Gluten-Free Vegan Vanilla/Yellow Cake Recipe & Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cupcakes Recipe

Podcast Note: I find it ironic that I said the date in the podcast was "Saturday April 4" lolol... so I obviously subconsciously knew that this would not go live until Monday April 4th! lolol Happy Monday y'all!!

Printable version of today's recipe.

Today’s recipe came from a failed experiment. A few of my colleagues and I are celebrating a friend’s birthday tomorrow and they have auto-immune health issues and eat a low inflammatory diet. What this means for baking is that they avoid gluten, eggs, coconut, and bananas. 

I asked our birthday colleague what kind of cupcakes they liked, and out of all the choices I offered, they said chocolate cake with chocolate icing -OR- chocolate chip cookie cupcakes. Personally, I think anyone who really enjoys baking, also wants to show off their baking… so I opted to make the more complicated “chocolate chip cookie cupcakes.” 

Silly, silly me. 

I’ve made chocolate chip cookie cupcakes in the past, but never as a vegan recipe without eggs. So I attempted to try a shortcut and made a gluten-free box cake mix recipe with an egg substitute (a mix of water, baking powder, and oil), but I knew trying to replace 4 eggs would be tricky. And anytime you use a LOT of baking powder, you generally taste it in the final product. Surprisingly to me, the batter tasted great… but the finished product? A total flop. They tasted terrible and I wasted a perfectly good gluten-free cake mix. Oh well. 

Then I spent about an hour looking at gluten-free vegan yellow cake recipes online. There are plenty to choose from, but I was hesitant to try any recipe with a lot of additional baking powder or baking soda. I finally decided to start with a recipe from Allergylicious. Many of the vegan cake recipes I saw were based on wartime “crazy cakes” or “wacky cakes”, or cakes that were made when things like milk and eggs were rationed during war times. Those cakes tended to have more oil than a traditional cake and increased leavening powder. If baking soda was used, an acid like white vinegar or apple cider vinegar was added to activate the soda to rise. Baking powder already has an acid added (cream of tartar) so it doesn’t need an additional acid. Some recipes even called for using both, which also helped with creating a better rise on the final product. 

From the comments I read on the Allergylicious post, I decided to cut back slightly on the gluten-free flour and add a tablespoon of ground psyllium husks, which helps to hold the shape of risen baked goods, along with adding texture that is similar to wheat. I also added a little bit of turmeric to add yellow color, which would normally come from egg yolks, and I added butter extract (in addition to vanilla extract) to better replicate the flavor of a yellow cake. Finally, I added ½ cup of Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips. The mini chocolate chips are key, because they aren’t heavy enough to weigh down the batter and sink to the bottom while baking. 

The cupcakes rose beautifully and I went with store bought shortcuts to finish them. I frosted with store-bought vanilla icing and decorated them each with a half of a Cybel’s ‘Free to Eat” allergen free chocolate chip cookie. They are my favorite store bought gluten-free chocolate chip cookies and they just happen to be vegan as well.  If you DO want to make your own homemade gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, I highly suggest my award-winning recipe, but I might be biased!

Gluten-Free Vegan Yellow Cake Recipe &

Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

The recipe is adapted from: Allergylicious.com 

It’s also Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Vegan, and Soy-Free

Makes 2 - 8” cake rounds, 18 cupcakes, or 1 - 9 x 13 baking dish

Printable version of this recipe

Dry Ingredients

2 ¾ cups all-purpose gluten-free flour for baking (I used King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure for Measure flour)

1 ½ cups white sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon turmeric (for yellow color - OPTIONAL)

1 tablespoon psyllium powder (for helping hold the texture of the cupcakes when they rise, fiber is a bonus)

Wet Ingredients

2 cups non-dairy milk (I used oat milk, but only because my store was out of my normal almond milk)

2 tablespoons white vinegar

⅔ cups extra virgin olive oil (or any oil that doesn’t have a lot of flavor)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon butter extract or flavoring

Add-In’s: 

½ cup mini chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life Allergen-Free Mini-Chocolate Chips)

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

• If making cake in round cake pans, line pans with parchment paper rounds and/or non-stick cooking spray, or line cupcake pans with paper liners, if using a 9x13 pan, spritz with non-stick cooking spray. 

