Gingerbread Cake gluten-free

I cut this recipe out of a flyer in our local paper this weekend. It was a regular recipe but I simply used the GF flour mix and Big Al gives me the thumbs up on this.

Now I know why our instructor at the GF cooking class told us to sift our dry ingredients. You can see the bumps on top of the baked cake. These kinds of flours clump together and I should take that extra minute to shake it through a fine sieve...wait, I don't even own a fine sieve anymore! But I don't think it impaired the taste.

I added the glaze using lemon zest and juice -complemented the ginger nicely. Al loves the icing and that's one thing he'd like more of on this cake.

I had the luxury of adding a spritz or two of whipping cream which Al doesn't indulge in, to lighten the strong flavour of molasses. I changed the recipe by:
*.changing it to GF flour,
.omitting cinnamon and using nutmeg instead,
.using oil instead of butter,
.using 2 eggs,
.a bit less water to compensate for the extra egg,
.and no crystallized ginger since I didn't have any.

I decided on the spur of the moment to whip up this cake as I took the roast from the oven. This gave us a nice hot spicy dessert on a chilly, rainy Sunday afternoon.

Recipe

*1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon ginger
3/4 teaspoon baking power
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teapoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1/3 cup molasses
1/2 cup hot water
1/3 cup finely diced crystallized ginger

Blend all ingredients and beat until smooth. Bake in a 9 inch greased cake pan at 350 o for
30-35 minutes. Add icing sugar glaze according to your liking.

Cooking Class - Gluten-Free

Monday night was our designated "girls night out" and so Jenn and I made our way to Langley where we had registered earlier in September for a cooking class on "Gluten Free" - GF- foods. A great variety of cooking and food preparation classes are held in this neat store:



Our professional baker/instructor was Tina Bacon of The Pink Spatula. Tina is an excellent presenter with a great sense of humour. She also can create wonderful recipes. The ones she had prepared for us to follow, as she prepared them in front of our class of about 10, were delicious. We got to sample five different GF baked goods. The recipes I'm including have been developed by Tina. You can find out more about her on her twitter:
tina@the pink spatula.ca

Tina started by giving us a basic mix of flours which she used for all of the items she baked:

All-Purpose GF Flour Mix
3 cups white rice flour
3 cups brown rice flour
2 cups potato starch (NOT potato flour)
1 cup tapioca starch

Measure ingredients into a storage container. Whisk thoroughly until colour is consistent. Store airtight at cool, room temperature.

One of my favourites was the first one we tested:

Crumpets

1 cup lukewarm water
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons yeast
1 ½ cups all purpose GF flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
½ teaspoon salt
3 ½ teaspoons sugar
1 large egg - at room temperature
½ teaspoon vinegar
3 tablespoons butter – melted

Preheat oven to 375o

Grease cookie sheet with oil.
Grease 6 English Muffin rings (about 4” x 1”) and place on baking sheet.

Combine water, yeast and sugar in small bowl.
Sift flour, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt into medium bowl.
Measure 3 ½ tsp sugar, egg, vinegar and butter into large bowl

Whisk together egg/sugar mixture till smooth. Whisk in yeast water. Add half the flour and whisk till smooth. Add remaining flour and stir with a spatula or spoon until smooth.

Divide batter evenly between rings. Cover loosely with tea towel or wax paper and let rise until double, about 20-25 minutes.

When doubled, remove cover and bake until lightly browned and pulling away slightly from rings, about 18-20 minutes. Cool a few minutes on pan. Run a thin knife around the edge, remove ring and finish cooling on rack. Slice in half and place individual buns in Ziploc bags. Store in freezer until required.

Optional: After whisking flour, stir in 1 cup grated aged Cheddan and herbs to taste.

Being of the practical sort, I'm planning to bake mine in muffin tins since I have them...but the size of the crumpet tins makes it special.



We savoured ours with several gourmet jams from the store such as this Tangerine marmalade:



Thanks for the photos, Jenn! It was fun!



... more recipes to follow on another post...