Naked Lemon Cake

This was my first time making a naked cake!

I used the same lemon cake recipe I've used before, with a basic blackberry buttercream. This was baked in two 6" cake pans, so I made half of the usual recipe. I torted the layers, then layered them with the buttercream. I scraped the outside with a bench scraper to neaten the sides. I used toothpicks to attach the blackberries and floral wire to attach the dried lavender and carnations, then sifted powdered sugar over the whole cake.

Blackberry Buttercream
1 c. softened salted butter
3-4 c. powdered sugar
pinch salt
puree from ~.25 c. blackberries (sifted to remove seeds)
a touch of aqua food coloring to balance out the pink from the blackberries

Beat butter with the paddle attachment until it starts to look lighter and fluffier (3-ish minutes). Sift in powdered sugar in 3-4 batches and beat at high speed for 30-ish seconds after each addition. Add in salt, then the pureed blackberries. Adjust color if desired.




with dried lavender, carnations, and blackberries




close-up view



sliced!

Mini cheescakes (and round up of other baking)

So, I've used up a little more than half of the flour. Only about 20 pounds to go!

Mini cheesecakes!

Today's baking was mini cheesecakes. I saw some gluten-free mini caramel cheesecake bites on Pinterest, so had to have a go myself!

Here is the recipe for those, also gluten free. I did not use this recipe myself, though.

Because I have a mini pie dish that makes four pies, I decided to make four different kinds of cheesecake. I used this Kraft recipe as my base (because their mini cheesecakes were the closest size I could find to my pie dish). Rather than making my own crust from scratch, I used Kinnikinnick graham crackers.

I used the New York style cheesecake variation from the Kraft website, which has you add a small amount of sour cream and flour to the cheesecake batter. The standard Authentic Foods Classical Blend worked well. After dividing the batter in half, I added the zest of half of a lemon to the half that would make the strawberry and blueberry cheesecakes.

Rather than making caramel from scratch, I just used a gluten free jarred caramel and added salt to it and sprinkled some pink Himalayan sea salt on top. The plain and the strawberry cheesecakes both have a sweetened sour cream topping. For the blueberry cheesecakes, I made a sweetened blueberry syrup that I added to blanched blueberries, then added the other half of the lemon zest.

Here are a few more pictures!



Pink Himalayan sea salt



So many kinds of cheesecake!



Blueberries were blanched so they would be lightly cooked but not mushy

 

And here are a few other things that I've baked in the time since I posted last:

 

An 8 layer red velvet cake. That might have been too many layers...



Snickerdoodle cupcakes




Hazelnut cupcakes with praline buttercream, chocolate ganache, and chopped hazelnuts



Okay, so it isn't baking. This is Loc Lac from the Elephant Walk's cookbook. Delicious!



Lemon Cake with Blueberry Buttercream

Today I made my first gluten-free layer cake! Unfortunately, you can't quite see the layers where I split and filled them, but it tastes great all the same.

I based this off of the recipe for Lemon Layer Cake from Gluten Free Baking Classics. I made a few subtle changes to get the layers as flat as possible, and replaced the lemon American-style buttercream with a blueberry Italian buttercream. As always, my changes are in bold.

But first, pictures!



My trusty mixer!

The prepared pans

Look how nice and flat! You can also see the fabric tied around the pan.

The finished cake!

Big slice missing....

Yum!

Recipes here:

Lemon Layer Cake
Makes two 8 or 9 inch rounds or 24 cupcakes.  Recipe can be cut in half.  

2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 1/2 cups Brown Rice Flour Mix*
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 cup canola oil
1 cup milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp pure lemon extract (I used 1.5 teaspoons)
1 Tbsp grated lemon rind.
Lemon Curd Filling and Lemon Buttercream Frosting (recipes follow)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (I baked at 325 instead).  Position rack in center of oven.  Line two round 9-inch layer cake pans with parchment or wax paper and spray lightly with cooking spray (only sprayed bottom - not sides). Soak long strips of fabric in water, wring out the excess, and tie around the baking pans -- this helps prevent a dome from forming.

Beat sugar and eggs in large bowl of electric mixer at medium speed for 1 minute.  Add flour, salt, baking powder, xanthan gum, oil, milk, vanilla extract, lemon extract, and lemon rind; beat at medium speed for 1 minute.