• In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients. 

• In another bowl whisk together all wet ingredients. 

• Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and whisk together until ingredients are well incorporated and smooth, there should be no lumps. 

• Allow batter to rest for 10 minutes to allow the psyllium to thicken the batter. 

• After resting the batter, whisk the batter again, it should be thickened,  IF you are making the chocolate chip cupcakes, then gently stir in the mini chocolate chips, if you just want a yellow cake, leave out the chocolate chips.

• Add batter evenly to round cake pans, a 9x13 greased baking dish, or evenly into individual cupcake liners. If making cupcakes, fill nearly to the top. 

• Baking times: for cupcakes = 18-20 minutes, for 8” round cake pans = 30-35 minutes, for a 9x13” baking dish = 30-35 minutes. 

• Test the cake for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the middle of the cake or cupcake. It should come out mostly clean, with a crumb or two, you don’t want to see wet batter coating the toothpick. 

• When the cake is done, remove it from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing from pans, and then frosting & decorating. 

Kitchen Notes: 

• Turmeric. The turmeric for color is completely optional, leave it out or don’t use it if you don’t have it. 

• Sugar. You can probably use other types of sugar in this recipe if you don’t want to use white sugar. But I haven’t tried it, so I don’t know how it would turn out. If you use a liquid sugar like honey or maple syrup, you may want to decrease the other liquids by ⅓ of  a cup. 

• Psyllium husk powder. This is relatively easy to find on Amazon or in your local health food store. If you don’t want to use this, then increase the all purpose flour to 3 cups instead of 2 ¾ cups and just leave it out altogether. However, I have not made it without the psyllium, so I can’t guarantee the cake will come out as well. 

• Non-dairy milk. Honestly, I think you can use whatever milk you prefer. Coconut milk, almond milk, even dairy milk will work fine in this recipe if that is what you would prefer to use. 

• Olive oil. If you do not have or do not like to use extra virgin olive oil, I would recommend using a light tasting vegetable or coconut oil. If you can use butter all the better. If you do use butter, you can leave out the butter flavoring. 

Kitchen wisdom for today's recipe:

photo from wikipedia.com

• 
  

• “I want people to fall in love with themselves and to be really proud and full of joy for the space they take up. If someone else appreciates the space you take up, then that’s icing on the cake.” — Jonathan Van Ness

Need another serving? 

Please join me on facebook.com/Gingerlemongirlblog to share any comments and/or questions that you may have about today’s recipe. Happy gluten-free baking! 

Pumpkin Chai Latte Cupcakes with Nutmeg Cardamom Icing (Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Vegan)

No, I didn't throw paleo out the window! This is one of the recipes in my baking cookbook and I've been meaning to share it with you here on the blog because there's actually a typo in the cookbook. And it's my fault! I looked over that recipe 500,037 times and still somehow didn't catch that typo!! Fingers crossed that's the only typo in the book!

But I really want you to have this recipe. It's probably one of my very favorites in the entire book not only because it's gluten-free, but because it contains pumpkin and chai spices, it's soy-free AND it's also vegan. Yep. No eggs or dairy in that lovely cake.

This is the recipe I keep turning too when people ask me to make them cupcakes for a friend or a neighbor, for a birthday or just because. They are spicy and sweet and they make nearly all tummies happy! They are moist and decadent and have a really lovely crumb. And that homemade icing, it's TO DIE FOR.

I actually made the cake this week for a fundraiser for a family in our community. They are going through some really tough times with medical issues and when a neighbor asked if I could donate a cake, I gladly jumped at the chance. Even if it's a treat that I really shouldn't be eating due to sugar or grains, it's still a joy to make them for other people.

