Duncan Hines NEW decadent gluten free Vanilla Creme Cake.

Duncan Hines Gluten free

Our local discount grocer had an item I had not seen before.

Duncan Hines NEW decadent gluten free Vanilla Creme Cake.

The cake had a good texture, flavor, and held up well.
The creme filling was a good flavor, not too sweet. Just the right thickness.
The glass was smooth, chocolaty and easy to make.
Over all I'm  impressed, for their first try at Gluten free cake. And so were our dinner guests.

The is product in not listed on the Duncan Hines sight, nor is it in stock at most regular grocers. So I would guess that it's not going to be continued. But I hope that means that Duncan Hines will not give up making gluten free products.

ChocoVegie Muffins, gluten free

I have been experimenting with punting vegetables in Chocolate  muffins for a while. The first batch I liked was with carrot and zucchini. Then the next time I was thinking that I would like to make more, but I did not have zucchini. So a little experimenting, and I used some very ripe bananas.

This is a small batch, only 6 muffins, but since i'm the only GF in my house, six is enough for me, to eat, before they go bad.
This recipe is so good, my three and six-year old will eat them too. So Sometimes I double the batch. We will eat them for breakfast, I would think slightly healthier then chocolate cereal, but maybe not.

So there we have both versions.

CocoVegie Muffins

1 C Pamela's Baking and Pancake mix.*
1/4 C coco
1 egg
1 tsp Vanilla
1/4 C sugar
1/2/ C carrot
1/2 C zucchini OR 1/4 C oil + one ripe banana.
-I have also tossed in a handful of chocolate chips.

Prep the vegetables by pealing them. Then shred, or grate them. I process mine in a blender, so make them super smooth.

Mix the dry ingredients, then add wet.
Mix it with a spatula or spoon, because the batter is a little stiff.
Spoon it into six muffin molds.
Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, or until the top springs back when presses lightly.

* I relay like to have Mixes on hand. I just don't have the cupboard space for all of the variety of ingredients, and since many recipes call for such a minor amount, of some obscure thing, it's not cost effective to get it, and then have to toss it out before using it all.

Steam cake

It's hot. Well, hot for the NW.  lower 80s or so. Makes me not want to heat up the stove. But we have strawberries, and I want shortcake. So search the internet for cake in a steamer.
http://dingoozatfood.blogspot.sg/2014/10/easy-steamed-eggy-cupcakes.html?m=1

I adjusted the ingredients to be gluten free,and it came out nice.

• 1/3 C Namaste Gluten free flour blend
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 Tb powdered milk

Sifter together.
Then add:

• 1 egg, 
• 2 Tb sugar
• 1Tb vegetable oil
• 2 Tb Milk

Mix well, and divide between 4 silicone cupcake molds. Place molds in streamer basket.
Steam for 15 min.

Grain free Brownies

I've got a friend doing a grain free diet. And only sweeteners like honey and coconut. Not sure of it's name, but she gave me a recipe she wanted to try, I looked it over, and adjusted it to what I had in my cupboard, and to be dairy free.

1/2 Cup Coconut oil
4 oz bar, unsweetened chocolate
12 TB cocoa powder
4 TB coconut oil
-Melted together in a double boiler, then add
1 Cup honey
1 tsp Vanilla
-Remove from heat, and While it cools a little
-In food processes:
3/4 Cup Coconut sugar
1/2 Cup blanched, slivered almonds
2TB coconut flour
114 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
-Process until the almonds sugar have broken down to a flour consistency
- Then add
4 eggs, one at a time. Fully integrated.
Preheat oven to 350
Line an 8 X 11 pan with parchment paper.
Pour in the batter, and spread in the pan, to an even height.
Bake
Remove from pan, and Allow to cool.

It had a very rich and heavy texture. Not quite as fudge like, as a tort. I had some with whipped cream, and on another occasion with strawberry syrup. Either is good.

Apple Snack cake, With Pamela's Baking mix

This is a similar idea to banana bread, but apple instead.

