Gluten-Free Carrot Cake

I've been juicing a lot lately with my new Breville Juicer and I've always had such a bad conscience to trow away all the fruit and vegetable pulp, so I thought there must be a way for me to at least use some of it.

So I thought of making a carrot cake, as you'll need shredded carrot for it anyway, might just as well use the pulp right.... So if you are juicing carrots and you want to use your leftovers this is for you.

You will need the following:

200 g butter softened/cubed
100 g finely shredded carrots (or more if you like)
100 g ground almonds
200 g superfine sugar (I like C&H Sugar Products)
100 g sweet rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
5 eggs
1 lemon (finely grated zest)

Grab a large mixing bowl and start out by beating your softened butter until it makes little peaks, then add the sugar and keep beating, mix in a little bit of lemon juice and the lemon zest, then while beating on medium speed add one egg at a time. Once you added all your eggs and everything is nicely combined you will slowly add the shredded carrot and the almond meal.

Make sure to scrape down the edges of your bowl so you get all the buttery taste into your batter.

Then slowly and gently fold in the rice flour (I prefer Koda Farms Mochiko Sweet Rice Four), which has been combined with the baking powder.
 
I do this by hand, as over mixing will make the cake rubbery. Then transfer the batter into a 8" / 20cm spring form pan and bake at 375F/200C for about 60 - 70 Min or until wooden pick comes out clean.

If in doubt it's better to bake gluten-free recipe's a bit longer especially the ones without any gum (guar gum / xanthan gum) in them.

Once your cake is done, let it cool and you can either frost it or do a glaze like I did.

For the white sugar glaze you'll need:

200 g powdered sugar sifted
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp lemon juice

Mix the above ingredients to a very thick syrup (think thick honey), set a little aside and color with a few drops of food coloring or with some cocoa powder (you might have to add a little liquid) so you can draw circles on top of the cake to create the "Spiderweb".

To create a smooth surface for your glaze, take about a spoon of apricot jam or any jelly you like, heat in the microwave and brush on the cake with a pastry brush.

Add the with glaze and smooth with a large knife or spatula and tilting the cake. Before it sets, pipe circles in the reserved colored icing on the cake and with a wooden pick pull lines across the cake, just like you would cut your slices. If you like you can add little Marzipan Carrots too.

Let the frosting 'dry' and enjoy!

Gluten Free "Amaretti" / Almond Cookies Crispy on the outside and soft in the Center!

Thanksgiving is almost here and Christmas is not far behind, so it's time to bake cookies. Loads and loads of cookies. This year I'll be making many varieties and most of them will be GLUTEN FREE. Oh and we're making Amaretti to start, let me tell you, these babies are super delicious, easy to make and yippeeh they are gluten free too.

Amaretti are a staple in Italy, they have a distinctive Almond aroma and are nice and crispy on the outside but have a wonderful soft and chewy center. Wonderful with some hot chocolate or a hot cup of java.




Here is what you need:

400 g ground almonds
300 g superfine sugar
3 tbsp sweet rice flour (I use Koda Farms Mochiko Sweet Rice Flour)
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon
3 large eggs
2 tsp almond flavor
1 sprinkle of salt

powdered sugar to roll your cookies in


Pre-heat your oven to 325F / 150 C

Once you've weighed out all your ingredients, start by separating your eggs and whip the egg-whites with the salt until very stiff.

Combine all the dry in ingredients in a large bowl, mix the almond flavor and the egg yolks well and ten add to the dry ingredients. Then add the egg whites, combine everything well and form a big ball of dough.

Pour some powdered sugar into a shallow dish and prepare your cookie sheets (I like to line them with wax paper). With moist hands start forming walnut size balls and roll lightly in the powdered sugar, then set them on your baking sheets.

Once you used all your dough and placed the little balls on your bakin sheets, take a glass or a spatula and press down the cookies slightly. Then bake in the pre-heated oven for about 25 minutes. The cookies should be nice and crispy on the outside and chewy and soft on the inside.


These cookies are great fresh but keep beautifully for up to a week in a tin or other storage container.
Oh and if you don't have to eat gluten free, you can use regular flour, no need to buy rice flour just to make cookies one time.

ENJOY! And let me know what you think!

Tip: if you want a little surprise inside, put little morsels of chocolate on the inside of the balls and bake as normal.

Semi-Homemade Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake

Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake

Look at this beauty! Super easy to make and nobody will ever know that it's not made from scratch. I wanted to make a quick cake to take to the office and didn't have time to make something from scratch, so I searched through my cupboard and dug out a box of Betty Crocker Devil's Food Cake mix. I used the regular version, but the gluten free one works just as well.


