Summer Berry Buns

It's the end of the weekend and I have berries that will be considered too 'past it' for packed lunches tomorrow, so I'm popping them into mini cakes instead.

This is adapted from a cake recipe we have on the back of the diet sheet we give to new patients, but for these I cut down the sugar (the fruit will sweeten them enough) and added ground almonds to make them more like a friand.

175g Wheat Free Self Raising Flour

50g Ground Almonds

1/4tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

45g Dairy and Soya Free Spread

45g Caster Sugar

160mls Milk Substitute

1tsp Vinegar or Lemon Juice

1/2tsp Vanilla Paste or Extract

1 cup Chopped Fresh or Frozen Berries

Melt spread, sugar together in a bowl.

Stir in milk substitute, vanilla, vinegar/lemon juice and set aside.

Weigh out flour and ground almonds into another bowl and stir in the bicarb.

Pour in the liquid to mix to give a smooth batter.

Add the berries and fold in.

Spoon the mixture into a greased bun or muffin tin and bake at 190ºC for 18-20mins.

I have a round base bun tin and turn them over to cool (to hide the cracked tops)

Rhubarb and Polenta Cake

Flicking through this month's Waitrose Food Magazine, I spotted a recipe for Sticky Rhubarb and Semolina Skillet Cake. I'd just bought some new season English rhubarb and scanning through the recipe, thought it looked an easy (ish) one to adapt for MEWS free. 

My Free From version on top of the magazine picture

I can't find an online recipe to give you a link, but I swapped the semolina for polenta, butter for dairy free margarine, yogurt for dairy free yogurt, and did a straight swap to gluten free flour. The only problem I could see being the eggs. I've never successfully replaced more than 1 egg in a recipe, even with egg replacer, and this needed 2! I didn't want it to taste of banana, so tried a combination of pear puree, egg replacer and flax egg. Seemed to work, might try without the egg replacer next time.

I think this might be the longest list of ingredients I've ever posted in a recipe (I usually try to keep it simple), but don't let that put you off.

Syrup

Juice of 1 Orange (Zest it first to add to cake)

125g Caster Sugar

125mls Water

Cake

40g Dairy and Soya Free Margarine

75g Caster Sugar

10 Cardamom Pods (seeds removed and crushed)

400g Rhubarb (cut into 4-5cm pieces)

225g Dairy and Soya Free Yogurt or Creme Fraiche

100mls Olive oil

100g Pear Puree

1tbsp Ground Flax Seed mixed with 2tbsp Water

45mls Milk Substitute

Zest of 1 Organge

160g Polenta

80g Gluten Free Self Raising Flour

1tsp Baking Powder

2tsp Egg Replacer

50g Ground Almonds

50g Caster Sugar (I'm pretty sure I forgot to add this)

30g Pistachio Nuts (Roughly Chopped)

Put the orange juice, water and caster sugar in a small pan. Stir then bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes then set aside to cool (I decided mine was still too runny so put it back on and forgot about it… It had reduced to about half volume and was nice and syrupy by the time I realised).

Melt the margarine in a heavy based, oven proof, frying pan (I new there was a reason to keep the one the handle came off a few months ago!).

Add the sugar and cook for 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle on the cardamom and top with the rhubarb.

Put the yogurt, oil, pear puree, flax seed mixture, milk substitute and orange zest in a jug or bowl and mix.

In a large bowl, weigh out the flour, polenta, ground almonds, sugar, baking powder and egg replacer. Mix together.

Pour in the liquid and mix well. 

Spoon onto the rhubarb and spread evenly over the top.

Bake on the oven at 180ºc for 40-50mins.

Remove from oven, pierce top with a skewer and pour over the syrup. Leave to cool for 5 minutes.

Turn out onto a plate to cool and top with the pistachio nuts.

Delicious served warm with custard.

Lemon Drizzle Cake

For the last few weeks, M has been asking for lemon drizzle cake, so on Thursday afternoon I thought I'd give it a go in time for an after school snack. Rather than just using one of my basic cake mixes, and adding lemon, I had a quick look online for some ideas. I spotted this one, which was another of those pictures that you look at and are not convinced the picture is the actual recipe shown… Gluten free cake tends to be much paler than this. I wanted to give it a go, just to see. 

Just 2 little problems…

• Reading the ingredients and the method, they didn't match. Add the lemon juice? what lemon juice? I guessed that it should have said zest and juice of 2 lemons, not just zest. 
• L is allergic to chick peas, so gram flour was not an option. I considered just doing it with extra self raising flour, but having looked through my cupboard decided on substituting it for something else high in protein. 