4TB shortening, melted
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup applesauce
2 cups Pamela's Baking and pancake mix
1/2 tsp salt

Beat together shortening, honey and sugar.
Add remaining ingredients, and stir well.
Spoon into loaf pan, and smooth top.
Preheat oven to 320
Bake for 70 to 80 minutes, or until l toothpick inserted in center, comes out clean.

I tel tot cool slightly, then remove from pan so it doesn't get sweaty and soggy. Let cool complementary before slicing

You can eat it as is, or top with a little brown sugar frosting.

Apple cobbler with hidden veggies

I love Cameo Apples. For everything.
This is a recipe to sneak more veggies into my children's diet.

1 apple, pealed, sliced into16 slices

1 apple, half sliced into 8 slices, Half  dices (peal on)

1/3 C diced yellow Zucchini (seeds scooped out)

1/2 C Brown Sugar

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

-Stir and let juice while you prep crust

1/2 C Namaste flour

1/4 C Oats, Bob's red mill

1/4 C Brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Dash nutmeg

1/2 C Shortening, melted.

-Mix

-Pour fruit into 8X8 pan, spread evenly

-Take handfuls of topping, and pat in you hands, until flat-ish, lay on top of fruit. Repeat, covering entire top of pan.

-324 for 35-45 min, until apples bubble, and crust is firm.

Cake decorations. Do what you know

I have never taken a cake decoration class. I have wanted to, but it was just to frivolous. Plus, I been a big fan of  "cake wrecks" for years, and I thought I could do as good as those people, without any training.
But sadly, I guess I can only do as good as those people, without any training.
So, here is the cake I made of the Doctor Who party we had with friends.


It is a simple white cake in a 9X13 pan. I used my DrWho ice cube mold, to make marshmallow filled chocolate Villains. I made a very small batch of "white chocolate fudge" 'cause I know how to do that, and tinted it gray, then spread it very thin in a pan. Then used my doctor who cookie cutters to make the shapes, and played those on top of  a buttercream frosting, and I put Blue Raspberry cool aid in the frosting to color it and flavor it. It gave it a little bit of a sour taste, and balanced the cake and the sugary shaped on top.
I loved it and the responses from our friends were positive.

Tea cakes. Gluten free Bananna Bread

For some reason tea cake recipes have been hard to find; And By tea cake I mean; banana bread, zucchini bread, lemon poppy seed loaf or Applesauce cake. I have also heard these called snack cakes, but I think that implies that they are baked in a square pan, not in a loaf pan.

The kind of things that my mother would give us a slice of afterschool. Not as sweet as cookies, but more of a treat than muffins.

But I think I finally have one;

Chocolate banana bread: 

1 cups	Namaste Foods Perfect Flour Blend
2 Tb 1/2 tsp	coco powder baking soda
pinch	salt
1/4 cup	canola oil
1/4 cup	White sugar
1/4 cup	applesauce
1	large egg
1	banana, mashed
1/4 tsp	gluten-free vanilla

Preheat to 325.
Mix all ingredients in large bowl.
Pour batter into two small loaf pans. Bake at 325 for 30 min. Rotate pans, and bake for 30 more, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.


Thing is; back in 2001, when I first went Gluten Free, all of the recipes I could find were also dairy, nut and egg free. Now a days, Gluten Free is associated with Paleo, and the nuts are back and  introducing other costly ingredients.

Rustic peach cake

 

Peach cake. (rustic coffee cake)

1 box Krusteaz Gluten Free Honey cornbread mix
1/3 cup Vegetable oil
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp Four season's gourmet cold pressed Blueberry Vinegar
1 Tb white sugar
1 ripe peach, thin sliced
1 TB brown sugar

Mix vinegar into milk, making blueberry buttermilk. (could use any vinegar)




Wisk oil, egg and milk.
Stir in white sugar and mix, until moistened
Spoon batter into greased 8X8 pan
Top with peach. Press peach down into batter.
Sprinkle Brown sugar on top
-let rest while oven preheats to 375.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Check center for doneness with a toothpick, might need 5-8 more min.

