like the taste of chickpeas you can switch it for cornmeal flour for a more crispy stack or buckwheat flour for a soft texture and darker colour

Buckwheat Banana Chocolate Cakes 2 Ways

This week I had some bananas that were very close to being to old to eat, and there's no better excuse for the pairing of banana and chocolate to be inside my house than that. I was also looking for a reason to bust out my new mini chocolate block mold for the first time
So the first thing I needed to do was to figure out a new recipe for banana cake seeing as the one I have is choc full of butter and milk and wheat and other forbidden foods.
To compensate for all the chocolate in these recipes I decided to go for the healthier, wholemeal flours this time to make approx 48-60 cake pops and 12 cupcakes.
Here goes

Gluten Free Dairy Free Raspberry Cupcakes with Raspberry "Buttercream"

These cupcakes were a success first time!!! That hardly ever happens, at least not to me. The only change I would make would be swapping the brown sugar I used for these with white and using bittersweet chocolate chips rather than semisweet just to play off the tartness of the raspberries just a little more.
Regardless these cupcakes were ( I say "were" because they disappeared VERY quickly)  decadently sweet and tart and soft. They make both a cute dessert, served with coconut ice-cream (recipe to come!) or an afternoon tea treat. It's another one of those versatile recipes that can be used as a cake or cupcakes. I took these to work last week and they were loved by everybody, including those who can eat gluten and dairy.

I suppose my goal is to create really good food that everyone likes, not bearable food or 'edible' food but food that can be lusted over, food that I will dream about and look forward to. Most of all, this whole blog thing is to help me figure out the flour combinations that I like, ME but not just me, other people, people who CAN and DO eat gluten on a regular basis. I hate it when people tell me that I'm missing out. I DO NOT!! Yes I have to make most of what I eat from scratch but all that means is that my food is the kind of food that I like, and that YOU (not you but the person who thinks I can't eat anything) smell from down the hallway and wish YOU could eat. OK rant over, here's the recipe:

Gluten Free, Dairy Free Chocolate Cupcakes w/ Vanilla Frosting

All my cake recipes are adapted from this wonderfully versatile recipe which was given to me at a tupperware party about 2 or 3 years ago and it was love at first bite (excuse the cliche). It can be put into a cake tin for a moist, dense cake or spread out in a brownie pan for a thinner chewy brownie and put into cupcake cases for cupcakes with smooth tops that are easy to decorate.
This was the first recipe I made when I found out that I needed to be gluten free. It was a comfort to know that a thing that I have been making pretty regularly for a long time was already pretty much gluten free anyway. It's good on good days and bad, it's tasty hot or cold, naked or frosted, it handles being a little over cooked and a little under.
This recipe has become the basis from which I have form loads of recipes. Newly gluten free taste buds are more sensitive to the tastes and after tastes of certain flour blends, this recipe is where I found that nut flours tend to be the more mild tasting of the gluten free flours and fit best with a recently gluten filled palette.
It's a forgiving, quick one pot recipe that I have thrown together at the last second so many times I've lost count and it's always a hit at work or with friends or family.
The ingredients can be a little bit expensive but I find buying in bulk outside of the supermarket is the best way to cut down on the costs. Whatever you do though, don't skimp on the chocolate seeing as it forms the main flavour base of this recipe. I use Whittakers 50% or 70% Dark chocolate, mostly because it not only tastes really good but it comes in 250g blocks which means it leaves 50g to nibble at while they cook and the house is filling up with delicious smells