What are you doing reading this blog post?! It's the 4th of July! Go out and celebrate, make this cake. Oh wait, I guess you wouldn't have found this really moist, sweet and addicting cake recipe if you hadn't checked out today's post ;). Have a good one!
Not all that's gooey is good. For instance, you know those green bags that are supposed to prevent your produce from getting old too quickly? Well, like all things that claim to halt or slow-down the aging process, they do stop working after awhile.
Stick your hand into one of these bags when it contains half an onion that hasn't seen the outside of the veggie drawer for a few weeks and you will encounter the bad kind of gooey.
How about walking over an already mushed grape on the kitchen floor without socks on? Not good.
Gooey things that are good: sticky toffee pudding -- yum, my favorite dessert! How about caramel sauce? Yes, very good. Another thing to add to the list? This gluten-free sticky apple carrot pudding cake with apricot cinnamon sauce! A mouthful it is. I wasn't sure if cinnamon and apricots would mix, but oh how they do, especially in a powdered sugar based sauce. It offers a nice combo of tart and sweet cinnamony flavors.
This cake does kind of remind me of sticky toffee pudding, but fruity and spiced up. If carrot cake and sticky toffee pudding got married in the fall, they might have this pudding at their wedding :).
By the way, did anyone see Diners, Drive-ins and Dives tonight?! I have been craving that burger with poached pears, brie and pancetta on a toasted pretzel bun since I saw it on the show. I just might have to figure out a way to make it this weekend! :D
When it comes right down to it... Dirty dishes are a blessing. Having leftovers 3 days in a row isn't so bad. Eating beans instead of a savory steak for dinner really is enough. I am far beyond blessed. Some don't have 'bean nights', a sink full of dishes, or leftovers made of leftovers.
What's worse? Some are the growing little ones that will determine what happens to our world in 10, 20, 30 years... that is, if they can make it that far. In a country where food blogging is what we do for fun ;), malnutrition and starvation aren't issues we usually face on a day to day basis. There is something we're all familiar with, though. You know what it is. Love. We're all hungry for that.
Meet a physical and emotional need while doing one of your favorite things? Yep, that's right. The first part of that question should be the incentive. Get involved in this fundraiser. If you want to see the recipe, find out how by visiting that site, you'll be glad you did... and so will someone else.
This is my contribution to Grace's Cinnamon Celebration! Oh boy, did I dirty a lot of dishes to put this monster of a cake together, and it does look like a monster. Don't worry, that isn't a bacteria colony growing on the top of the cake! In fact, it's what makes the cake yummy. The edges of the cake were scrumptious -- all gooey and sweet, pudding-like in texture. I'm not kidding!
I have to admit, I was hoping to get a much more 'tres lechesy' cake out of this invention (I saw this here recipe and was totally inspired by its tastiness), but c'est la vie. The topping makes the cake; in this case, it's what's on the outside that counts; but don't let the appearance fool you, let your taste buds be your guide!
If you're lactose intolerant but also love the unique flavors found in a tres leches cake, have no fear! This one's for you. Same goes for my fellow gluten-free folks. You can have your cake and eat it too ;)!
Here are the stages of how I made the tres leches glaze:
This is what it looks like before it begins to boil:
Boiling and thickening:
Caramel-like in color...remove from stove at this stage:
When it comes to gluten-free baking 'the basics' aren't so easy, at least for me they aren't. Desserts like muffins and cookies aren't too difficult to create recipes for, but when the topic moves to bread or just a plain ol' cake, it isn't so simple...maybe it's because I remember what the gluteny versions taste like :).
The other day I was craving a simple cake. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting, to be more exact, one of my favorite desserts. It really doesn't get anymore simple (and delicious) than that, at least for me. But I was craving the flavor of all the yellow cakes I'd had before the gluten-free life. Thankfully, the gluten-free yellow cake I made tasted just like the yellow cakes I'd been missing! It was my lucky day, and I got to finish it off with a moist slice of tasty yellow cake!