Let cool, and slice.

We love it. And it's not super sweet or heavy. It's a nice snack cake as is, or with some wiped cream, and caramel sauce, makes an easy desert.

Krusteaz Gluten free pancake mix, review

Picked up a new product this week; Krusteaz Gluten free pancake mix.

 





krusteaz.com

 

They turned out very good.
Excellent texture. The batter was thick, but cooked evenly. The flavor was very nice, no bean or strange aftertaste.

This is my favorite Pancake mix!



BTW: I have NEVER EVER been contacted by krusteaz. This blog generated NO income. My opinion is my opinion. I write these reviews with the hope of helping others navigate the GF product marketplace.

Recipie review: ATK Lemon loaf

I had a craving for pound cake. A nice, cake like loaf with lemon and blueberries. I had not yet tried the Lemon pound cake recipe from "America's Test Kitchen, How can it be gluten free" cookbook.
I decided to use some of my frozen blueberry supply to make a lemon loaf.

The batter was a little thin, so the berries sank to the bottom.
At the designated time, the loaf was a little doughy, so I turned the temp down a little and left it in another 10 min.
The finished loaf was rather dense, and crusty. A little hard to eat. It was dry and doughy at the same time.
Not what I was hoping for, in a lemon loaf.
I ate about a third, and then put the rest in the freezer. Perhaps it will make a nice French toast, or cake pop...

Gluten free Tropical Trifle

Now You should know that you can NOT just substitute gluten free cake mix into regular cake mix.

Its important to respect the difference. So it took me a few tries to change my old Jello in the cake recipe. We are not talking poke cake.

We are talking about pouring dry Jell-O powder into a white cake batter, and then baking it into a fabulously colored cake.

In this case: A tropical trifle:

I started with A box of cake mix, in this case Betty Crocker's yellow cake mix

I followed the directions on the box, but with an extra egg, and a Tb more water.

Pored in a small box of Tropical Flavored Jell-O.

Then baked in a 9X13 for a little longer at a little cooler.



Cut the cake into cubes, and layered it in the Trifle dish with Pineapple chunks, strawberry slices, mango, coconut, whipped cream, and banana pudding.

Gluiten free Brownies in the microwave

I'm not new to the idea of making a brownie in the microwave. I tried a store bought version back in 2010.
I like the idea of being able to make a small batch of brownies, quickly. I'm the only one eating gluten free in my family. So when I found a recipie for "1 minute flourless chocolate" no gluten, no dairy, over at ditchthewheat.com I gave it a try.
It was good, but I needed more chocolate.

My version is:
1 egg
2 Tb of cocopowder
2 Tb of white sugar
1/4 tsp baking Soda
1/8 cup mini-chocolate chips

Mix that up with a spatula
Spoon into three silicone cupcake molds, staggered.
Microwave at 75% for 1 min.

Not very attractive, but very tasty.

Choclate cake, with hiden fruit

 Chocolate Cake, with hidden fruit

1/4 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup coco
1 Cup boiling water
-Mix until butter is melted.
-In a separate bowl:
1/4 Cup banana
1/4 Cup Apple sauce
1/4 cup Avacado (yes it's a fruit)
-Mash until smooth.
-Then add
1/2 cup yogurt, vanilla, full fat
1 egg
-Beat fruits unto wet until incorporated.
-Add
2 Cups flour, Bob's red mill
1 tsp gar Gum
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp Baking powder
-Beat until smooth
Pour into greased bunt pan. Let lest while you preheat the oven.
Bake at 350 for 50 min.
Let cool before inverting, and removing from pan. Keep in airtight container at room temp.