I decided to use my Fava bean (broad bean) flour because it needs using up by the end of the month, but even with only 20g (my hand slipped), I could taste it. I think I'd just add 50g of ground almonds next time (although, then it's no use for school lunchbox!).

As expected, my cake was still very pale after the suggested time, so I turned the temperature up to get a little colour. It also sank, a lot, when it came out of the oven. That said, it was a nice moist texture inside, and the boys loved it, which is the whole point (I may have had two slices as soon as it was warm enough to cut too…). Definitely one to adapt next time, but thought I'd post the recipe now anyway in my attempt to publish more recipes than stay in my drafts folder this year!

Cake Mix

235g Gluten Free Self Raising Flour

15g Gram Flour/Fava Bean Flour/Quinoa Flour/or other high protein flour. (I'm going to try with 50g Ground Almonds next time)

150g Sugar (I used a mixture of caster and soft brown)

85mls Vegetable Oil (I used mix of olive and rapeseed, which gave it a nice yellow colour)

265mls Milk Substitute

Zest and Juice of 2 Lemons

Syrup for Drizzling

3tbsp sugar

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Weigh out flours and sugar into a large bowl.

Mix lemon juice & zest (keep 1/2 tsp back for the syrup), milk substitute and oil in a jug or a bowl.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well with a balloon whisk.

Pour into a lined 2lb loaf tin and bake at 170ºc for 50mins (I might try 180ºc next time).

To brown cake slightly, turn up to 200ºc for a further 10 minutes.

While it's baking, add the syrup ingredients to a bowl and microwave for 1 minute until lightly boiled and clear. 

Remove cake from oven and cool for 10 minutes.

Prick cake all over with a skewer and pour over the syrup. Leave in tin to cool for another 30mins before removing to cooling rack.

Tasted much better than it looked at this stage!

Not sure why this one is sideways, but you get the gist...

Blueberry & Lemon Muffins

Needed a quick second breakfast before swimming this morning, so knocked up a batch of these with some slightly wrinkly blueberries from the fridge!

350g Gluten Free Self Raising Flour (I used Orgran today, so needed the higher volume of fluid)

100g Sugar

75mls Vegetable Oil (or melted dairy free spread)

350-400mls Milk Substitute (some flour blends are more 'thirsty' than others)

Vanilla Paste

Zest & Juice of 1 lemon

160g Blueberries

Weigh flour and sugar into a large bowl.

Add oil, milk substitute, lemon & vanilla and mix to a smooth dropping consistency. If it's too thick, add a little more milk substitute.

Stir in the blueberries.

Spoon into a greased muffin tin.

Bake at 190ºc for 25-30mins.

Beetroot & Sweet Potato Brownies (Hale & Hearty)

It's been one of those weekends. Poorly big little boy meant none of the things I needed to do got done on Saturday, then Sunday was spent catching up with myself. Still needed a proper pudding for dinner and a treat for packed lunches. Spotted a pack of Hale and Hearty Brownie mix (this does have a may contain milk warning) lurking on a shelf and decided that would save me some time. 

I've never been one for following recipes or instructions on packet mixes. Usually I'd add 100g of roughly chopped roasted hazelnuts and a cup of crumbled frozen raspberries, but as it's a nut free school, that would be no use today. I opted for the hidden veg option instead...

120g Dairy & Soya Free Spread

300g Puree Sweet Potato & Beetroot (I used 1 medium sweet potato and a pack of ready cooked beetroot)

400g Box Hale & Hearty Rich Chocolate Brownie Mix

Blueberries (or other berries) - I think I used about 150g

Prick the sweet potato with a fork. Microwave for 4 minutes (or until soft). Cut in half lengthways, scoop out the middle and put in a bowl.

Roughly chop the beetroot and add to the sweet potato (if you're using fresh beetroot, peel, chop, add a splash of water, cover and microwave until soft).

Blend or mash the vegetables.

Add the dairy and soya free spread and the pack of brownie mix. Beat with a wooden spoon until well combined.

Add half the blueberries (if using).

Pour the mixture into a lined brownie tin and top with remaining blueberries.

Bake at 175ºC for 25minutes until the blueberries just beginning to soften and the top feels spongy.

Leave to cool in the tin (or slowly cut off slithers to try if you're like me and Mini Monster and couldn't wait).

Cut into squares. Will freeze well.

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...