Further experiments in gluten free baking, this time it was a birthday cake for my aunt. I thought the idea of a quinoa cake was intriguing when I saw the recipe in Dan Lepard’s book Short and Sweet. The recipe is here too: quinoa and hazelnut cake. It was great, it’s nice to have a gluten free cake that feels nicely cake-y with a good crumb texture. The cream and jam topping was easy to make and delicious, I used cherry jam.
So another Day In The Life day was declared for Sunday. This is what I did.
I got up at about 6am, I really didn’t feel like eating anything as I’d been at a BBQ until late the night before but I have learned from experience that it’s not a good idea to go on long cycle rides unfueled. So sat outside with the cats and slowly ate a sesame bagel with marmalade. I also had a teaspoon of spirulina mixed with apple juice which is something I’m trying at the moment, I have no idea if it makes a difference. I then pottered about, had a shower, tidied up, and so on.
At 8am I headed off out. Recently most mornings I have been cycling 30 miles before work to get my strength on my bike up (also it’s really fun). To do that before work means I usually have to be out and about brutally early so as it was Sunday it was nice not to be in too much of a rush. My routine is to cycle 15 miles, stop and eat a banana, then cycle 15 miles back. In this instance the bananas were all too black to take with me (more on them later). The route I took was roughly along the new commute I will be doing from next week, I have tried it several times now because Gloria is heavy so it really helps to learn where the steep bits are. I was having such a nice time I actually went a few extra miles until my conscience started reminding me to get back.
I took my weekly bike-on-gate picture that I put on Instagram. This is the non-Instagram version.
Later I stopped to take pictures of Gloria on a hill to show the new additions, I’ll probably post them this week sometime.
At the moment the hedges are full of edibles, so when I cycle I keep one eye on the hedge ready to slam on my brakes if I see something good. Look here, the main ingredients for apple and blackberry crumble in one bush.
Then I headed home, had a second shower, ate a quick sandwich, and was picked up to go and play bass.
Wearing my 2nd favourite socks. Mustardy.
There for 5 hours.
Mostly hard working but a bit of larking about.
Then home, we went to a local pizza place, Fratelli’s, for a takeaway pizza. This is their reading material while you wait. Then home again to eat it, started watching Of Gods and Men but stopped to listen to the local music show, BBC Introducing Oxford.
I made two loaves of gluten free banana walnut bread with the ripe bananas mentioned earlier. Downloaded and edited these pictures. Handwashed a top, a cardigan, and the other delicates. Then at midnight to sleep.
The end :) How was your Sunday?
Oh and this is the recipe for the gluten free banana bread, I have posted it before, it’s my sister’s recipe to which I added the walnuts. Having made it many times I think the quality of the rice flour matters, some are more grainy than others.
Gluten-Free Banana Walnut Bread
175g brown rice flour
50g cornflour
75g walnut pieces
100g caster sugar
2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
2 pinches salt
100g unsalted butter
3 mashed bananas
2 large eggs
1kg loaf tin greased
1. Preheat oven to 180 C or 350 F
2. Cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs one by one. Mix in the banana.
3. Sift the brown rice flour, the cornflour, the baking powder, and the salt. Mix into the banana mixture, then add the walnuts.
4. Pour into the loaf tin and bake for 1 hour until a skewer comes out clean and the top is very golden.
5. Remove from tin and cool on a rack.
I made Elizabeth David‚Äôs Chocolate Almond Cake again, this time for my mother’s birthday celebration. It is such a good cake anyway but I love it because it so happens to be gluten free so I can make it for my family. It is made with almonds rather than flour so it has that lovely brownie type moistness. Sometime I would like to give it a go with some other flavours added, orange would probably be awesome.
I kept it straight chocolate on this occasion as I wanted to also make a ginger ice-cream to go on the side. To do this I made a vanilla ice-cream then just before I was putting it in the freezer to set I mixed through lots of chopped crystallised ginger and little pieces of dark chocolate. Crystallised ginger is quite sweet anyway so I kept the vanilla ice-cream on the less sweet side. I however think this could perhaps be made with shop-bought vanilla ice cream – just get a tub of it and mix through the ginger and chocolate pieces. I got the idea from having tried a Waitrose version at Simon’s parents house, my mum loves ginger so I had to give it a go. It was a success! Definitely a good combination.
I made Elizabeth David’s Chocolate Almond Cake for my sister’s birthday lunch. It is flourless so gluten-free. When I was Googling for the recipe I found it on this pretty cookery blog. I used their doubling-up method. Very delicious, I will make this again.
I gave my sister Dorie Greenspan’s book Baking: From My Home to Yours
I’ve resolved to write my recipes in a notebook as I go along, this way I can keep track of things, make notes on what to change for next time, and take the book with me to the shops. My previous method was notes scrawled on pieces of paper and the backs of envelopes, stuck to the fridge until they slid down to the floor, the many layers too heavy for the magnets holding them up.
At the weekend I volunteered to make the cake for my aunt’s birthday, after all that Christmas richness I really fancied trying to make something lighter, more spring-like and feminine. As usual with my family it needed to be gluten free, remembering a pistachio macaron I had in Paris last year I had this idea for some kind of tower of pistachio meringue. However there seemed to be a need for pistachio AND something, so after consideration and a little bit of trial, I made pistachio and rosewater meringues.
I post the recipe below but word of warning on using this. I am not sure if this is for everyone. Like some people do not like cardamom I could see how the rose flavour might not be for everyone. Luckily the people I made it for liked it and ate up every last piece, having second helpings each. When I have my shower in the morning with RENs Moroccan Rose Otto wash I think of this cake :)
Pistachio and Rosewater Meringue
4 egg whites
240g caster sugar
3/4 tsp rosewater
large handful of shelled chopped unsalted pistachios
1/2 red natural food colouring (optional)
two baking trays lined with baking parchment and greased
Preheat oven to 150°C.
In a completely clean and dry bowl whisk the egg whites until they are firm and can stand in peaks. Then whisk in a tablespoon of the sugar at a time until the mixture shines. Whisk in the rosewater and red food colouring. Gently fold in the pistachios keeping a handful back. Spread out onto the baking parchment into the shapes you need. I wanted three circles so I could make a layered cake. I should think smaller individual meringues would be nice too.
Bake for 1 hour, check they are done by seeing if you can lift them up without breaking them. Then leave them in the oven until it is cooled.
I served mine sandwiched with slightly sweetended and vanilla-ed cream, and the scattering of green pictachios over the top.