I might be the first to admit that I am not the best mother. I try my best, but it's not always what I hoped it would be. Especially when it comes to Squeaker, and his eating habits.
He had to be induced early, and he never learned to nurse, was failure to thrive, and aspirated often. Put simply, His eating has been an issue since the moment he was born. He is now three and a half, and basically on a food strike, refusing everything. And I mean everything, was crying in a restaurant because I offered to get him ice-cream. He wants "noting"
So if I can get food into him, I try to make it calorically dense. Nutrient dense is a bonus.
I had read that you could use avocado instead of butter, and I thought, well butter has it's benefits as well, so what if I use both in this cake. And because there is some protein with bean flour, vitamins in apple sauce, and banana. I think it worked. It tasted like chocolate cake.
And it's not like I hid it. He helped me make the cake, mashed the avocado with the banana, measured the apple sauce. So he knew it was in there.
He ate two slices the first day, and one more the next day; then he lost interest.

Sponge cake, Gluten free recipie, Easy, Fast, Small batch.

Sponge Cake, *Inspired by Betty Hagmen's Fast and healthy sponge cake

4    T Tapioca flour
1/2 C rice flour
2    T potato starch
1    T milk powder
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
Pinch Salt
2 eggs
1/4 C Applesauce
1/3 C sugar

1. Wisk the dry together ( Or can sub for 3/4 cup of Bob's Red Mill pancake mix)
2. Beat the eggs and sugar until fluffy, 4 min or so.
3. Add dry to wet, mix until just combined. Don't over mix
4. Pour into cake pan lined with parchment. Or muffin tin with liners.
5.  Bake at 400 for 8-10 min
_ makes 6-8 muffins, or a thin layer of cake, great for wiped cream and fresh berries. This is my "GO-TO" for Strawberry short cake.


Since going gluten free in 2001 (nearly 15 years ago) one of my favorite cook books is Betty Hagmen.

     The biggest issue I have with Betty Hagman's recipes, is that her books are based of the idea that you create your own mixes/flour blends, and then use those in a given recipe. I don't have the cupboard space to keep multiple containers, that take me months to use up (or that turn rancid before I use them). So I end up trying to guess - estimate the blend to only make the portion that a recipe requires. 
     For example, This cake recipe called for 1/2 cup of the pancake mix, plus two tablespoons tapioca flour.
So I turn to the page for the pancake mix, and find it would yield about 6 cups of mix. That's 12 times more then I need! AND the first ingredient in the pancake mix is 4 cups of her flour blend.
So then I turn to the page with the flour bland instructions, which includes Tapioca flour, and divide the flours by 12.
Then turn back to the pancake page, and figure out 1/12 of the additional components are to add them. 
Then turn back to the cake page, but by then I had wasted the time I has set aside for baking.

Choclate cake, levels and definitions.

I consider chocolate cake to be an umbrella under which the categories of things like Devil's-food, red-velvet, and German-chocolate cake reside.

So, for a few years now, "Red velvet" cake has been a hip, in, and trendy thing. And I have to say, some people , who should know better, Should know better.

So Let me Ed-U-Cate

I have a few old cookbooks:
Between that, and my knowledgeable grandmothers, I give you the definitions of chocolate cake.

Red Velvet:
Red velvet is set apart ingredient wise with buttermilk and a little bit of Choco powder in the batter. Back in the day, before the recipe called for a TON of red food coloring, the color of the cake was NATURALLY occurring. It was before the chocolate was processed in a our modern "Dutch" processing ways. The chocolate would react with the buttermilk, and the reaction would cause the brown coco to look red. And the cream cheese frosting is a must. I would say this is the least chocolaty of the cakes.

Chocolate spoon cake:
This is the chocolate version of the classic pound cake. Also called Dump cake because you only use one bowl, and then dump it in the baking pan. This is the style most often found in cake mixes. Usually Eggs, milk and butter. It is chocolaty in a shallow way.