But what about bread? I usually don't have much luck with yeast breads, but I had luck with Gluten-Free Girl's Sandwich Bread that also tastes delicious as french toast (almost like a glazed donut!). I followed the recipe pretty much to the T, but I... added 3 tablespoons of brown sugar (because I didn't have sweet rice flour), drizzled the loaf with honey, cut the pre-baking rising time to 1 hour, and used a medium-sized loaf pan. Oh, and for some reason, my bread finished baking in 45 minutes :).
I've been in carb heaven all week :)...
Since we're talking about baking, aren't these Sugarbunnies too cute? My Sanrio addiction started in pre-school and I'm not outgrowing it. Hoping to find a few cute images, I looked them up recently and found their Wiki page (Yes, I actually read it :D!). It turns out these bunnies are the stars of an old anime cartoon, where they befriended a girl named Sophia and taught her how to bake! I wonder if the Sugarbunnies can teach me how to bake more gluten-free treats ;)?!
Warning: Lengthy post ahead (not so surprising ;)!
One of the great things about going on a gluten-free diet when you have a gluten intolerance is that a few months or so later, you notice that you're not as sensitive to other foods you initially thought you were sensitive to. For instance, I eliminated quite a few dairy products from my diet about a year ago, thinking they were the culprit of too many rumblies in the tumbly. Thankfully, this wasn't/isn't entirely true. It seems I'm not as sensitive to milk products as I previously thought. This doesn't mean I can chug down a glass of milk or eat a whole block of cheese (I wish!), but, thankfully, I can handle more dairy than once believed, like yogurt. This is a GREAT discovery. You have no idea how much I love lovelove dairy products. I've moved from rice milk to lactose-free milk, I've started sprinkling bits of cheese on so many different savory foods I eat, and I've even started adding yogurt to my cakes. Before I began this gluten-free adventure (and it is an adventure ;) I had to take off my wedding ring because it was slipping off! I went to put it back on this weekend, and I actually had to struggle a little to get it on my finger! Thank God for little discoveries like gluten-intolerances (of course, I'm not so thankful for the intolerance itself, but you know how it goes ;). Oh yes, and thank God for allergy tests, it turns out I'm really allergic to sesame seeds! No sesame seeds or oil for me!
Yogurt does wonders for a cake! It adds moisture and flavor! I used Stonyfield Organic Whole Milk Yogurt for this cake to make it extra moist without using tons of butter. You know what other ingredient I love to bake with?? Maple syrup! I know it sounds crazy, that stuff is so rich and sugary, but it adds an element of buttery flavor to sweets, at least that's what I've noticed. Maybe my taste buds are off, but I'm telling you, maple syrup tastes awesome in cakes or muffins. I don't like to pour it on when it comes to waffles or pancakes, but sneak a little bit into that batch of carby delights and you'll see what I'm talking about! I also sprinkled on some cinnamon chips and slivered almonds, this cake does not need frosting! Maureen over at Hold the Gluten had an awesome pumpkin bread recipe that I still need to try! She put cinnamon chips in her bread and I knew I had to get some right away!
When I'm not pouring loads of sugar into my baked goods, I'm collecting old things from here and there :)...for Thingies Thursday! Well, I don't really go out antique shopping that often, but when I'm in need of a new piece of furniture, or something to hold my magazines, or maybe something to hold my other somethings (as you can see, I really try to find any excuse to buy these little thingamabobs we refer to as antiques ;), I pay a visit to my favorite antique store in Cambridge. If you're a fan of antiques, you have to check out the Cambridge Antique Market.
To be honest, I've only gone twice, but when I do go, I stay for quite awhile. There are 4 or 5 floors, I've lost count! My head's too busy spinning round and round (there's so much to look at) that I don't even notice when I've gone from one floor to another; it's like I'm a drifter being sucked in...in antique land. I went this weekend in search of a night stand. Thankfully, I found one at a great price! I hate paying full price for antiques (usually they're ridiculously overpriced) but I got this little table for under $25! (Sorry if you find it tacky that I mentioned the cost, but I just get so darn excited when I find something on sale that I feel like I need to spread that excitement around!) Now that's a steal! I've decided to buy furniture for my apartment slowly, instead of all at once, so that I can purchase something cute with character, a real charm made out of real wood. I figured, if the little table has been around this long, it's sure to last a while longer. I might've looked silly walking two blocks with it then taking a ride on the crazy Cambridge bus with this table, a bag of random groceries, and Christmas wrapping paper (Ah, the car-less life! I had to pick up Christmas wrapping paper, it was on sale :D!!), but I'm glad I did :).
