Pumpkin Cupcakes

Original recipe(not allergen free), from Rhonda Hair, pumpkin recipes

Pumpkin Cupcakes

2 1/4 c. flour

3 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. each ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg

1/2 c. margarine

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 c. pumpkin

3/4 c milk

3/4 c. each nuts and raisins

Adapting without wheat, dairy, eggs, nuts:

April 27, 2016
Sweet potato cupcakes, double batch

1 cup oil- 1/2 cup coconut and 1/2 cup canola

3 cups brown sugar

1/3 cup applesauce + 1 T. ground chia seed

1 1/2 cups Coconut Dream drink

4 c. flour of choice

1 1/2 t. xanthan gum

1 t. soda

4 tsp. baking powder

1 t. salt

2 t. cinnamon

1 t. ginger

Cream oil and sugar, then add applesauce and chia seed and mix. Add coconut milk and flour, slowly mix until flour won't fly then mix on medium high for a couple minutes. Turn into muffin tins. I made 18 muffins plus one 7X11 glass pan, to fit it all on one rack. Bake 375 degrees 23-25 min.

notes:

-light and fluffy! moist, flavorful. 

-Great with coconut-vanilla frosting I make.

-sweet, try reducing sugar to 2 1/2 cups. 

-find Coconut Dream on shelf in grocery store,    Tetrapak shelf stable

-Try reducing sugar to 2 1/2 cups, if using sweet potato puree.

-for flour this time I used a mixture of rice, oat, garbanzo, very fine cornflour, and cornstarch. 10 cups rice, 5 cups each oat and garbanzo, 2 cups cornflour, 2 cornstarch. Stored in gallon bags in freezer. 

A favorite cake!

Yay! It has been a challenge to make a good basic, but flavorful gluten free cake. But the most recent cake my family made was a great success! It has a really good basic flavor and great texture. And, it's good cold, right out of the fridge! Most gluten-free baked goods are gritty when cold. Not this one!  It could have to doing with my new grain mill; it can grind very fine flour. I home ground garbanzo beans and brown rice for this cake.

What's funny is that my daughter and I first made a cake mix cake, which I thought had a good chance of turning out. But it didn't. Haha, the simple cake fell through but the one from scratch turned out! Things happen! It's all a part of the learning and the experience. (I think I made the batter too thin with the cake mix cake. It was about 1/4" tall. I cut it up into pieces and stuck in a freezer bag to later mix with pudding and strawberries. : )

Here is what we did for our new favorite from scratch cake:

Adapt Better Homes and Garden Yellow Cake recipe:

On the left are original ingredients; on right are my substitutions
if nothing appears on right side; use what is called for on the left

2 1/2 cups flour                     1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
                                              2/3 cup garbanzo bean flour
                                              1/3 cup cornstarch
                                              1 tsp. xanthan gum
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt                            1/4 tsp. salt
2/3 c. butter or margarine     2/3 cup canola oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs                                    1/4 cup applesauce and
                                               2 tsp. ground chia seed, mixed
1 1/4 cups milk                      1 1/4 cups Coconut Dream coconut drink
                                               and Rice milk
                                               (I used 3/4 c.coconut drink and
                                               1/2 cup rice milk
                                               may use canned coconut milk

Grease pans with canola oil, if not nonstick. (We used nonstick layer pans this time). 2  9" rounds, 2 8" rounds, or one 9" X 13." In separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. In mixing bowl, cream sugar and oil. Add vanilla and egg substitute and mix. Add milk and dry ingredients. Mix 2 minutes. Bake 375 degrees for about 30 minutes, checking if toothpick comes out clean. If in layer pans, cool 10 minutes, then invert on cooling rack or on plate. If making cake more than a few hours ahead of time, place in fridge after it has cooled. To help frosting to spread more easily, place cake in freezer for a couple hours or so, then frost while cake is firm on outer crust.

Top with fudge frosting, adapted from Better Homes and Garden:

On the left are original ingredients; on right are my substitutions
if nothing appears on right side; use what is called for on the left

No-Cook Fudge Frosting

4 3/4 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder            1/2 cup semi-sweet
                                                                     chocolate chips, melted*
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened          1/2 cup dairy free spread
                                                                     (I used Smart Balance*)
1/3 cup boiling water                                   1/3 cup Coconut Dream,
                                                                     microwaved hot
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine powdered sugar and dairy free spread. Add vanilla, melted chocolate and hot coconut milk. Mix with electric beater.

*I substituted chips because I had no cocoa. To melt chocolate chips, stir in pan on stovetop on very low heat. May want to add coconut oil or shortening(like 1 T) to smooth texture. (my chocolate chips were a bit rough and dry, probably heated a bit too fast at first, but stirring with a bit of coconut oil smoothed them out). Another method is simply to microwave the chips, beginning with 30-60 seconds in microwave, stirring, and returning to microwave and stirring in 30 second intervals until smooth.

*check labels, many types of smart balance have dairy

I think this would make a great tres leches cake(gluten-free, diary free egg free see http://www.theprovidenthomemaker.com or a good carmel cake with carmel topping.