Devils food cake:
This cake in identified by the methods of using boiling water and coco powder. Sour cream and baking soda makes the cake a deeper brown and also a slightly different flavor. More "complex" flavor, because of the extra fat and acidity in the sour cream.  It has a more "coffee cake" texture from the cream and soda, which often leads to the appearance of coffee in the recipe. Back in the day, this cake was also red in color, and that is there it got the Devil name. But because of the other flavors, it's not that chocolaty.

German chocolate:
Using BROWN sugar, and the boiling water method with chunks of chocolate instead of coco. This makes the cake darker, and a richer flavor. The German part came form the origin of the chocolate; the original recipes called for a specific kind of sweet chocolate brick, that as imported from Germany, that the baker would then chop up and melt with hot water. The arrival of the coconut pecan frosting was closely after, but is still a good way to identify it.

"Brownies"
This cake is characterized by less flour, more coco and more liquid, as melting the butter is a must. Basically if a Brownie recipe calls for a leavening agent, then its actually a cake. Legend says that brownies were invented when someone left out the baking powder out of a chocolate cake by accident.

Betty crocker Gluten free "Cookies n Cream" frosting

My MIL gave me a cake mix and a tub of frosting. Not sure why... But It was a flavor of frosting I had not tried.

And it's gluten free.
Have to say, it's been a LONG time (almost 15 years) since I had cookies and cream anything.
So, I tried it out.

Betty Crocker Yellow cake mix. (better then any recipe I have)

It was very yummy and a fun change from my normal frosting.

America's Test Kitchen: Birthday Cake recipe review.

I already mentioned my opionion of the cookbook in general, but I thought I would give more indepth of the cake recipie itself

 

The "birthday cupcake" which they brag about on the cover, was a disappointment. They had better structure then the chocolate, but felt dry. After a bite or two you felt like you needed a glass of milk. And all the crumbs make you feel like you need to vacuum. The top crust was nice, and took the frosting well, but trying to remove the cupcake wrapper revealed that the rest of the cake was extremely fragile.

And the flavor was ... odd. It calls for melted white chocolate and sour cream.
The first time I attempted the recipe, I followed it to a T.

 

The second time I made it I changes a few things. I used regular chocolate chips, because I was out of white chocolate, and since the recipe was a disappointment I did not want to make a trip to the store to get more. (White chocolate is in effect: oil, butter and milk.) And I thought the actual chocolate might improve the flavor. It was not notable for the flavor, but it did change the color.
The recipe has no butter, it calls for oil. The book explained that because they used the sour cream you would not "miss the buttery flavor". I disagree. I thought the exchange was not an improvement in flavor. And since the first time I felt the cake was dry, I increased the sour cream by a spoonful the second time, but it did not help. I have had decent sour cream coffee cakes, but this should have been a birthday cake. So I felt like it was not a good match. And this was not even a decent coffee cake.

I felt that, after a few more attempts, I might be able to to adjust the recipe into something I like, but I am not going to bother. For me; the store bought Betty Crocker cake mix is a better choice.

All but gluten, Vanilla Snack cakes review

Next I tried the All But Gluten brand Vanilla Snack cakes.

"Vanilla cake with a vanilla crème filling and covered in chocolatey coating"

 

I thought the cake was a little dry and the chocolaty coating a little thin. When you bite in; the cream squirts out as the top and bottom pieces of cake slide in different directions. Very messy and sticky. But overall a good flavor.



Honestly, not sure what this is a gluten free version of.
A google search got us: Tastykake

 "a snack-sized circle of delicious vanilla or chocolate sponge cake, lined with a thick stripe of peanut butter or vanilla créme, and then coated in delicious chocolate "
never has a Tastykake so can't comparer.

Moon Rabbit foods, Glutenfree Yellow Cake Mix, review

I would not use for a layered cake, it crumbled too much when cut.
The texture was nice and light, not too dense, but a little messy, because of crumbs.
However the crust on the cupcake was excellent for applying frosting.

I did make them Dairy free as well. So that might have effected the results:
I used shortening instead of butter, and Soy EggNog instead of milk.
And then made Soy EggNog frosting. It was yummy.