As for the little lamp, that's also an antique I found on Craigslist. I later found one at Goodwill for half the price! :D Other cool items I've found at Goodwill? Antique tea cups! I don't host tea parties, but I'm convinced that one day I just might (you never know!), so I better stock up on the tea cups now ;).
Before I go into detail about these two recipes, I'd first like to thank Leslie from The Cake Life for pointing out to me that xanthum gum is really supposed to be xanthan gum :)! If I'm gonna continue with this gluten-free baking, I need to get the names of the ingredients right! Sheesh!
Alright, on with the recipes. I really had a tough time coming up with a name for this next dessert. Earlier in the week, Jose mentioned that he wanted cookies, but I was in the mood for cake! What to do?! Well, I made cakey cookies. It was an experiment that actually came out the way I hoped it would! I used powdered sugar, which gave it a dissolve-in-your-mouth texture. The cookie itself is citrusy and the filling is made with berries. As a kid, I was a huge fan of these Knott's Berry Farm Shortbread cookies. They were part of my inspiration for these cookies, but the pillow cookies also have the cakey element I was looking for. Here's the recipe:
So I'm planning on making the basil cupcakes again! Thanks to a few recipe ideas I received from a former classmate, I'll be baking a cupcake that includes lemon, and sugar, and gluten-free flour, and...you'll have to come back in a few days to find out what the rest of the ingredients are :). I thought I was going to be able to make them tonight, but I didn't make it to the grocery store in time. Of course, I still needed to make something to satisfy my sweet tooth tonight...
I purchased a box of Whole Foods gluten-free cake mix a few weeks ago, when I first started the GF diet. I bought it just in case I wasn't able to make my own mix. Thankfully, my flour mix worked, but I didn't want the Whole Foods cake mix to go to waste. Carrot cake sounded good to me, so with a few additions, I was able to make a carrot almond crumble cake. Cream cheese and I aren't friends, so, instead of making a cream cheese frosting, I made a crumble topping. I did add dairy to the actual cake, but I noticed (from personal experience) and a friend of mine also recently told me, that dairy is a lot easier to digest when its incorporated into batter and baked. The cooking/baking process breaks it down a bit. Though I didn't have the cake with a nice tall glass of milk, I was able to add it to the cake batter. I'm slowly starting to add more dairy into my baked goods because I need all the Calcium I can get, and don't we all!
The carrot crumble cake has the texture of a coffee cake and it's pretty difficult to tell that it's gluten-free. I think Whole Foods did a great job with its white cake mix (that's what I used)! I might actually buy the mix again, for lazy days :)! To be honest, though, this cake still required a bit of mixing and measuring, but it's definitely worth it!
Sooo I bet you're wondering why this little cake looks so different from everyone else's? Well I kinda messed up...big time :P. Let's just say things were crooked that were supposed to be nice and straight, some things were a bit on the goopy and watery side, and others just...didn't look very appetizing, to say the least.
Instead of completely giving up on this usually very beautiful cake, known as the Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream, I decided to improvise. I mixed all the sauces, glazes, creamy stuff together to create an 'interesting' (to put it nicely) flavor combo. To make the finished product a bit more aesthetically appealing, I decided to cut up the cake into individual squares. I figured, if the ugliness was divided up on the plate, instead of being presented as one big nasty mess, things wouldn't look so appalling to my coworkers, who'd actually be the ones enjoying this cake later on :D.
Thankfully, it tasted yummy. I didn't deviate too much from the initial recipe, as far as ingredients go, so it was more than edible. I'll blame my failures on the day I prepared the cake; I made it on my 'tortilla day' a few weeks ago...and we all know how that went :P! Oh well, it was fun, and I definitely learned a few things. As you can see, even the ganache came out off, that's why I decided to drizzle it on my cake instead of bathing the already-messy dessert chocolate.
