Scroll down for my favourite recipes:
- lemon polenta cake
- banana and chocolate cake
- Christmas crumbles (mince pies)
- fruit crumble
- carrot cake
- lemon cheesecake
- orange cake
- chocolate tart
- boiled fruit cake
Doves Farm flours (self-raising or plain white) and baking powder make gluten-free cake-baking really easy. Nobody can ever tell the difference between my cakes and non-gf ones. The texture is crumbly but solid. It's perfect for sponges, crumbles and any sort of fruit cake. I love cakes made with polenta too.
If you have trouble finding Doves Farm flours etc, they are available mail-order from Goodness Direct.
Lemon polenta cake
I used to make this for my French friend Nini and her lulu - they loved it. Absolutely delicious served with a dollop of creme fraiche (or soy yoghurt) and some berries.
I used to make this for my French friend Nini and her lulu - they loved it. Absolutely delicious served with a dollop of creme fraiche (or soy yoghurt) and some berries.
You will need:
- a cake tin with a removable bottom + greaseproof/baking paper
- 225g butter
- 225g caster sugar
- 225g ground almonds
- 3 eggs beaten
- 2 lemons (unwaxed/untreated as you'll be using the rind)
- 110g polenta (fine cornmeal)
- 2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
- The tin needs a lot of preparation but it's essential as this cake will just crumble when it's warm. Butter the inside of the tin thoroughly, then line it with baking paper (remove the bottom, put it on the paper and draw round it in pencil, cut it out just inside the line then cut strips for the sides). Butter the inside of the paper when it's in place, then add a spoonful of polenta and shake it about to 'dust' the tin.
- Heat the oven to 170C/325F.
- Grate the rind off the lemons (very fine grater) and juice them.
- In a food processor or mixer, cream the butter until pale and soft.
- Add the sugar and blitz/mix until pale and creamy again.
- Add the almonds and mix.
- Add the eggs a little at a time.
- Add the polenta, baking powder and then lemon juice and rind. Blend, then pour into the tin.
- Bake. Mine takes an hour or more - check the top isn't burning (cover with tin foil if it is). A knifepoint should come out clean from the centre when it's cooked.
Banana and chocolate cake
This cake earned me the following comment on Facebook from my gf friend Charlotte:
Christmas Crumbles
I don't usually bother trying to make gluten-free pastry ... it's always either rock-hard or falling apart crumbly. However, when I spotted this recipe in a Sunday supplement, I thought I might be able to adapt it because (a) the topping is crumble, and (b) it has ground almonds which are nutritious and I thought they might help the pastry stick together after cooking. It's really worked! I've managed to roll out and re-roll out this pastry twice. It's made 24 crumbles. (I ran out of mincemeat so used jam for the last 3!)
You will need:
- 200g butter - chilled and diced (if you use marg you may need to add more dry ingredients) + for greasing
- 300g Doves Farm gluten-free plain white flour + for dusting
- 150g caster sugar (I always use unrefined sugar - better colour and flavour + slightly lower on the glycemic index)
- 125g ground almonds
- a jar of mincemeat (check it's gluten-free - mine's from the Coop)
- finely grated rind of 1 lemon (unwaxed/untreated)
- 2 tablespoons of brandy
- Thoroughly grease a shallow muffin tray. Preheat the oven to 170-180C
- Put the flour, butter, almonds and caster sugar in a food processor or mixer and blitz until it just begins to form crumbs.
- Spoon out about a third of the crumbly mixture and keep it in the fridge.
- Briefly re-blitz the rest of the mixture until it starts to stick together.
- Put it into a mixing bowl and add a spoonful of beaten egg. Start to form a ball (I use a knife as I have hot hands).
- Flour a worktop really well and gently roll-out the pastry.
- Use a pastry cutter to cut rounds the right size for your muffin tray. I used a floured fish slice to lift the rounds off the worktop.
- Mix the mincemeat, lemon rind and brandy in a bowl. Place a spoonful into the pastry cases - leaving enough room for the crumble topping. Spoon on the crumble topping.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Leave to cool completely before trying to take them out of the tray.
We're having them re-heated with ice cream as a pud tomorrow night. If they last that long ...!
Fruit crumble
Crumbles are ideal for gluten-free puddings as gluten-free flours are naturally crumbly!
You will need:
Tip: Use more fruit than you think ... when it's cooked, a crumble is always flatter than you think it's going to be.
Variations:
Fruit crumble
Crumbles are ideal for gluten-free puddings as gluten-free flours are naturally crumbly!
You will need:
- fresh or frozen fruit (quantity depends on how much the fruit 'falls' during cooking and the size of your dish)
- 175g Doves Farm gluten-free plain flour **
- 90g butter
- 75g caster sugar (preferably unrefined)
- Sieve the flour into a food processor or mixer.
- Chop the butter into small pieces and add to the flour.
- Blitz until the mixture begins to look like breadcrumbs.
- Add the sugar and blitz again.
- Peel and chop the fruit into a pie or casserole dish. If the fruit is sour (or you have a sweet tooth) sprinkle with caster sugar.
- Pile on the crumble mixture so the fruit is completely covered - no gaps.
- Bake in the oven at 180-190C until fruit is cooked and the top is golden - it can take 50 minutes to an hour.
- Serve hot or cold with ice cream, yoghurt or creme fraiche ...
Tip: Use more fruit than you think ... when it's cooked, a crumble is always flatter than you think it's going to be.
Variations:
- swap half the flour for ground almonds
- sprinkle the top with sliced almonds and/or brown sugar
- fruit ideas: apple & sultana, peach, apple & strawberry, rhubarb & root ginger ... what's your favourite?