My children decorated my daughter's birthday cake.

It was so fun for them to get to do it!

Fudgy Frosting

Ever had chocolate boiled milk frosting? I love it. I'm so happy I can make it dairy free!

To celebrate my husband's birthday, we had chocolate cake, with fudgy frosting and raspberry filling. I used my sister's Chocolate Boiled Frosting recipe, and replaced the dairy milk called for with coconut milk. The recipe called for 3 sticks of butter(for a yield of 4 cups frosting), and I tried it without any at all, and then with a bit of Smart Balance buttery spread added. It was good both ways. The buttery spread did add a nice rich dimension, but I don't think I would have liked the full amount called for in the recipe. I think I used about 1/3 c. of spread, for a half batch. (2 c. yield).  I'll post the original recipe, and then what I substituted, marked with --. You can experiment using the original recipe to make various kinds of dairy free cooked frosting!

Boiled Milk Frosting

1 1/2 c. sugar (dark brown sugar for Caramel Frosting)
1/3 c. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. whole milk -- use coconut milk or coconut cream
2 tsp. vanilla
3 sticks butter, cut into Tbsp-sized pieces -- use dairy free product. Full amount not needed.
     I used Smart Balance buttery spread* and added to taste. It was much less the amount than called       for here. If you use coconut cream, probably want to use even less butter.

In a small saucepan, stir together sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Slowly stir in the milk. Bring to boil over medium heat, cook and stir until very thick, about 5-7 min. Cover and cool to room temperature. Add vanilla, then beat in butter, 1 piece at a time. [Note I just added a spoon full of spread at a time and beat it in]. If frosting's a little too soft, let stand at room temperature for 1 hr. to firm up. If storing until later, refrigerate, the let sit on counter 2 hrs or until softened. Beat 1 min. to re-fluff. Makes 4 cups.

Chocolate Boiled Frosting: Add 1/4 c. cocoa and 2-4 oz melted and cooled bittersweet chocolate to the hot cooked milk mix. [ I didn't have diary free chocolate in the house as usual, so I just added 1-2 T. extra cocoa instead. No problem. Frosting was delicious! Perfect to compliment our chocolate cake and raspberry sauce! ]

*Check for casein and whey in Smart Balance, most types have either one or both. The fully diary free one presently is the light version, but it can change.

Lemony marshmallow topping or filling

My sister developed this recipe to make a cake filling for a lemon wedding cake. She then used it as a topping(instead of frosting) for a gluten-free cake she made for my daughters and I to try. It's delicious! And a very nice change from buttercream frosting.

First, have cake baked and cool.

Prepare lemon sauce:

Heat 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup lemon juice, and 1/8 tsp. salt in saucepan on stove, just before simmering. In separate bowl, add just enough water to 1 Tablespoon cornstarch to form a paste. Pour heated water/lemon mixture into cornstarch paste, stirring. Transfer back to saucepan, stirring on medium heat, about 1 minute, until mixture is transparent. Cool while making marshmallow topping.

Prepare marshmallow mixture:

Combine 1 c sugar, 1 Tablespoon gelatin(unflavored), and 1/2 c. water in saucepan. Heat and stir just until sugar is dissolved. Stire in 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Cool about 5 min. Transfer to electronic mixer-beat high speed 10 minutes.

When marshmallow mixture is ready(when mixture falls from beaters it keeps a soft shape on the mixture below), gently fold in the lemon sauce. If using lemony-marshmallow as filling, pipe buttercream frosting(can be non-dairy) around edges of single layer cake. Fill in with marshmallow mixture. Then stack next layer of cake on top. If using as a topping, see if the mixture is set up enough to stay on cake.

You may want to wait awhile for mixture to set up before "frosting" the cake. If you wait too long, it will become too thick, however. For me, I waited probably an hour, and mixture was set up enough that there were chunks in the "frosting" when I spread it on the cake. These lumps did come out, though, with enough spreading. Some of the mixture slumped at the bottom, but I scraped it off and smoothed it over. This is still an experimental recipe, but turned out looking really good on the cake, and was refreshing and delicious!

Another successful birthday cake!

For the three years that my family has needed allergy-friendly birthday cakes, we have tried a few different things. The first birthday cake I made without wheat, dairy, eggs, or nuts was grainy and dry. My daughter's second birthday cake was made of rice crispies and marshmallows. Since then, we have had kabocha squash cupcakes with cooked coconut frosting(those were delicious!), offered homemade cupcakes or something yummy for the children to have while my husband had a mini birthday cake baked from a mix in the microwave, and even had a cookie for a birthday cake(my daughter requested a sugar cookie rather than a cake).

For my husband's recent birthday, we had our first "traditional" birthday cake(as in white, yellow, or chocolate, full size) to be shared with the whole family, since my attempt 3 years ago for my daughter's first birthday. It was a vanilla cake from the magazine "Living Without," which has select recipes online. It's a good cake! Funny, the kids we made it for didn't really go for it, they were most interested in the frosting(homemade marshmallow with lemon sauce whipped in) and in the ice cream made just for them! I'll post the non-dairy ice cream recipe.

