Kransekake

Kransekake is a genuinely wheat and dairy free cake. In the original recipe there is no flour, no dairy, and no ingredients that 'may contain traces of wheat and dairy.' It does however, contain egg whites and almonds. I replaced the egg whites with 3 egg replacer mixed with water, but I don't think you could get away with replacing the nuts if you're trying to avoid those. 

This cake is traditionally for celebrations, like weddings and New Years. My backyard party while hardly as significant as the joining of two people for life or the dawn of a new year was reason enough for me to undertake the project. 

If you are Scandinavian you might already have Kransekake pans, but I'm not and I didn't, so my cake was decidedly more free form than one baked in the proper pans. To make my ad-hoc version, start with the smallest ring and bake it alone. See how much the dough expands and then make the rest of the rings based on that assumption. Full Disclosure: the above picture is not my cake–it was eaten before I could take a picture. If you make the cake without the rings, each layer will be a little flatter, but the effect will be the same.

KRANSEKAKE INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 pounds ground almonds

1 1/2 pounds icing sugar

3/4 tbs baking powder

3 egg replacements mixed with water

KRANSEKAKE DIRECTIONS:

I followed exactly what this man did on A Baker's Odyssey except without the pans. 

GLAZE INGREDIENTS:

hot water

icing sugar

GLAZE DIRECTIONS:

Mix ingredients together until you have a thick glaze that holds its shape. Place in a pastry bag fitted with a round hole and pipe onto kransekake. 

The Great Fake Pound Cake

I made this cake to celebrate the completion of my Masters degree. I'm very excited if a bit jobless, so hopefully that will mean more time concocting recipes and less time writing papers. To celebrate, I baked a cake! After a week of no baking it was so satisfying to sift flour over creamed sugar; to pour batter into a tin; and bake a delicious, simple, wholesome treat. 

I wanted to make a pound cake. It has the depth and heftiness that a Masters degree seemed to require. Obvious restrictions were overcome and the result was a deeply vanilla-y cake with a dense crumb. 

POUND CAKE INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup apple sauce

1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise

1 cup white sugar

1 vanilla seed, scraped and deseeded

1 1/2 cup wheat free flour

1 tsp xantham gum

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup rice milk or soy milk mixed with 1 tsp cider or white vinegar

1 egg replacement

POUND CAKE DIRECTIONS:

In the bowl of a mixer, combine the apple sauce, mayonnaise, sugar, and vanilla seeds together until creamy and the vanilla seeds are evenly dispersed. In another bowl combine the flour, xanthan gum, baking soda and powder. Add, alternating with the rice milk until combined. Finally, add the egg replacement prepared as per the instructions. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees, rotating half way through. Allow to cool mostly in the pan and then turn out onto a cooling rack. 

MILK CHOCOLATE ICING INGREDIENTS:

2 tbs vegan margarine

1 tsp cocoa powder

2 tsp bird's custard powder

vanilla soy milk/rice milk

icing sugar

ICING DIRECTIONS:

Beat the margarine, cocoa powder, and custard powder combined. Alternatively add icing sugar and soy milk until enough icing to cover the top of the cake is made. Spread on cooled cake. 

Wheat Free Vegan Carrot Cake Cookies

This recipe is similar to a whoopie pie or some might say a muffin top. You could forgo the icing and serve them as is, but I like to serve them in a stacked pyramid after a nice, outdoor supper, along with fresh fruit. These are wonderful for the summer because unlike a traditional cake, they only take about fifteen minutes in the oven so you won't heat up the house for too long, but you get the wonderful taste of a full carrot cake.

I like to make mine quite small, but make them as large as like you like. 

CAKE INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup apple sauce

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tbs molasses

1/4 white sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/8 cup wheat free flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 egg replacement

1 cup finely grated carrots 

CAKE DIRECTIONS:

In a mixer, combine the sugars, molasses, canola oil, and apple sauce. Add the grated carrots and vanilla and whir together. Sift the flour, cinnamon, ginger, and baking soda into the carrot mixture. Add the egg replacement. 

Using a spoon, make uniform-ish drops of dough on a pan lined with parchment. Don't crowd them or they won't puff up. Bake at 375 degrees for about fifteen minutes. Allow to cool completely before icing. 

These will last three days uniced, so ice only right before serving.  

ICING INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup vegan cream cheese

1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups vegan icing sugar

ICING DIRECTIONS:

In the mixer, combine the cream cheese and coconut oil with the lemon juice and vanilla. Add the icing sugar by the 1/4 cup and adjust to your preference. If you would like to use a little less sugar, honey adds a wonderful dimension. Place the icing in a container and pop into the fridge for 1/2 an hour. 

Wheat Free Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Though I didn't grow up on a farm per se, my aunt and uncle and grandfather live in a big old house with a mini farm garden in the back. When my family would visit, we would be enlisted to help. Mostly, this meant my sister and I sat crossed legged in between rows of strawberry plants and ate about twice as many as we consumed. Which always proved to be short sighted, because breakfast, lunch, and dinner always included strawberries as well. Fortunately, my aunt is quite handy with a freezer and a canner and would make pots and pots of jam for us to take home. One crop that I never had to harvest was zucchini. Like strawberries, zucchinis yield an enormous amount and my aunt's freezer was always full of grated, pre-measured bags to make zucchini cake. When I first became interested in baking, she would send me bags of the vegetable along with her recipe and I would make it for my room mates in college. 