Pour batter into prepared pans.  Drop the pans from 5 inches a few times to help release any air bubbles. Place in center of oven and bake about 35 minutes (40 minutes for an 8-inch cake; 18-20 minutes for cupcakes) (I baked at 325 for 50 minutes) or until center springs back when touched and cake has pulled away from sides of pan.
Cool cake layers in the pans on a rack for 5 minutes.  Use a small knife to cut around pan sides to loosen cake.  Invert cake layers onto a rack, peel off paper, and cool completely. I placed my layers in the freezer, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap. This makes it easier to split the layers.

Carefully slice each layer in half horizontally to create four layers (this is more easily done when cake has been chilled).  Spread each of the two bottom layers with 1/2 of the lemon curd.  Cover each bottom layer with one of the two remaining top layers.

Place one set of filled layers on a cake plate and spread with about 1/2 cup frosting.  Place the other set of filled layers on top and cover top and sides of cake with remaining frosting.

Lemon Curd Filling
3 eggs yolks
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 tsp guar gum
2 tsp grated lemon rind
1/4 tsp lemon extract

Combine egg yolks, sugar, and lemon juice in a small saucepan and whisk until well blended.
Cook over medium-low heat until smooth and so thick that curd coats the back of a wooden spoon (this should take 5-7 minutes).  Whisk in butter, one piece at a time, until completely incorporated.  Whisk in guar gum, lemon rind, and lemon extract. 

Pour (I strained the curd through a very fine sifter) the curd into a small bowl and cover with wax paper or plastic wrap.  Chill until very cold.

Then, I made an Italian buttercream. This is much less sweet than the usual buttercreams, though is still very rich.

Blueberry Buttercream 

1 1/3 cups sugar (+ 1 Tbsp, separated)
1/2 cup water
4 eggs whites
1/4 tsp salt
2.5 sticks butter (1 1/4 cups)
a splash of vanilla extract
1 cup fresh blueberries, pureed (I added a few tablespoons of powdered sugar, because the blueberries weren't very sweet)

Heat up the sugar and water in a saucepan until 240 degrees (soft ball stage). While the sugar is boiling, beat the egg whites, salt, and remaining Tbsp sugar at high speed until soft peaks form. Let stand until sugar mixture is ready.

Once the sugar has come up to temperature, turn the mixer to a medium speed. Add the sugar mixture to the egg whites in a steady stream directly from the pan. Beat for 10 minutes, or until cool. At this point, you have a boiled meringue frosting.

Add the butter a tablespoon at a time, letting it incorporate fully before adding the next piece. Make sure to add all of the butter -- I know it seems like a lot, but adding less than the full amount will leave the buttercream a soupy mess (trust me, I tried).

Once the buttercream is smooth, switch to the paddle attachment and add the pureed blueberries. You could add more pureed blueberries for a stronger color or flavor.

I layered the cake as follows (from the bottom to the top):
Cake
Lemon curd
Cake
Lightly sweetened pureed blueberries (with a dam of buttercream piped around the outside)
Cake
Lemon curd
Cake
Blueberry Buttercream

For next time, I think that I will bake the cake for a bit longer. It is almost too moist, though that may improve by tomorrow. But for my first gluten-free layer cake, I think it turned out really well!

Carrot Spice Muffins

I wanted to try a new muffin recipe last night. Because carrot cake is delicious, I decided to make the carrot spice muffins from Gluten Free Baking Classics. I'm posting Annalise's recipe (with her permission!), and adding my changes in bold. I didn't do much differently, because this was my first time trying this recipe. I like my muffins to be massive, so I always bake 6 jumbo muffins instead of 12 normal-sized ones - that means that I lower the oven temperature to 325°, and bake for an extra 10-12 minutes.

Truly gluten-free nuts can be hard to find, but Nuts.com has a gluten-free section that is all certified. I omitted the nuts because I simply didn't have any safe ones I could use.

Lastly, I used parchment paper squares to line the muffin tins. I found a blog with a description of the method I used -- it's much easier than trying to find paper liners that fit the jumbo muffin tin!