So here's the deal with the recipe in cookbook, this recipe is listed on page: 187 in the cakes and cupcakes chapter as Chai Latte Cupcakes with Nutmeg Cardamom Icing. What needs to be corrected is that the original recipe in the book ONLY makes about 9-10 cupcakes and NOT 24. It's a small batch recipe. It can EASILY be doubled, tripled, even quadrupled! For the cake above I actually tripled the recipe and ended up with a 2 layer cake and about 8 cupcakes. How I managed to look at that recipe hundreds of times and miss that mistake, I will never know... but trust me, it won't make 24 cupcakes! (Unless maybe they are minis! lol)

Either way, it's a really delicious cake or cupcake. I'd love to come up with a grain-free version of this recipe without eggs (since there are SO many folks who follow paleo, but who also need to follow an autoimmune protocol or have egg sensitivities), but until then I hope you can enjoy this version! And while you're at it, double the recipe and share them with a friend!

Pumpkin Chai Latte Cupcakes with Nutmeg Cardamom Icing
Created by Carrie Forbes
Reprinted with permission from "The Everything Gluten-Free Baking Cookbook" 
Free of gluten, dairy, soy, eggs
Printer-friendly Recipe

Ingredients | Serves 9

Cupcakes
1 cup brown rice flour or sorghum flour
¹⁄³ cup arrowroot starch or tapioca starch
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¹⁄8 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 cup almond milk, warmed to 110°F
4 black tea bags
¼ cup light-tasting olive oil or canola oil
½ cup unsweetened applesauce or plain pumpkin purée (I highly recommend the pumpkin) 
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting
1 cup Spectrum Palm Shortening (Or Crisco™ if you're cool with that or butter if you can tolerate dairy!)
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
3–5 tablespoons ice water

Instructions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin tins with 9-10 paper liners and spritz with olive oil or nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the brown rice flour or sorghum flour, arrowroot starch or tapioca starch, xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, and pepper. Set dry ingredients aside.
3. In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, heat almond milk in the microwave to 110°F. Add the tea bags and allow to steep for 10 minutes. Remove tea bags.
4. In a medium bowl mix together the tea-steeped milk, oil, applesauce, sugar, and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until you have a thick cake batter.
5. Fill the lined muffin tins 3/4 full of batter.
6. Bake for 25–30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean and the tops are golden-brown. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then turn out cupcakes onto wire racks to cool completely.
7. Make the frosting: In a medium bowl, cut shortening into confectioners’ sugar with a pastry blender. Stir in spices. (If you prefer a less-spicy frosting, use only ½ teaspoon of each.) Mixture will be crumbly. Thin the frosting with ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you get the consistency you desire to frost the cupcakes.
8. Store any remaining cupcakes in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Carrie's Notes:

• To increase the pumpkin flavor in the cake even more, you can easily replace up to 1/3 cup of the almond milk with additional pumpkin puree. 
• Any type of non-dairy milk OR regular milk will work.
• Coconut palm sugar will work perfectly in place of the sugar, you can also decrease the sugar to 1/2 cup without compromising the texture of the cake. 
• For chai tea, simply whisk together the spics called for in this cake and add 1/2 teaspoon of the mixture to your regular hot tea with a splash of almond milk or regular milk. Coconut milk would also be lovely. 

Gluten-Free, Grain-Free Blueberry Coffee Cake

Over the weekend we attended one of our yearly family reunions. Even in this day and age of constantly new technology, our families still get together for several different reunions every year. And as with any family holiday or event... you really go for the food. Yes?

I've been "paleo-ish" for about 7-8 weeks now, so I really wanted to make a few dishes that I could definitely eat and that would hopefully appeal to others as well. While we really need some fresh groceries, I did have a fairly well stocked pantry so I made a "paleo" blueberry coffee cake - the FIRST baked good I've made in the past few months and I also was able to find enough ingredients in the fridge to create an "anti-pasta" platter!