Alrighty, I'm off...I have less than 24 hours to finish cleaning up the apartment and packing those last bits and pieces of who knows what -- you know, the random items that don't really have a designated box? I cannot wait until I can sleep for 3-4 hours on the plane tomorrow. I am super excited about moving to Boston, don't get me wrong, but packing can be quite exhausting! Watch, tonight I probably won't even be able to sleep. Whenever fun things like this in my life happen, I get too excited to actually get any shut eye the night before, kind of like a kiddo on Christmas Eve!
I promised that I'd post recipes for a yummy cake and pie...so here they are :). The first recipe is for a Lowfat Warm Summer Cake. I was in the mood for a fresh and summery cake last weekend, so I opened up the refrigerator to see if anything in there would cry out to me, in fear of going to waste and getting thrown in the trash. I noticed that we still had quite a bit of orange juice left over, and it was already a week old, so I thought I should definitely include it in the cake. I've learned that a great way to make a cake moist and rich without using butter is by adding some kind of flavorful juice. We also had a huge lemon that was lonely sitting next to a bunch of bananas and a handful of kiwis, so I had to add him to the recipe as well. The only fatty ingredient in this light cake is the one egg I used. There isn't even a teaspoon of oil in this cake! Now, if only I could have that kind of success with every baked good! It seems it's easier to make some desserts healthier than others. (You'll notice, after eating one piece of the cake, my husband and I decided it wasn't enough, so we just picked up a fork and helped ourselves to a little more :)
I'd like to note that the pecans on the cake are Texan grown, we picked them ourselves!
The pie recipe I've posted is also packed with fruit, it contains blackberries and peaches. This is a recipe I found on Key Ingredient. The recipe calls for fresh ginger, but I didn't have any, so I added ginger powder instead :). Thankfully, it still tasted yummy, but I think the juicy peaches and ripe blackberries had something to do with that :). I was really pleased with this pie recipe. This is another dessert that's perfect for summer; the ginger really adds flavor, making this a pie that's far from plain. Plus, peaches are on sale right now! It's hard to say no to a dessert that's tasty, affordable to bake, and easy to make. (Just throw the peaches in there with the blackberries. They're such pretty fruits, they don't need to be organized in a fancy way!)
TGIF! Now that I've posted this recipe, it's time to relax, at least for the night. Since we only have a few more months left here in Austin, Jose and I plan on visiting a few cool foodie spots around town before we leave. Of course I'll take pictures and feature them on the blog :). This weekend we're going to a very Austiny spot that resembles an old candy store/soda shop, I can't wait! Hopefully the next time I post, I won't come back with cavity #2; I can barely handle the one sweet tooth I already have :)!
P.S. I'd like to say thanks to all of your for leaving so many kind comments on my first Daring Bakers cake :). There were tons of beautiful entries this month! Can't wait to see what they have in store for us next!
I didn't get the chance to cook this meal last weekend, so I made it a point to make it today. Thankfully, it only took a little less than an hour to prepare and cook, which is great for a lazy Sunday evening. I feel like I need a weekend for my weekend!
Friday night, Jose and I saw the second Narnia movie at Alamo Drafthouse; it's definitely a place you should check out if you're not from around here. They serve pretty good food and even feature a special menu for some movies; Turkish Delight was on the menu for Prince Caspian :)! Of course, we ordered some. On Saturday we checked out IKEA. Jose and I think it might be best to purchase boxed, unassembled furniture instead of driving to Cambridge with a bunch of bulky furniture that can't be taken apart. (We're trying to figure out the best and cheapest way to move to Cambridge from Austin...any ideas? We did the numbers. Paying a moving company would be too expensive; if we flew there, we'd still need to figure out a way to move our stuff. So it seems driving to Cambridge in a large van with our stuff is the best idea, at least this weekend it is :)...we only have 2 more months to figure it out, though! Oh, but I can't wait :)!) As for today, we cleaned the apartment, sold a few of our many books to the folks at Half-Price, and went shopping for pants and shoes. So, as you can see, or read, it was a very busy weekend and I didn't have much time to cook dinner. Now I'm starting to feel myself catching Jose's cold; it seems my body always gets sick when I take the time to relax and slow down!
At least I got to squeeze in a bunch of baking last week. I was craving a healthy dessert earlier, so I made an apple and carrot cake that's moist, cinnamony, and milk-free. I made a blueberry peach pie too, but I'll post that recipe little later :).