Carrot Spice Muffins
makes 12 muffins (or 6 jumbo ones)

2 cups Brown Rice Flour Mix
2/3 cup granulated sugar (I used 1/3 cup granulated sugar and 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
(1/4 teaspoon ground ginger)
(1/8 teaspoon cloves)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup finely shredded carrot
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (omitted)
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Cinnamon sugar for garnish
Additional shredded coconut for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 350° (325° for jumbo). Position rack in center of oven. Grease muffin pan with cooking spray.
2. Mix flour. sugar. baking powder. baking soda. xanthan gum. cinnamon. nutmeg. and salt in large mixing bowl. Add carrots. walnuts.
and coconut; stir to coat evenly.
3. Combine milk and oil in small bowl; remove 1 tablespoon of combined liquid and discard it. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add liquids to
flour mixture and stir until just blended.
4. Fill muffin pans 2/3 full. Sprinkle top with cinnamon sugar (and untoasted shredded coconut - it will toast while the muffins bake). Bake 18-25 (28-35 for jumbo) minutes until light golden. Remove from pan and serve
immediately or cool on a rack.

And here is a picture of the finished muffins!

The finished muffins!

The beginning (or, gingersnaps and strawberry shortcake)

I ordered 6 pounds of the Authentic Foods Gluten Free Classical Blend from Amazon. I received 50 pounds of it. Oops.

From Amazon:

"Hello,

I'm so sorry about the problem with your item "Authentic Foods GF Classical Blend - 3lb". I understand receiving incorrect item in the shipment can be disappointing, I apologize for it.

[...bla bla bla.....]

There's no need to return the wrong item you received. You're welcome to keep or donate the incorrect item--whichever option is most appropriate and convenient for you."

After some thought, I decided to see if I could use up all of the flour before it goes bad. 50 pounds of flour is about 180 cups. An average recipe uses two cups, so I will have to make 90 batches of gluten-free baked goods within a year. Doesn't seem too hard! (famous last words)

One of the bags of flour I received from Amazon

So, today is the beginning. I made a batch of vanilla cupcakes, which I used to make mini strawberry shortcakes. And my coworkers insisted that I bring some of my gingersnaps in, so I made a batch of those as well. These recipes were both from Annalise Roberts's Gluten Free Baking Classics.

Vanilla cupcakes:

These were very simple. It's actually the recipe published on the back of the bag of flour and it makes 12 cupcakes:

1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cup Authentic Foods GF Classical blend
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Authentic Foods Xanthan Gum
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon Authentic Foods Vanilla Powder (I used a teaspoon of regular liquid vanilla)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Position rack in center of oven. Place cupcake baking liners in a 12-cupcake baking pan.

Beat sugar and eggs in large bowl of electric mixer at medium speed for 1 minute. Add flour, salt, baking powder, Authentic Foods Xanthan Gum, oil, milk and Authentic Foods Vanilla Powder; beat at medium speed for 1 minute. 

Pour batter into prepared cupcake cups. Place cupcake pan in center of oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until center springs back when touched and cupcakes are lightly browned. Cool on rack for 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan onto rack and cool completely before icing. Top with your favorite frosting.

I then cut them in half and layered them with cut strawberries and fresh whipped cream -- yummy, but definitely messy! This would probably work really well as a parfait of some sort.

The freshly baked cupcakes....

...and the finished mini-shortcake!

Gingersnaps:

I like my cookies, including gingersnaps, to be a bit undercooked. So these don't snap in the traditional sense, though you certainly could bake them for a bit longer so they do. I use an insulated cookie sheet on the second-lowest rack in my oven to make sure that they crackle a bit on top. You can play this effect up by rolling them in powdered sugar before baking them, as I did with one of the batches. If I plan to ice the cookies, I roll them in Sugar in the Raw instead.

Because I don't have permission to post the recipe (and I don't want to overstep my bounds!), I will just post the Google Books page with the recipe on it! I made my icing by brewing very strong chai tea (6 teabags!) and mixing it with powdered sugar until it had the right consistency.

All of the wet ingredients

The finished dough, before chilling

You can see how nicely these cookies crackle!

Here they are drizzled in chai icing...

...or you can roll them in powdered sugar!

And so begins my baking adventure. 3 cups of flour down, roughly 177 to go!