I've since made several adjustments to the recipe, not only for my diet, but also because some ingredients are harder to find or less popular to use for other health reasons. I've also incorporated some ideas from Nigella Lawson's recipe for Quadruple Chocolate Loaf. 

Makes 1 9 x 9 cake.

CAKE INGREDIENTS:

2 1/4 cups wheat free flour

1 1/2 tsp xantham gum

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt (optional)

1/2 cup cocoa powder

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 apple sauce

1 3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp brewed coffee (optional)

2 egg replacement, mixed with water right before adding

1 cup chocolate chips mixed with 1 tsp cocoa powder

2 cups pureed zucchini

1/2 cup soy or rice milk mixed with 1 tbs rice vinegar

CAKE DIRECTIONS:

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, xanthan gum, soda, salt if using, and cocoa powder. Set aside. In the bowl of a mixer, combine the oil, sugar, and apple sauce until well mixed. Add the coffee and vanilla extract and mix together. Place a sieve over the bowl and sift in 1/3 of the flour mixture. Blend. Add half of the milk mixture and combine. Repeat, alternating with the flour and milk, ending with the flour. Make the egg replacement and add to batter. After this is combined, add in the zucchini and chocolate chips. Pour the batter into a 9 x 9 pan lined with tin foil. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes, rotating half way through. 

After removing the cake, allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes and then, using the overlapping tin foil as a handle, allow to cool on a rack. If you would like to enjoy this as a snacking cake, you are done with maybe a smattering of chocolate chips half-meltingly strewn about. If, you'd prefer a more intensely chocolate experience, prick the cake all over and pour this glaze over:

1/2 cup coffee or water

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbs cocoa powder

Boil the three ingredients together for five minute and then pour over the cake. If you'd like, garnish with shaved chocolate. 

Store this yummy treat for up to 5 days wrapped in foil or plastic wrap. 

Summer Cake

This cake was actually a charming accident, made from a failed icing recipe and an excessive harvest of strawberries. The result is a combination of as close as I can recall to an ice cream flavored icing and an extremely moist banana cake. I made it for a birthday party and didn't tell anyone that it was 'everything-free' until they had all had a bite. They all swore they couldn't tell the difference! It was quite exciting! The only piece of advice that I can give you, other than to never try the recipes these first came from, is to assemble it all on the same day. Otherwise, the icing and cake can be made the day before. 

The icing recipe makes enough to generously ice the top and middle layer but might be a bit tight if you wanted to go around the whole thing. 

Makes 1 two layer cake. 

CAKE INGREDIENTS:

3 large bananas, very ripe, and mashed 

1/2 cup apple sauce

2 tbs prune puree

1 tbs molasses

1/3 c cup canola oil

splash vanilla

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 cups wheat free flour 

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp xantham gum

2 eggs/egg replacer

CAKE INSTRUCTIONS:

Grease and line two 8 inch cake pans. In a large bowl, blend the banana, molasses, canola oil, vanilla, sugar, and prune puree. While this is whirring away, in a separate bowl whisk together thoroughly the flour, baking soda, powder, and xantham gum. Sift this mixture into the wet mixture. Add the egg replacement (as per package instructions) last. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees for twenty minutes, rotating half way through. Allow to cool in pans, as these cakes are so moist a cooling rack might leave horrible scars across the pretty, spongy top. If not using the same day, wrap in plastic wrap and place in tupperware containers (separately, so that one does not get crushed). 

ICING INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup soy milk or other milk

1 tbs cornstarch

2 tbs dried soy milk powder

vanilla seeds from one vanilla pod

2 cups icing sugar (aprox.)

squirt of lemon juice

dash of vanilla extract

1/2 cup melted coconut oil, melted and room temperature-ish

In the mixer, whir together the milk and coconut oil. Add the milk powder, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Whir until combined. Add the icing sugar slowly until the mixture is the consistency of frosting. You may need more or less icing sugar for this. Add the vanilla seeds and stir to combine. Place the frosting in the fridge until ready to use. 

To assemble the cake, place one layer on cake plate and spread 1/2 cup frosting on top. Place cut strawberry on icing and then spread another 1/2 cup of icing on top. Place second cake layer on top of icing and use the remaining frosting for the top. Any left over frosting will last in the fridge for about a month. Keep cake in the fridge until ready to serve. Dot any excess strawberries around the side of the cake plate. 

 

Wheat and Dairy Free Strawberry Cake

I first made this cake as one of three layers for a Napoleon themed cake, but I think it it quite good on its own. The strawberries make the cake the loveliest color of pink and with the white vanilla icing the whole effect is really quite charming. This cake takes quite well to other types of berries: if you are lucky enough to live in a place where you can get something fresh, I strongly encourage you to try them! I've used all margarine here because prunes ended up darkening the cake and I love the pure, baby-cheeked simplicity of soft pink and white. 

