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!

Sweet Bread with Almond Filling

Recipe coming soon...... but be sure this will taste great with a nice hot cup of coffee from


https://www.1850coffee.com/

And here comes the recipe:

You will need the following for the dough:

300 g flour sifted
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar

60 g butter, soft in small cubes

1 packet of dried yeast (I prefer Red Star)
100 ml milk, lukewarm

1 egg, beaten (keep a little aside to brush the bread before baking)

Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the salt and the sugar and combine well, add the soft butter. Dissolve the yeast in a little bit of milk and let proof for a few minutes. Add the mixture, the rest of the milk and the egg to the flour and stir the ingredients from the middle. Once it all starts coming together and knead the dough until it is very smooth and elastic.

Cover, set it at a warm spot and let rise until it is doubled in volume. Then roll it out into a rectangle to approximate 3 mm thickness.

Filling:

150 g almonds, ground
3 tbsp sugar
1 apple, grated
1/2 lemon, zest and juice
4 - 6 tbsp heavy cream or milk (half and half works too)

**Apricot Preserve

Combine the almond meal and the sugar in a bowl, add the finely grated apple, the lemon zest and lemon juice and combine well. Add the cream and stir until everything is well combined.

Spread the almond mixture evenly over the rolled out dough, leaving only a small edge. Then roll the dough from both sides toward the middle and place in a prepared 13 to 15 inch cake form. Brush with the reserved egg and sprinkle with some slivered almonds.

Let rise again, then bake in a pre-heated 425 F/ 220 C oven for about 35-40 minutes.

ENJOY!

** if you like the tart/sweet flavor of apricot preserve, spread the apricot preserve on the rolled out dough before you spread the filling.

Also if you like you can glaze the baked, still hot bread with a sugar glaze. You'll need 100 g powdered sugar, 1/2 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tbsp water. Mix and brush the baked bread with it.

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.