I have to admit I really enjoyed creating both dishes. There's just something lovely about creating foods from scratch and I really enjoyed baking the coffee cake, something I haven't done in ages.

The anti-pasta platter was fun to put together as well. It was incredibly easy and turned out very pretty by the time I was finished. My friend Pamela over at "Aseafish Out of Water" often creates dishes like this, so I was thinking of her when I put together that platter of meats, cheese, and olives.

The coffee cake is adapted from one I found on "Paleo on Main." I changed a few ingredients and added blueberries, simply because I had a bunch in the freezer. I LOVED how this coffee cake turned out. I don't know if it's because I haven't had baked goods in so long, or because I've reduced my sugar intake so much, but it tasted incredibly sweet, even though it was only sweetened with a small amount of honey and the natural sugars from the blueberries. Definitely a win!

Gluten-Free, Grain-Free Blueberry Coffee Cake
adapted by Carrie Forbes from a recipe shared by: Paleo on Main
free of gluten, grains, dairy, white sugar, and soy
printer-friendly recipe

Cake Batter Ingredients:
2 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 cup arrowroot starch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
1 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries

Streusel Topping Ingredients:
2-3 tablespoons coconut palm sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup crushed pecans or walnuts
3 tablespoons butter or coconut oil, optional for dotting on top

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8x8 baking dish with coconut oil or butter and set aside. In a large bowl whisk together almond flour, arrowroot starch, baking soda, sea salt, and ground cinnamon. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add in the coconut milk, eggs, honey, and vanilla extract. Stir to combine into a thick batter. Fold in the blueberries. Pour into the greased baking dishes. Spread evenly throughout the pan. In a small bowl whisk together the coconut palm sugar, cinnamon, and pecans. Sprinkle over the casserole and dot the top of the casserole with butter or coconut oil if desired. Bake for 35-45 minutes until a toothpick or knife inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean the crust is golden brown. Allow to cook  REST/COOL for 15-20 minutes before slicing and serving.

Gluten-Free Strawberry Cake Recipe

Summer screams strawberries to me! The early summer strawberries are now available in eastern nc... and normally I have to make a pie. My great-grandma P's best strawberry pie, as a matter of fact. And really, you should make that too.

But if you're not up to making a pie, you can make this cake. This soft, light, white cake filled with fresh strawberries!

We served this cake on Sunday for my awesome mom-in-law Carol. To make things easy, and to have a less-heavy dessert after a cookout, I simply frosted the cake with Cool Whip. But I know many MANY of you are not "fake" whipped topping fans, and that's A-Ok, because you can have your frosting too! For the "real food" folks, you could easily make a light, dairy-free coconut milk frosting, like this one: Elana's Vegan Coconut Cream Frosting. Or you could simply use real whipped cream with a little sugar added. So pick your favorite way to frost it.

However, no matter what type of whipped topping you decide to use, make SURE not to frost the cake until it's completely cool, otherwise, it will melt and be a soggy mess! Then store the cake in the refrigerator for a few hours (or overnight) before serving. This is definitely a cake that improves with a little time, so feel free to make it a day ahead of time for the yummiest results!

Gluten-Free Fresh Strawberry Cake
free of gluten and soy (and easily dairy-free)
created by Carrie Forbes of Gingerlemongirl.com
printer-friendly recipe

Dry Ingredients:
1 cup + 2 tablespoons brown rice flour
1 cup + 2 tablespoons arrowroot starch or tapioca starch/flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
3 tablespoons TEASPOONS baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Wet Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup - 1 cup fresh strawberries, diced
4 large egg whites, room temperature
1 cup almond milk, or other non-dairy milk
1/2 cup light-tasting olive oil, canola oil, or melted coconut oil
1 teaspoon almond extract

