Baking Love

This is another recipe inspired by a great one from the Food Network. Their original is from the Retro Desserts cookbook. Peanut butter and bananas is one of my favourite combinations, so I’ve had this recipe on my list for some time now. The cake is baked as a loaf cake, then sliced as if it were a loaf of bread and made into a sandwich with bananas and peanut butter buttercream. Hot fudge sauce and ice cream, if desired, are put on top, making the dish into a sort of hot fudge sundae.

This was my first time using Montina Flour. It is similar to wild rice flour in taste and texture only coarser. When I looked at it and smelt it it reminded me of bits of grass seed and I knew those flecks would appear in the batter after it was baked. Mixing it into a banana cake, since bananas have those flecks too, seemed the perfect way to work with the natural graininess. If you can’t get Montina flour or wild rice flour, then brown rice flour, teff flour, or buckwheat flour would be good as well.

Overall this cake was wonderfully decadent. I liked it with or without ice cream. The banana cake is not as dense as I am accustomed to banana cakes being, which was nice. The only problem I had was not being patient enough with it to let it bake as long as it needed to set all the way through. It needs a long time to bake and I was getting tired of poking it every five minutes to see if the last bit of wetness had congealed, so I pulled it early. I paid for my impatience with the cake falling in the centre just a bit. Since it gets sliced up to serve anyhow, I wasn’t too bothered. Those slices from the centre were shorter in stature and gummier on the top than the others but still tasted delicious.

The nice thing about the versatility of slices is you can use even half of one slice as the top and bottom of the sandwich if you feel like eating less. I suppose you could slice the whole cake in half for one big sandwich if you felt like it :D.

Peanut Butter Banana Sandwiches Cake

280g (2 1/2 cups) gluten-free flour blend (I used montina flour, tapioca flour, and arrowroot starch)

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

170g (3/4 cup) butter

280g (1 1/4 cups) caster sugar

3 eggs

3 ripe bananas

100 ml (1/2 cup) sour cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat to 175C (350F). Grease or spray a 21 x 11 cm (8 x 4 inches) loaf tin. Line the bottom with a rectangle of parchment paper. Sift the gluten-free flour blend, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, and salt together into a bowl. Repeat two times for extra airiness. (You could probably just sift once and have the cake be ok, but if you really want to sift in those extra air molecules, then sift away .)

In a separate mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until well combined. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Continue beating until light and fluffy.

In a bowl, mash the bananas until smooth and not lumpy. Stir the sour cream and vanilla into the bananas. Beat 1/3rd of the flour mixture into the creamed butter and sugar. Next, beat in half of the banana mixture, then another 1/3rd of the flour. Beat in the other half of the banana mixture and the last 1/3rd of the flour.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. (I recommend going with the skewer test over the time, since this cake is a bit wetter than most. Start checking it after 45 minutes baked, then every five minutes or so until done.) Let the cake cool completely in the tin on a rack.

Accompaniments:

4 bananas

Peanut Butter Buttercream (recipe below)

Chocolate fudge sauce (recipe below)

Ice Cream (optional)

Peanut Butter Buttercream

115g (1/2 cup) butter

225g (1 cup) creamy peanut butter

85g (3/4 cup) icing sugar

Beat the peanut butter and butter together with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the icing sugar and beat on high until icing is fluffy and light.

Chocolate Fudge Sauce

60 ml (1/4 cup) very hot brewed coffee (I used instant)

55g (1/4 cup) caster sugar

60g (1/2 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder

60 ml (1/4 cup, 4 tablespoons) golden syrup

60g (2 oz) semisweet chocolate, chopped

15g (1 tablespoon) butter

Prepare the coffee, then combine it with the sugar and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. Add the golden syrup and stir together until texture is smooth and even. Place the chocolate and butter in a bowl set on top of a pot of simmering water. After the chocolate is completely melted, stir in the syrup-cocoa mixture until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside. Store in a sealed container in the fridge or the freezer.

Assembly:

Turn the cooled cake out of the tin onto a plate or cutting board. With a serrated knife, cut the loaf into slices. (For a smaller serving, slice each of those slices in half again.) Peel the bananas and cut them into thin rounds. To assemble, spread half the cake slices with peanut butter buttercream and layer with banana slices. Top with remaining cake slices to form sandwiches. Put a scoop of ice cream on each sandwich and pour the chocolate fudge sauce over it. Enjoy!

This recipe was inspired by one for a Chocolate Truffle Pound Cake from Diana at Dianas Desserts. I was looking for a way to use the raspberry icing that I botched when making my daughter’s birthday cake. (Which again, I have been keeping in the freezer. I love my freezer. It helps me do my baking projects at my own pace.) Anyhow, a dear friend of mine mentioned soaked sponge cake and I thought that this icing would be wonderful paired with a chocolate sponge cake if it was melted down to a syrup and used to soak the cake.