For the all-purpose flour, I've used a medley from Bob's Red Mill. The company recommends adding xanthan gum. However, during a cooking session with Mark Bitten and Jamie Oliver I watched once, the chefs advised against eating anything with a name you cannot pronounce and I've internalized that tidbit into a bit of a mantra. That being said, many chefs swear by it and if you prefer not to snatch at bits of media sensationalism and take them as the gospel, you are probably better off for it. 

The cake I am making here is for two: so I've used one square pan and cut the baked cake into two rectangles. If you would like a proper layer cake double the recipe. This recipe is an adaption from Sprinkles Bakery, which makes cupcakes, and I've tried this recipe as cupcakes as well. You will get about eight large ones or a dozen medium sized ones from this recipe. 

CAKE INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup (generous) of pureed strawberries, fresh or from frozen

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/4 cup wheat free pastry flour (or regular if you don't have it)

2 egg whites

1 large egg

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. custard powder (optional)

large pinch salt

1/4 cup soy milk (I use vanilla if I have it)

1/2 cup margarine

3/4 cup sugar

drop or two of red food coloring (optional)

CAKE DIRECTIONS:

In one bowl mix the strawberries, vanilla, soy milk, and red food coloring if using. In another bowl sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, custard powder (if using), and salt. Then, beat the egg whites to soft peaks that barely hold their shape. I usually just use a whisk, it only takes a few minutes. 

In your mixer, beat the margarine and sugar together and add the whole egg and mix until combined. Beginning with the flour, alternate between the strawberry-soy mixture and the flour mixture. When these have been just blended into the margarine, sugar, and egg, fold the egg whites in gently. Pour the batter into a well greased tin and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes. The cake will become enticingly spongy on the top and a cake tester should come out dry. 

ICING INGREDIENTS:

5 large strawberries, pureed.

2 cups icing sugar

2 tbs. margarine

1 tb. soy milk

ICING DIRECTIONS:

Since there are many options for the size of this cake, I've provided enough to generously ice the cake shown. But I consider these measurements a ratio in the Michael Ruhlman sense, so feel free to double, half, or whatever you need to suit your needs. I've left the seeds in because they provide a crunchy burst of strawberry flavor, but if you take them out with a sieve, you will have something quite professional looking. I also made the same icing without the strawberries to use for piping.

Blend the margarine, strawberries, soy milk until smooth. Then spoon in the icing sugar until the icing is spreadable. 

p.s. the couple who I baked this cake for were sweet enough to send in a picture of it cut to post here. Thanks guys!

Banana Bread

I've called this bread because I've baked it in a loaf pan, but feel free to use cupcake tins or double the recipe and try it as cake, perhaps a bundt. Many recipes without wheat/dairy are chocolate and I'm certain there are several dozen excellent chocolate banana breads out there with some of the flour replaced with cocoa. Feel free to do the same here (1/3 cup would be about right) or do half of the batter with cocoa powder and make a fancy swirl. I hope you like this recipe; it's one of the first that I adjusted for myself and it's a hybrid of several. If baked in a muffin pan, the little cakes should come out nice and high (the result of all the baking powder) and if they don't, a swirl of icing will distract any one who claims to only like the tops. After the recipe, I've posted a couple of options for dressing this up, though I think it is great plain and should there be any left over, makes wonderful baked french toast.

One more note: those who are avoiding eggs can easily use a vegan substitute and in fact I often do. 

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup margarine

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup finely mashed bananas (about three)

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups of non-wheat flour of your choice (I usually use rice flour, sometimes with a mix of ground oats)

2 teaspoons of baking powder (or 1 each of soda and powder)

1/4 tsp salt (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Cream the butter until fluffy and add in the sugars. Add in the eggs one at a time and mix until well blended. Add the bananas and vanilla and mix until combined.

Measure the flours in a large measuring cup and gently mix/whisk in the baking powder and salt, letting all the dry ingredients breath a bit. Then slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until combined. 

Bake in a greased loaf pan at 350 degrees for about 1 hour, though do test it. Also, if you are bringing this somewhere, you can generously line the pan with tin foil and then pop the whole thing out and wrap it with the excess foil and it's ready to go. 

VARIATIONS:

In addition to the chocolate swirl I mentioned in the introduction, there are several options for adding a little polish to this recipe. 

Chocolate chips tossed in a few tablespoons of almond (or whichever, though I suppose not corn) flour so they don't sink to the bottom of the pan are a great addition, as are 1/2 cup of chopped nuts or dried fruit such as apples or cranberries. 

1 tsp. of cinnamon with the dry ingredients would add some lovely dimension. For extra texture, a crumble of granola or oats, brown sugar, and a generous 3 tbs. peanut butter could be swirled in or patted on top. Margarine instead of peanut butter would really turn this loaf into a coffee cake, but if that's where you want to go, you should.

A simple glaze of almond milk, vanilla, and icing sugar would be great run down the sides to add softness and the right amount of moistness. If the cake seems a little dry or your banana content was a little scant, prick the top several times to really let the glaze pool about. If you are more patient and want a cake, a proper icing thickly spread over the top would add some sweetness once the loaf had properly cooled.