I then proceeded with the instructions on the box, switching out the water for milk, an adding a cup of roasted and ground hazelnuts, as well as about a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Pour your batter in a prepared baking dish, sprinkle with slivered almonds and bake as instructed or until a wooden pick comes out clean. Cool and serve.

Best with a cup of coffee or a glass of milk! Enjoy!

Tip: If you don't have hazelnuts use almond meal, it tastes just as nice.

Gluten Free Almond Cinnamon Cookies

Another Cookie very typical for Switzerland, you can buy them in any grocery store during Xmas time, and mostly throughout the year as well.  But you really have to have them around Xmas time. They are known back home as Cinnamon Stars, as traditionally they are cut out in star shapes.

I made these early this morning  and apparently they smelled so good I woke up my hubby with the smell wafting from the kitchen


Here is what you need:

3 egg whites, beat very stiff
300 g / 9 oz of powdered sugar, mix in with the sugar and keep about 1 dl / 3 oz for the glaze

1. 5 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp cherry schnapps or 1/2 tbs lemon juice (as you like it)
350 g / 10.5 oz of ground almonds

mix the cinnamon, schnapps and almonds well, then mix with the egg white/sugar mixture and form into a ball.

On a sugared surface, roll out the dough about 5mm / 1/4 inch and cut out stars, and then coat the stars with the egg white mixture you set aside. Cool in the fridge for about 30 minutes, then bake in the middle of the pre-heated 250 C / 450 F oven for about 4 minutes.

ENJOY!

Tip: If you don't feel like cutting out stars, you can just roll out the dough into a square, coat with the egg white mixture, cut in squares, diamonds or strips and bake.

Gluten Free Apple Almond Cake

Here is a great cake for apple and almond lovers, perfect to use all the fresh apples we have now and most of all, it's Gluten Free and very easy to make.

This is what you will need:

• 50 g / 1.75 oz Butter
• 175 g / 6.1 oz Sugar, fine
• 2 medium Eggs
• 250 g / 8.75 oz Almonds, ground
• 250 g / 8.75 oz Applesauce
• 1 medium Orange, finely grated zest
• 100 g / 3.5 oz  Rice or Quinoa Flour 
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 4 medium Apples
• 2 tsp Sugar

Preheat your oven to 325 F / 180 C and prepare a 10 inch / 22 cm spring form pan.

Get all your ingredients together and lets get started. Cream the soft butter, mix in the sugar and the eggs until light and creamy, then add the ground almonds the apple sauce and the orange zest. Sift the rice flour and the baking powder together and fold into the mixture with a spatula.

Peel the apples, cut them in half and remove the core, cut them in fine slice, but keep together. Then pour the batter into the prepared spring form pan and layer the cut apples onto the batter, so they make a nice pattern. Sprinkle with a little bit of sugar.

Bake the cake on the middle rack of the preheated oven for about 60 minutes or until a wooden pick comes out clean. Once the cake comes out of the oven, brush the apples with some warm apricot jelly, that will keep the cake looking shiny and it tastes great.

Tip: This cake can be made with pears as well and you could use hazelnuts instead of almonds. I have used the below flours and they worked great.

Fat Free Orange Almond Cake

This is a very light, fluffy cake without any fat, well almost, the only fat in this cake is from the almonds, but we're not adding any butter or oil, so this one is really light! Obviously it will contain sugar and a little bit of flour but really this is one that you can easily serve to someone that's health conscious.

You will need:

150 grams of sugar
4 egg yolks

2 oranges,  zest only
2 - 3 drops of bitter almond extract

4 egg whites
1 pinch salt
1 knife tip of backing powder

2 tabelspoons of sugar

125 grams almond meal
5 tablespoons flour

Mix the sugar and the egg yolks until light yellow in color and very fluffy, add the orange zest and the almond flavor and mix in. Set aside.

In a clean bowl mix egg whites, salt and baking powder until peaks form, then add the 2 tablespoons of sugar and beat quickly for about another minute. Set aside

Mix the flour and almond meal evenly, then alternating with the egg whites fold gently into the egg yolk mixture with a rubber spatula. Fill in a prepared, well buttered and floured 8 inch/22 cm ring mold.

Bake on the lowest rack of a preheated 350 degree oven for about  35 - 45 minutes (depending on the mold).

Glaze:

150 ml Orange Juice
4 tablespoons of powdered sugar
if desired 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier or Cointreau

Mix well, then remove the cake from the pan, poke a couple of holes in it and drizzle with the glaze. Let cool and keep cool until ready to serve.

You can decorate the cake by peeling one of the oranges you zested.  Cut it in thin slices and layer on the cake evenly to make a nice pattern, then do the same with a banana. It looks nice and gives it an additional layer of flavor.

Serve and enjoy!