GBBO15 Week1 - Frosted Walnut Layer Cake

Having only posted about 2 recipes this year, I really wasn't going to do the milk, egg, wheat and soya free (MEWS free) versions of the technical challenges from The Great British Bake Off this year… Unfortunately, my 8 year old is hooked, remembered I did it the last couple of years and as soon as they showed yesterday's cake started talking about it and discussing what we could use instead!

So today, with 2 children in tow, we went shopping for ingredients (stopped at the Games shop to buy Pokémon cards and Lego Mixels) and came home to bake (and play and build…).

Week 1 - For Mary Berry's version, clic here: Frosted Walnut Layer Cake  

This week's main challenge for the MEWS free baker is an alternative to the 'boiled icing' (as it's attractively described in the original recipe!). Lucy's Friendly Foods has a great Italian Meringue recipe. Sadly, for us, it's made with another of Mini Monster's allergens, chickpeas… I opted for a marshmallowy coating instead.

Walnut Sponge (adapted from the basic cake recipe in our Milk, Egg, Wheat and Soya free diet sheet)

90g Dairy and Soya Free Spread

100g Golden Syrup

100g Caster Sugar

1tsp Vanilla Paste (or extract)

320mls Milk Substitute

1tsp Vinegar or Lemon Juice

350g Gluten Free Plain Flour (I used Dove's Farm White Bread Flour, you may need to adjust the liquid for different flour blends)

2tsp baking Powder

1/2tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

100g Walnut Pieces (I caramelised mine with 30g sugar, but this is optional)

Melt spread, sugar and syrup in a pan or microwave.

Stir in vanilla, milk substitute and vinegar.

In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.

Mix in the contents of the other bowl (don't over mix or cake will be tough).

Stir in the nuts. 

Divide mixture evenly between three cake tins (18cm, greased and lined).

Bake at 180ºC for 20-25mins.

Turn out of tins to cool.

Buttercream

50g Hard Vegetable Margarine (Stork, Trex etc)

100g Icing Sugar

1tbsp Milk Substitute

1tsp Vanilla Paste (or extract)

1tsp Corn Flour

Whisk everything together until light and fluffy.

Spread on first two layers of cake.

Marshmallow Frosting

110g Caster Sugar 

40g Golden Syrup

1 1/2 Leaves Gelatine

30mls Water

1/2tsp Vanilla Paste (or extract)

5mls Lemon Juice 

For method, follow instructions for marshmallows, the reduced amount of gelatine makes it softer and easier to spread

Caramelised Walnuts (for decoration)

100g Caster Sugar

10 Walnut Halves

For assembly and how to caramelise the nuts, follow the original recipe above.

Mini Courgette Cakes

Feeling guilty about the lack of recipes posted this year. Particularly when new patients come to see me and tell me they already use the site... I'm not entirely happy with this one yet, but as there have been a couple of requests for the recipe after posting the picture on Twitter, thought I'd make a start with this one.

Very light cakes, hidden veg always a bonus, but slightly sticky inside. I think it was the flour mix I used as I find pancakes go sticky with this brand too, so I'll try a different blend next time before changing quantities of ingredients.

With courgette season at its height, I thought I'd try a courgette and lime cake, to see if this might be a way to get the children to willingly eat a courgette… I Googled a couple of courgette cake recipes, but found the usual problem, the gluten free ones all had lots of eggs… Next step, try a vegan one… I found this one on the Ethical Chef website that looked easy to adapt to make it wheat free too. 

Generally, when adapting a recipe to make it gluten free, you need either a little less flour, or a little more liquid. I thought the lime juice would be enough, but the mixture was still a little thick, so I added some milk substitute too. Also, couldn't bring myself to add the vast amount of sugar in the original recipe…

1 Medium Courgette (finely grated)

1 Unwaxed Lime (Juice and Zest) 

1 Mashed Banana

1 Ball Frozen Chopped Spinach (defrosted)

1 tsp Vanilla Paste (or extract)

120g Dairy and Soya Free Spread

180g Wheat Free Self Raising Flour

60g Caster Sugar

2tbsp Milk Substitute

Whisk or beat the margarine and sugar together.

Mix in all the other ingredients.

Place spoonfuls onto greased muffin tins (or bun tin).

Bake at 180ºC for 25-30mins.

Turn out of tin to cool.

Drizzle with a little icing if you want… I made mine with icing sugar and lime juice.

We waited until he'd had his second one before telling him it was courgette and spinach...