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 (8-inch) round cake pans with a circle of parchment paper on the bottom of each pan. Spritz each pan with non-stick cooking spray or brush with light-tasting olive oil and set aside. In a medium bowl whisk together all dry ingredients. In a large bowl mix together sugar and fresh strawberries until they are fully coated in the sugar (this will help keep the strawberries from sinking to the bottom of the cake). Add the egg whites, almond milk, olive oil, and almond extract. Whisk wet ingredients together thoroughly. Slowly stir in dry mixture a little at a time, until it's thoroughly mixed into the wet ingredients. Pour cake batter evenly between the two greased cake pans. Bake for 25-35 minutes until the cake is golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting. Frost with cool whip, coconut cream frosting (see recipe suggestions in above text), or your favorite vanilla or cream cheese frosting. (Pillsbury vanilla frosting and cream cheese frosting are both gluten-free and dairy-free). Top cake with additional fresh strawberries if desired.

**Cake is best when refrigerated for several hours before serving. Store cake in the refrigerator as it is quite moist and will not keep well on the counter. 

Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes (A Master Baking Mix Recipe)

One of the best recipes that I've shared over the years is my Gluten-Free Master Baking Mix. I created it in 2008 before Gluten-Free Bisquick was available. It's the same concept, but my homemade version is a bit more versatile than the store-bought brand. The homemade Master Baking Mix works really well in a huge variety of recipes because it already has shortening in the mix, along with protein from blanched almond meal. The mix also has ground flax seeds in it for additional fiber and omega 3 fatty acids.

Along with biscuits, pancakes, cookies, and muffins... it also turns out you can make a really good cupcake! These cupcakes are SO easy to whip up with the master baking mix. It literally takes less than five minutes to mix them together and pour them into cupcake liners!

Have a last minute school birthday party? Need a quick dessert? These cupcakes are the perfect solution. They are a basic yellow cupcake which means you can really personalize them by adding your favorite flavorings or spices. Feel free to frost these cupcakes with your favorite kind of homemade or store-bought gluten-free frosting. (Pillsbury brand frostings are gluten-free and are great to have on hand for dessert emergencies!) You can also just leave these little cakes plain jane and eat them as is! That's actually how we enjoyed them.

This recipe is a sneak preview for my NEW cookbook coming out in October 2013, "The Everything Gluten-Free Baking Cookbook." There will be an ENTIRE chapter devoted to recipes using my popular Master Baking Mix! 

Gluten-Free Master Baking Mix Vanilla Cupcakes
free of gluten/dairy/casein/soy
created by Carrie of Gingerlemongirl.com
printer-friendly recipe

Yields: 12 cupcakes or 1 (8-inch) single layer cake

Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cups Carrie's Gluten-Free Master Baking Mix
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup  1/4 cup light-tasting olive oil or canola oil
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Gluten-free frosting, if desired (store-bought or homemade --> use almond milk and spectrum palm shortening for a super easy version)

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Lightly spritz non-stick cooking spray into each liner and set aside. In a medium bowl whisk together baking mix and white sugar. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add milk, olive oil, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk. Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients until you have a lump-free cake batter. Fill each paper liner ¾ full with cake batter. Bake cupcakes for 12-15 minutes until light, golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes Recipe

Yesterday was our 8th wedding anniversary!! It's hard to believe that 8 years ago we were walking out on a sandy beach with about 10 of our closest family members and getting married on a beautiful October day. Every year we do something special for our anniversary. Some years it will be a little vacation or an overnight trip to the beach... but other years (especially if we're into super budgeting mode) we just spend the day together. No major plans. Nothing set in stone... just a day together...

This year we took the day off of work. Went out for a leisurely breakfast. (My favorite meal out is breakfast!) And I spend the afternoon cooking and baking. We had homemade beef tacos for dinner but I wanted something super special for dessert.

