Carrot cake with coconut and pecans

I haven't baked gluten-free before and was dreading the process of mixing my own gluten-free flour mix.

"Xantham gum?!" I cried to myself, tearing at my hair. "I have never even seen such a thing in the stores (though admittedly I have never looked)! And in Australia we do not have this quote unquote Pamela's Ultimate Baking Mix thing that all these American recipes talk about. I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO MAKE THIS CAKE AND THE EVENING WILL BE RUINED."

"Oh for the love of-!" said a colleague exasperatedly. "There's pre-mixed gluten-free flour in the supermarket. It's in the health food aisle."

And she was right.





Carrot Cake

1/2 cup light vegetable oil
1 cup organic light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup plain yogurt (or coconut yogurt)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon honey (or agave)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon mix of nutmeg, clove and allspice
2 cups gluten-free baking flour mix (I bought a White Wings pre-mix)
Pinch of baking powder
3/4 cup dessicated coconut
1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots (I used 2 large carrots)
1/2 cup golden raisins or currants
1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Preheat the oven to 180 C and grease a 9-inch springform cake pan.

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs, add the oil and beat, then add the brown sugar and beat until smooth.

Beat in the yogurt, vanilla, honey, cinnamon and spice.

Add baking flour mix and beat until combined.

Add coconut, carrots, raisins and nuts. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine.

Spread the batter evenly in the cake pan and place the pan in the center of a preheated oven.

Bake until the cake is firm, and a wooden pick inserted into the center emerges clean. Mine took about 1 hour but it could take less - the original recipe suggested 45 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack before frosting with cream cheese icing. Sprinkle with coconut, if desired. (I didn't.)


Cream Cheese Icing

120g softened cream cheese
2 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract, to taste
1-2 cups icing sugar
A squeeze or two lemon (or other citrus) to taste

In a mixing bowl beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the vanilla.

Add in the sugar, 1 cup at a time. The original recipe calls for 3 cups (!) but I found 1 to 1.5 cups more than sufficient. Also, I cheated, because I ran out of icing sugar, and supplemented it with caster sugar. Ha.

Squeeze a little lemon or other citrus juice into the frosting and beat till smooth. Add more sugar, if needed, to thicken, or add more juice to thin.


Adapted from Gluten Free Goddess


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Oh hey. My Coconut Bread recipe was transformed by Bryn into a most awesome comic strip for the latest issue of Beef Knuckles. There is even a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reference! :DDDD So you should totally pick up a copy if you get a chance. Also because the zine is actually good.

Pear and Almond Frangipane Tart

Dear friends of the Haus of KKW,

You are cordially invited to the third KKW High Tea event, on Sunday May 2 in the fine year 2010. The venue is the Poon Palace.

Please bring a plate of delicious food, preferably servable in cute little portions, and any tasty and/or rare teas to share.

Hope everyone can make it!! Ex oh ex oh gossip girls and guys!!

This was my contribution. It looked fairly humble next to the Earl Grey tiramisu (handmade! down to the mascarpone and sponge!), chocolate macaroons, honey and lemon semolina cake, mini quiches, polenta squares with truffle mascarpone, bacon jam and sourdough, blue cheese and onion bites, pate, mini chicken pies, pink lemonade, durian sponge cake and everything else I forgot to mention...



Pâte Sablée
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
125 g butter, very cold, cut into small pieces
1 egg yolk


Poached Pears
3 ripe medium pears
3 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt


Frangipane
85g butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup almond meal
2 teaspoons flour
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 large egg plus 1 egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons almond extract




Pears: Combine the water, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon stick, vanilla, and salt in a saucepan large enough to hold all the pears and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, cut the pears in half, remove the seed core and fibrous cores at either end, then peel the pears.

Add the pear halves to the simmering syrup and reduce heat to low. Cover, and let pears poach for about 10 minutes, turning them halfway. The pears will become slightly translucent, very tender, and easily pierced with a knife or skewer.

Let the pears cool in the liquid until room temperature before using. Or, you can store them in their liquid in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.


Tart shell: Mix the flour, confectioner's sugar, and salt. Add the pieces of cold butter and use finger tips to massage the butter into the mixture. Add the egg yolk and combine until the dough starts to turn from dry to clumpy. The mixture will be clumpy, but do not overmix - when the dough pieces looks like they will stick when you press them together, stop.

Butter a tart tin with removable bottom. Turn the dough out into the tin and press into the bottom and up the sides with your fingers. If you have any leftover dough, save the extra for patching the shell after you bake it. Do not press the dough too hard or it will become tough.