Carrot cake
Like the banana cake above, this is a sort-of healthy cake in that some of the fat is replaced with fibre - in this case, carrots.
You will need:
- 150g caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 150g butter or margarine
- 200g gf flour (I used Doves Farm plain flour and added 1.5 tsp baking powder)
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1-2 tsps ground mixed spice
- 200g carrots
- 170g raisins or sultanas (I also added some dried cranberries left over from Christmas)
- Heat the oven to 170C.
- Butter and flour a cake tin (I used a round one with a removable bottom)
- Grate the carrots into a large mixing bowl. Add the sultanas.
- In a food mixer, cream the sugar and butter until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and blitz briefly.
- Sieve in the flour, mixed spice and bicarb a little at a time and blitz briefly.
- Pour the flour mixture into the carrot mixture and fold until well combined.
- Pour into the cake tin and bake until a skewer comes out clean. Mine took 40 minutes at 150C in a fan oven.
Lemon cheesecake
A very quick and impressive-looking pud (best to make it the day/evening before so it can chill).
You will need:
- a packet (or a packet and a half) of gf cookies (I used Asda's stem ginger ones)
- two unwaxed lemons
- 750g of mascapone cheese (or quark for fat-free)
- icing sugar (to taste)
- unrefined caster sugar (to taste)
- 100g unsalted butter
- a pack of frozen berries (I used Aldi's summer fruits)
- Melt the butter on a very low heat. Use some of it to brush the insides of a cake tin with a removable bottom. Line the base of the tin with baking paper and butter the paper.
- Put the cookies in a freezer bag and bash them until they're fine crumbs. Stir them into the melted butter and mix well.
- Pour the cookie mixture into the cake tin and press it down firmly. Put this in the fridge to cool.
- Grate the zest off the lemons into a mixing bowl. Add the mascapone (or quark) and the juice of 1 lemon. Stir gently (don't over-mix as it may separate). Add icing sugar and caster sugar to taste.
- Spread this flat on top of the biscuit base and chill overnight.
- Defrost the berries and set aside some of them to put whole on top of the cheesecake. Blitz the rest in a blender with icing sugar/caster sugar to taste.
- Pass the blitzed fruit mix through a fine sieve to remove the pips and skins = 'coulis'. Serve this separately in a jug or pour a little over the cheesecake before serving.
Orange cake
I serve this simple orange cake with greek yoghurt with honey and raspberry coulis (frozen raspberries defrosted, blitzed with caster sugar to taste and then sieved).
You will need:
- 2 medium-sized (or 3 small) oranges (I used organic blood oranges from Riverford)
- 300g ground almonds
- 3 eggs
- 250g caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
1. Scrub then boil the oranges (whole) in a pan of water until they are completely soft - change the water two or three times during boiling to get rid of the bitterness from the skin. When cool (the boiling can be done the day before), chop the oranges and check them carefully to remove the pips then blitz them to a smooth paste in a food processor or blender.
2. Butter a cake tin with a removable bottom and 'flour' the sides with ground almonds. Use a circle of baking paper in the base and butter that too.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 160C.
4. Whisk the eggs and sugar together until foamy and light. Mix the baking powder with the almonds and add this to the eggs - folding in gently.
5. Finally, carefully fold in the orange paste and then pour the mixture into the baking tin. Bake until a skewer/knife comes out clean from the middle (mine took an hour). Cover with tin foil if it starts to brown too much.
Chocolate Tart
A great celebration pudding - we had it after our Christmas lunch.
You will need:
For the sweet pastry case:
- 110g butter - chilled and diced + for greasing
- 150g Doves Farm gluten-free plain white flour + for dusting
- 75g caster sugar
- 75g ground almonds
- 1 egg
For the filling:
- 300g 70% dark chocolate (I used Green & Black's)
- 100ml double cream
- 100g butter (slightly salted or unsalted)
- 4 eggs
- 100g caster sugar
- (optional) 2 tbsp brandy
- Make the pastry in a food processor/mixer. Just blitz all the dry ingredients together until they start to form big clumps.
- Empty it into a large bowl and add a beaten egg a little at a time until you can form it into a dough.
- Leave it to rest for 20 minutes and then roll it out as thinly as possible and use it to line a well-buttered quiche dish.
- Bake it "blind" in an oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes or until it's just starting to brown.
- Turn the oven down to 150 degrees.
- For the filling, melt the chocolate, cream and butter in a glass bowl over a pan of boiling water
- In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and sugar until fluffy (add the brandy a little at a time)
- When the chocolate has completely melted, remove from the heat and pour in the egg mixture, blending well.
- Pour this into the pastry case and return it to the oven for 10-15 minutes.
- Remove and cool.
Serve with whipped cream with some clementine zest and juice added.
Boiled fruit cake
I think the pineapple in this recipe adds fibre and moisture which means this cake doesn't fall apart on the plate. It's really easy to make too.
You will need:
- 1 x 430g tin of crushed pineapple in its own juice
- 450g mixed fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants)
- 175g butter
- 300g unrefined or brown sugar
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 350g Doves Farm self-raising flour
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- Thoroughly butter, flour & line a 20cm cake tin (preferably with a removable bottom).
- Set the oven to 160 degrees.
- Put the first four ingredients into a large pan and bring gently to the boil, stirring until well mixed. Allow to bubble gently for 4/5 minutes - make sure it's not catching on the bottom of the pan.
- Sieve the other ingredients (except the eggs) into a large mixing bowl.
- Make a well in the middle and pour in the hot fruit mixture - it will bubble up because of the bicarb. Mix well.
- Add the beaten egg a little at a time until well mixed.
- Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake for 1.5 to 2 hours or until a knife comes out clean(ish) from the middle. You may need to cover the cake with foil if it starts to brown too much.