Michael's favorite dessert is chocolate chip cookies. (This recipe in particular!) My favorite dessert is cupcakes. I wondered if I could merge the two into one diabetic-coma-inducing sugary treat. (Okay, not really... lol) I read lots of different recipes on the interwebs and finally went with an idea from Kevin & Amanda  that seemed much less complicated than other recipes: basically just plopping good 'ol chocolate chip cookie dough right into the cake batter.

And it worked. It worked really well. The cake rose up beautifully, even with the cookie dough being in the middle. In Amanda's cookies, the cookie dough sank to the bottom of the cupcakes and she topped them with a homemade cookie-dough flavored frosting. In my cupcakes, the cookie dough just sat on top and baked sort of in the middle, so you get a surprise bite of cookie inside the cupcake!

Want to make these cupcakes? 
Follow Amanda's directions for making and assembling the cupcakes. 

• For the cupcakes I used my basic homemade yellow gluten-free cake mix recipe. 
• For the chocolate chip cookie dough: Michael's favorite chocolate chip cookies -- chilled for about 30 minutes, I plopped about a tablespoon of dough into each cupcake. 
• For the frosting, I followed Amanda's recipe (scroll to the bottom of the recipe ingredients!)
• For the cookie toppers: using the remaining cookie dough, make a batch of really small (using about a teaspoon of dough or less per cookie) cookies. Once they are baked and cooled, cut them in half and stick a half cookie in each cupcake!

Gluten-Free, No-Sugar-Added, Chocolate Fudge Cake

really horrid phone camera pic of some seriously awesome cake.
please don't judge the book by it's cover on this one...
trust me... you want to make this cake!

Wow... it's been a while... it feels rather like when you spend a prolonged period at home or on vacation and you're not the one driving... then when you get back in the car on Monday morning to head to work it feels strange... 

I've missed you. I've missed blogging... but I'm ready to come back! 

My Dad is very, very, very slowly on the mend. We are still traveling every other weekend to see him in the hospital. And it's been a joy to see him slowly progress. Some days are better than others both physically & mentally for him. He has a very long road ahead with many, many steps of recovery along the way... and we pray the end result will eventually be a heart transplant. It will be quite a journey to that point.... but I believe in him. 

In lighter news... I'm also a fan of cake. Densely, richly chocolate cake. My friend Jaime W. makes this amazing gluten-free, flour-free chocolate cake. She brings it to local gluten free potlucks and I might as well forget about portion sizes, sugar intake, or my calorie content for the day. It's all out the window if she brings that marvelous cake. 

My friend Heather invited us over for dinner the other night and I instantly wanted to make cake... which is odd since I haven't felt like cooking or baking in months... but suddenly I wanted to make cake. And I wanted a low-sugar, but super chocolate-y cake. I remember seeing a version of Jaime's cake in Paleo Comfort Foods, but it didn't contain ANY added sugar and I thought surely that must taste horrible.

But I decided to give it a go. I didn't want to use as much butter or eggs as the recipe called for... so I played and came up with the following version. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as we have... it's definitely better cold (it's AWESOME cold! Richly dense and super delicious!) but almost like a sponge cake when warm... so you can pick how to enjoy it...

(Additional Note: This cake is EXTREMELY rich, fudge-y, and not very sweet. It almost has a coffee overtone (which we loved!)... but I don't think it would appeal to children because of the lack of sweetness and due to the hint of bitterness from the intense dark chocolate.) 

and another really awful phone camera pic of this marvelous
cake... I probably need to apologize to the cake...
she's truly much more stunning in person...
and strangely enough I rather like the retro feel
of these sort of 70's orangish pictures...
moving on...  :-P

Gluten-Free, No-Sugar-Added, Chocolate Fudge Cake
Adapted from the version in Paleo Comfort Foods
Free of gluten, grains, soy, and added sugar
Printer-Friendly Recipe

The Good Stuff:
1/4 cup butter or coconut oil, melted
1 bag (11.5 oz.) 60-75% dark chocolate chips