I made the recipe for the pound cake batter, then split it into three layer tins. The raspberry syrup was then poured as evenly as possible between each layer and drizzled over the top. If you don’t happen to have botched raspberry icing sitting in your freezer to melt down, you can melt all the ingredients together instead to make the syrup that much quicker. I put the cake in the fridge overnight to chill mostly because I ran out of time. It ended up helping the cake set so when I iced it with chocolate icing the next day it wasn’t all soggy. I’m sure it would have been all wonderful and gooey though if I had put the chocolate icing directly on top of the raspberry syrup . I used almonds to garnish it around the edge.

The cake tasted wonderful. The smooth texture of the icing paired with the light texture of the cake was indeed like a chocolate raspberry truffle. Mmmmm. The youngest son couldn’t resist trying to snag a bite.

Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cake

225g (1 cup) butter

600g (3 cups) brown sugar (Yes, that’s a lot of sugar. Yes, this is a big rich cake.)

6 large eggs

280g (2 1/2 cups) gluten-free flour blend (I used quinoa flour, sweet rice flour, and arrowroot starch)

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

60g (1/2 cup) cocoa

225 ml (1 cup) buttermilk

175g (6 oz) bittersweet chocolate, melted

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Raspberry Syrup

75 ml (1/3 cup) raspberry juice

115g (1/2 cup) butter

300g (1 1/2 cups) icing sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Chocolate Truffle Icing

115g (1/2 cup) butter, softened, or trans-fat free shortening

175g (1 1/2 cups) icing sugar

75g (2/3 cup) cocoa

75 ml (5 tablespoons) cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Garnish (optional)

about 24 whole almonds (40g, 1.5 oz, 1/4 cup)

Preheat oven to 165C(325F). Grease three 23 cm (9 inch) layer tins, line with parchment paper, then grease the paper as well. Make sure you have a very large bowl or be prepared to split the batter into batches. Cream the butter with a mixer until smooth. Add the brown sugar a little at a time, breaking up any lumps that may have squeaked by with your fingers. Beat for 5 minutes until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each.

In a separate bowl, sift together the gluten-free flour blend, bicarbonate of soda, salt, and cocoa. Add 1/3rd of the dry ingredients to the to the batter, mix until well blended, then add half the buttermilk. Add the next 1/3rd dry ingredients, mix until well blended, then add the other half of the buttermilk. Add the last 1/3rd dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Fold in the melted chocolate by hand and pour into prepared tins.

Bake for about 1 hour and 20-30 minutes or until skewer inserted comes out clean. It’s a long baking time, but the cakes really do need it in order to set up properly.

Let the cakes cool in the tins for about 20-25 minutes, then turn out onto racks and cool completely. Peel off the parchment paper.

Make raspberry syrup by melting all ingredients together in a pot over low to medium low heat, stirring constantly until it forms a smooth, slightly thick syrup, about 5-10 minutes. If you wait too long, you’ll get something more akin to raspberry caramel, which I’m sure would be delicious but not very easy to pour and definitely not well suited to soaking a cake.

Make the chocolate truffle icing by combining all ingredients until light and fluffy, either by hand or with an electric mixer.

To assemble, place the first cake layer on a plate, pour 1/4th of the syrup over it and smooth it around, waiting until it soaks in just a bit. Repeat with the second layer. Place the third layer on top, then pour all of the remaining syrup over the whole cake, allowing it to drizzle down the sides and collect in all the crevices. Put the whole cake in the fridge overnight, in a cake dome, to chill. You could skip this step and go straight to icing it if you don’t mind raspberry syrup oozing out when you put the icing on.

Ice the top of the cake with the chocolate truffle icing. Place whole almonds around the edge. Enjoy!

This recipe was inspired by one for sourdough bread by David Miller at Grow Youthful. I had planned to use Kefir that my husband Brian made. Well, things didn’t go entirely as planned, as is usual so often with baking, especially new recipes. I waited too long to use the Kefir for making bread and it began to ferment, becoming something like airag, which I won’t get into much here, but Brian and I had some on our trip to Mongolia in October 2005. We were hospitably offered airag as guests in the homes of Mongolian herders. It is customary to bring a gift as guests, in thanks for the hospitality, and we offered sweets in return. It was a wonderful experience for us and through the help of our guide/interpretor and driver we got to meet many kind people who let us stay in their homes, visit their land, and eat with their families.

This airag we made was more mainstream, not traditional, being made from cow’s milk. I used the airag in the bread and it had a wonderful yeasty taste, unlike other gluten-free, yeast-free breads I have made, due to the natural yeasts produced through fermentation. The cooking process removes the alcohol and it did not leave a strong taste of alcohol at all, only the pleasant taste of baked bread. The pitfall is having a nice warm spot for the dough to rest long enough undisturbed to raise nicely. This I was not able to provide, despite keeping it covered on the counter and even in a low oven preheated and turned off before the bread was put in over the course of 48 hours. It simply needed more warmth for a longer period of time. As a result my bread was flat, but tasted delicious.