The cake was very sturdy(not crumbly, held together well), had a great texture(not grainy and not starchy/powdery!), and no off-flavor. It was a lot like a vanilla pound cake. It was more dense than the traditional white cake, like a pound cake would be. Probably because I didn't use eggs. That's okay, I'd much rather have a slightly dense cake than a grainy or starchy or off-taste cake. The flavor was basic. But plenty good with a raspberry sauce I served. The cake together consisted of the vanilla cake recipe linked below, with raspberry sauce and lemon marshmallow frosting.

Here's a link to the recipe for the cake. The recipe includes eggs, but has a substitution for eggs written below the recipe. http://www.livingwithout.com/recipes/aprmay09-vanilla-cake.html
There are variations I'd like to try: coconut cake and lemon cake.

For the frosting, follow the "buttercream" frosting recipe with the cake(use non-dairy margarine), or try the lemon-marshmallow topping I served. Our family is delighted with this new topping. My sister created this as a filling for a wedding cake she recently made, and found that it works well for a frosting. This delicious lemony-marshallow topping is created by mixing a batch of basic marshmallows(easy to make) with lemon sauce. See my post "Lemony-Marshmallow Topping."

For the filling, puree some fruit(we used raspberries with some strawberries), sweeten if desired, and thicken. I use Instant Clear-Jel(which is modified food starch). I have to admit that I haven't verified for certain that this isn't derived from barley or wheat. My understanding, when I researched it, is that it's derived from corn. But I am not confident in this enough to warrant it for your use if you cannot have gluten. Check on this. If you cannot have instant clear-jel, you can use cornstarch to thicken. Or arrowroot if you cannot have corn, etc...

This was a great birthday cake! To decorate it, I simply used strawberries and blueberries, placed in a flower design on top of the marshmallow topping. My sister previously made a cake with this marshmallow topping and simply placed pansies from her garden on top. It was beautifully simple. She used pureed stawberries for her filling. The cake was gluten-free lemon, which had a delicious flavor. There are lots of possibilities for delicious, enjoyable, and allergy-friendly birthday cakes!

Vegetable Brownies?!!

Brownies (With spinach and carrot)
From “Deceptively Delicious,” Jessica Seinfeld,
with my adaptations added in parentheses

3 oz semisweet chocolate
½ cup carrot puree
½ cup spinach puree
½ firmly packed brown sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
2 tablespoons soft tub margarine spread(I use non-dairy*)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large egg whites(I used egg replacer-can try other substitutes as well)
¾ cup oat flour(blend old fashioned oats in a blender)
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

Melt chocolate. Combine melted chocolate, vegetable purees, sugar, cocoa powder, margarine, and vanilla. Whisk 1-2 min until creamy.
Beat egg whites(or egg replacer), then stir in flour, baking powder, and salt. Baker 35-40 min in greased 8 x 8 pan. Cool completely before eating; the spinach flavor disappears when brownie is cool. Absolutely delicious and really healthy for a brownie!

*Smart Balance is the tub spread I currently use, but check labels carefully, most recently only one type of Smart Balance has no casein and no whey.

Rice Crispy Birthday Cake

Want an easy-to-make wheat-free cake? Try making rice crispy treats and throwing them in a cake pan! I use either non-dairy margarine spread or some sort of vegetable oil in place of butter. In the microwave, melt marshmallows and non-dairy margarine. (Just a little butter, you want a firm product). Then stir in rice crispies. Lots of rice crispies, you're going for a product that will hold its shape well when cool. Pack the mixture down into a cake pan, and let them set up before decorating. When ready, frost a thin layer(called a "crumb coat") of non-dairy frosting on the cake. Let the frosting harden. Then frost the cake again, and decorate.

Before I even had to deal with food allergies, I would routinely use rice crispies for cake decorating. As a child and teenager, I and my siblings would decorate cakes each year and enter them in the county fair. Sometimes our cakes would fall, or not rise satisfactorily, or fall apart when frosted. We found that rice crispies tended to make uniform cakes more consistently than the other cake recipes we used.

The image I've attached is of my daughter's birthday cake this year. We had a party at the park and served rice crispies! The kids enjoyed it. I found instructions off the internet for making the butterfly cut-out cake shape. You use a round cake pan and do a bit of cutting, then piece it together to make a butterfly. I used fruit roll-ups for the antennas.

To make non-dairy frosting, I find a frosting recipe, then use water instead of milk(or I use soymilk or rice milk), and then replace any margarine called for with vegetable shortening, or use both non-dairy margarine and vegetable shortening(this is more expensive, though).

NOTE: Make sure that the brand of rice crispies you use doesn't contain wheat. You never know until you check the label. Watch out for malt flavoring, malt extract, etc if you need gluten-free- this is usually derived from barley from what I understand. All the brands I'm aware of have malt in them.