Wet Ingredients: 
5 large eggs (preferably at room temperature)
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup almond milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients:
1/4 cup coconut flour
* 1/4 teaspoon corn-free baking powder (optional)
* 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (optional)
1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Using a double broiler on the stove or a glass bowl in the microwave, melt the chocolate chips and butter together. In another large bowl whisk together the eggs, applesauce, almond milk, and vanilla. Very, very slowly & gently whisk in a small stream of the melted chocolate and butter into the egg mixture. If you add the hot melted chocolate too quickly it will cook the eggs, so do it very slowly and gently. Mix the melted chocolate, butter, and egg mixture until it's thoroughly incorporated. Whisk in the dry ingredients. Pour cake batter into a greased pie plate or cake pan. If you want to serve the cake on a platter make sure to line the cake pan with parchment paper so you can remove it easily. Place in 325 degree oven and bake for 20-30 minutes. The time can vary depending on the temperature of your oven and how wet the batter is. The cake will be completely done on the edges and a toothpick inserted in the middle should come out MOSTLY clean, there will be some crumbs. Allow cake to cool completely on the counter (the edges will pull away from the pie pan and look as if it's shrinking a bit -- that's okay!) before transferring to the fridge to chill overnight. Slice and serve!


Carrie's Notes: 

• I have no idea what you can use in place of coconut flour, sorry I can't offer a substitution! If you would like the full sugar version that doesn't use coconut flour, try this cake recipe. 
• I have no idea what you can use in place of the eggs in the cake... the eggs are very important here. For a dense egg-free gluten-free chocolate cake, try this one. 
• The baking powder will help the cake rise a little more, but it's not necessary if you choose to leave it out. For a homemade version of corn-free baking powder, check out this recipe. 
• Also the chili powder adds just a hint of kick to the cake, which is awesome... but if you're not into awesome, you can leave it out too! 
• I just baked the cake and served it out of a glass pie pan, which I think works well! And it's pretty!  
• I recommend refrigerating the cake overnight before serving. It will be a dense, rich, dark chocolate-y cake. 
• If you prefer it warm, it will have more of a sponge-cake type texture and is still quite good... but I personally prefer it cold!

Emergency Gluten Free Cupcakes for Celiac Awareness Month

I know cupcakes are supposed to be pretty. Even before you add the sugar-rush frosting, they are supposed to be elegant and have a pretty round top... well these don't. But they don't know that. So try not to hurt their little chocolate cupcake feelings.

These little cupcakes are special. They are EMERGENCY gluten free cupcakes. Gluten free chocolate cupcakes that you can make in less than 5 minutes from mixing to frosting. Nope, I'm not kidding. You know those days... when you find out right before school that's there's a birthday party in your child's class, or a lunch pot luck at work? Or when you realize you're the parent that's responsible for snacks at soccer practice today (and you happen to have a little gluten-free soccer player!)... You know... those moments?

Or the "It's 10 pm and I'm DYING for a chocolate cupcake" moment... that's totally acceptable as a chocolate gluten free cupcake emergency.

If you're a person who happens to have emergencies like that... then this recipe is for you. It's a small recipe for chocolate cake that would make about 6-8 small cupcakes using the microwaveable egg poacher tray below or you could divide the batter between two large ceramic coffee mugs and make two VERY large cupcakes, or cut the finished cupcakes in half and make 4 nicely-sized "normal" cupcakes.

Yep.... these are cupcakes you make in the microwave! That amazing machine from the 80's that I still love no matter what the anti-microwave purists say. (Did you know you could make a MEAN and SUPER-fast meatloaf in the 'wave machine? You sure can! Works great in the summer!) The small cupcakes take less than a minute to cook, while the larger cupcakes take about a minute and 20 seconds. That's it. It takes you longer to mix the batter than it does to bake the cupcakes.