The airag is gone, but we can make more and we have kefir whey saved from the second batch of kefir. I will definitely try this recipe again with the fermented kefir whey, airag, or plain kefir.

Airag Sourdough Bread

220g (2 cups) gluten-free flour blend (quinoa flour, arrowroot starch, sweet rice flour)

250 ml (1 cup) airag

2 tablespoons sunflower oil (use any oil you prefer)

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

enough warm water to create a thick batter (about 250-350 ml (1-1 1/2 cups))

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, getting all the lumps out by squeezing them out with your hands. More lumps will prevent the formation of air bubbles, which gives this bread all its lift. Cover or wrap the bowl of bread with a rather large cloth or towel and place in a warm spot to rest as undisturbed as possible. The concern is not ruining the dough but not letting it have enough heat to make bubbles. Temperature control is key. Keep it there until it has risen somewhat, then transfer the dough to a greased baking tin. Cover the tin and keep it in a warm spot, the same one as before is ok, for at least 24 hours or longer if needed depending on how warm the spot is.

Preheat oven to 175C (350F). Bake bread for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Enjoy!

Notes: If you keep this bread longer and do not eat it all at once, the bread will continue to ferment and may have a stronger yeasty taste the longer you keep it.

The idea for these treats came from an article for kids in National Geographic Little Kids.  The marshmallow crispy cereal part is mixed up, then pressed into a cookie cutter, in this case a lovely heart. I used leftover strawberry icing from my daughter’s birthday cake, which I have been keeping in the freezer, to make them pink. On top are dried cranberries on half and the other half dried cranberries and almonds.

They look so whimsical, but they are oh so tasty! The strawberry icing sort of seeps into the crispy part, melding all the flavours together and the cranberries and almonds give a nice textural difference. If you make these with kids, make sure the cereal part is not too hot for them to handle. It will harden up quickly as it cools and you may have to end up reheating it, especially if everyone wants to be artistic or perfect. Just give it some time and it will all come together nicely.

This is a good project to really get your hands into. My kids all loved smooshing the cereal into the cookie cutter, even the one-year-old, though he was more interested in eating it . In the end we got 23 hearts, including the ones we all ate before I took the picture.

Sweetheart Marshmallow Crispy Treats

55g (4 tablespoons) butter

200g (4 cups) mini marshmallows

180g (4 cups) gluten-free crispy rice cereal

pink icing (You could use food colouring or ready made icing if you prefer)

dried cranberries (optional, use any decoration you like)

almonds (optional)

Melt the marshmallows and butter together in a saucepan. After it is all nice, smooth, and gooey, add the crispy rice cereal. Have a bowl of water to dip your hands in, a platter for the treats, and as many cookie cutters as you like ready on the side. For kids it is nice for each to have their own, but I had mine all share one so everyone had to take turns.

Get your hands wet, then pick up a fistful of the crispy-rice mixture and smoosh it into the cookie cutter until it fills it evenly. Gently remove the cookie cutter and place the treat on the platter. Repeat until you run out of cereal mixture.

Decorate each sweetheart with a thin layer of pink icing and a few cranberries and/or almonds. Enjoy!

I thought of putting these brownies together when I saw Paula Deen making Maggie’s Decadent Brownies on the Food Network. She said it reminded her of her Marsh Mud Cake. There are so many different variations on this recipe that whatever floats your boat you could find something that suits.

I don’t usually do mixes. I prefer to mix up a substitute for the mix if the recipe calls for it, but my grandmother gave me Bob’s Red Mill Brownie Mix for Christmas, so I baked it up in this recipe to see what it would be like. I’ve made four things from gluten-free mixes ever I think, including this one. Sometimes they can be fun to experiment with and the better ones taste pretty good.

These were good for what they are: something easy to whip up. They were best just out of the oven. After they cooled I found them too salty. Heating them up improved the richness of the taste but upped the sweet factor so much that I found them too sweet. The nuts softened up in the baking and I would have preferred them crunchier. Next time I would put the nuts on top of the baked brownies after the marshmallows instead. With ice cream these brownies really found a balance, especially with strawberry, reminding me of a chocolate-covered strawberry.

Ooey Gooey Rocky Road Fudge Brownies

1 Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free brownie mix

170g (3/4 cup) butter, melted

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

175 ml (3/4 cup) warm water

120g (1 cup) chopped pecans

150g (3 cups) mini marshmallows

Fudge Topping

1 395g (14 oz) tin condensed milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

340g (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 175C (350F). Grease a 23 x 33 cm (9 x 13 inch) baking dish. Place brownie mix in a bowl. Beat in melted butter, vanilla extract, water, and pecans until combined. Pour batter into prepared dish and bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Immediately sprinkle with marshmallows, so the hot brownies melt them a bit and they get all nice and gooey. Next, prepare the topping: in a saucepan over low heat, combine the milk, vanilla extract, and chocolate chips. Stir until the chocolate chips are melted. Remove from heat and pour over the brownies. Spread the topping out evenly, so every bite gets as much of all three layers as possible . Enjoy!