Freeze the tart shell for at least 30 minutes. When you are ready to bake it, preheat the oven to 190 C.

To partially bake the tart shell, take a piece of foil and butter the shiny side, then press the buttered side tightly to the shell. You do not need pie weights. Place the tart shell on a baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes until the shell is dry and lightly colored. If any places have cracked, repair with the extra dough. Let cool on a rack until room temperature.

NOTE: I baked it for 25 minutes and it was too long; after the final baking my tart shell was overdone, so I would recommend keeping a close eye on the oven during this step.


Frangipane: Combine the butter and sugar, mixing until smooth. Add the ground almonds; then add the flour and cornstarch; and then the egg and egg white. Mix until very smooth. Add in the vanilla and almond extracts just to blend.

The frangipane can be used immediately or you can store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. If it becomes too firm in the fridge, let it sit at room temperature for a while to soften before using.


Assembling the tart: Preheat the oven to 175 C. Spread the frangipane evenly into the cooled tart shell.

Take the poached pears out of their liquid and drain them on paper towels. You don't want too much excess liquid or they will make the frangipane soggy. Cut each pear half crosswise into thick slices. Do not separate the pear slices yet.

Slide a spatula or other flat utensil underneath the pear so you can transfer the entire half onto the tart. Press on the pear to fan the slices toward the top narrow end of the pear.

Slide the pear half onto the frangipane carefully - you can move the pear after you place it, but not much.

Repeat with the other pear halves until there are four to six halves on the tart, evenly spaced.

Place the tart on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 45-50 minutes, until the frangipane is puffed, golden brown, and firm to the touch. Cool the tart on a wire rack.

Before serving, dust confectioner's sugar over the tart.



Adapted from Dessert First

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Pillows

Yes, you are quite right - my ones look NOWHERE NEAR as attractive the ones in the original post. Um, I tried, what can I say...

This was not the most fun of recipes to make, as the oil makes the dough very greasy, and it's probably not very good for you either. We're talking heart-attack levels of sugar.

They tasted okay! And lord knows they should have, given the amount of sugar I stirred into the damn things.



The original recipe is vegan but as noted below, I used dairy milk instead of non-dairy milk in my version.

Chocolate dough:
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
3 tablespoons milk (non-dairy milk in original recipe)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened dutch processed cocoa powder
2 tablespoons black unsweetened cocoa or more dutch processed unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine oil, sugar, maple syrup, milk and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Sift in flour, cocoa powder, black cocoa if using, baking soda and salt and mix to form a moist dough.


Filling:
3/4 cup natural salted peanut butter, crunchy or creamy style
2/3 cup icing sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons milk (non-dairy milk in original recipe)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

In another mixing bowl beat together peanut butter, icing sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk and vanilla extract to form a moist but firm dough. If peanut butter dough is too dry (as different natural peanut butters have different moisture content), stir in remaining tablespoon of milk. If dough is too wet, knead in a little extra powdered sugar.


Preheat oven to 190 C.

Roll peanut butter dough into 24 balls. Scoop a generous tablespoon of chocolate dough, flatten into a disc and place a peanut butter ball in the centre.

Fold the sides of the chocolate dough up and around the peanut butter center and roll the chocolate ball into an smooth ball between your palms. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Place cookies on lined baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes. Remove sheet from oven and let cookies cool for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack.


Adapted from Post Punk Kitchen

Orange & Clove Almond Cookies

I was a bit sad my parents weren't able to sample any of my brioche tart, so I decided to bake them some cookies instead!

I made two batches (next post will be the chocolate and peanut butter pillows) and I think this one was the more successful. These are quite dry and light, rather like Greek almond cookies, and go very well with a cup of tea.





230g butter, room temperature
1/2 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp orange zest
1/3 tsp ground cloves
1/4 cup ground almonds/almond flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup icing sugar, plus extra, for dusting


Preheat oven to 175 C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in orange zest, ground cloves, ground almonds, cornstarch and salt.

Slowly blend in the flour until all of the flour has been incorporated and the dough comes together.

Shape dough into small balls and place on prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the edges of the cookies just start to brown.

Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes.

Sift 1/2 cup icing sugar onto a plate. Dip the bottom of each cookie into the sugar, then place on a wire rack. Dust tops of cookies thoroughly with remaining sugar. Or if you're me, just roll them around a bit.

Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Makes about 25 cookies.


From Baking Bites