Now remember, they aren't the cutest little cupcakes you'll ever make. Nope. But just because they aren't cute doesn't mean they won't taste amazing. If you want to use the plastic microwave-safe egg poacher in the photo below, I found that at the Dollar Store... yes... it was $1. (Michael's mom will ask.) But if you're not into the whole using-plastic-in-the-microwave thing, then you can simply use 2-3 ceramic coffee mugs! There are directions for both below!

I created these cupcakes not only for emergencies but for 5 years of being gluten free! At the very top of this post you'll see five little gluten free cupcakes (all of which were consumed immediately after being made by my hubs and inlaws!) -- they symbolize the past five years of gluten-free freedom!

Beth Hillson, who is the Food Editor of Living Without Magazine, the founder of the Gluten Free Pantry line of products, and a cookbook author challenged gluten free bloggers through the month of May to make 1 cupcake per year they had been gluten-free. So for me? This August is my fifth gluten-free birthday!! And for five years of living well with no gluten-induced migraines. Check out Beth's initial post on her blog sharing the 17 gluten-free cupcakes she made for herself!

Emergency Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes
(made in the microwave)
free of gluten, dairy/casein, and soy
created by Carrie Forbes of Gingerlemongirl.com
printer-friendly recipe

Dry Ingredients:
1/4 cup + 1 1/2 tsp. brown rice flour
1/4 cup arrowroot starch
3 tablespoons sugar
1 heaping tablespoon cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum (optional -- batter will be a little bit runny without it, but should still make fine cupcakes!)
1/8 tsp. salt (optional)

Wet Ingredients:
1 egg
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons almond milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions: 

1. In a medium-sized mixing bowl whisk together all dry ingredients. At this point, you could place dry ingredients in a glass jar or ziplock baggie and store for future emergency cupcakes! 
2. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add all wet ingredients. Whisk batter together thoroughly with a fork or whisk. 
3. To make the cupcakes with coffee mugs: Use 3 coffee mugs. Spritz each mug with non-stick cooking spray or a little bit of olive oil. Add 1/3 of batter to each mug. Place mugs in the microwave individually and cook on high for 40 seconds to 1 minute and 20 seconds until they are cooked thoroughly and "bounce back" when touched on the top. Allow the cake to cook for about 3 minutes, then pour out of mug onto a small plate. cut each cake in half horizontally to make 2 small cupcakes per mug. Place cupcakes in liners and frost when cool with your favorite gluten free frosting/icing. Makes 6 cupcakes.   
4. To make the cupcakes with plastic microwave-safe egg poacher pans: Using the egg poachers -- place about 2-3 tablespoons of batter into each egg poacher, until it's about half-full. Place the plastic pan in the microwave and cook on high for about 40 seconds to 1 minute depending on how hot your microwave cooks. The cupcakes will "bounce back" when touched on the top when they are done. Turn cupcakes out onto a plate to cool for several minutes. Then place cupcakes (They will be small! They won't get as tall as they would in the oven) into cupcake liners and frost as usual. Eat immediately, or store in fridge for later. You can also freeze these cupcakes for anytime cupcake emergencies! Makes 6-9 cupcakes depending on how much batter you use per cake. 

Reader Favorites - Sara P.'s Gluten Free Flourless Chocolate Cake

Here's a recent letter from one of my readers. I've been meaning to try this cake from Sara P. for several months and I haven't gotten a chance. This is Sara's version of a flourless chocolate cake with NO added fats and less eggs than most recipes like this call for. I love that this recipe is lower in fat AND sugar than most gluten free, flourless chocolate cakes. If you try Sara's cake, please share with us what you think and send me a picture!

"All the recipes I have tried on your site have been lovely. It's made gluten free baking a lot more pleasant and you helped me to get to know my gluten free flours better and how to use them for a pleasing end result. I'd like to share with you my latest recipe. It's an adaption of the flourless chocolate cake to make it more healthy and I do believe it has a lot of options for flavors too. Such as white chocolate with grated lime peel as just one such example." 

Sara P.'s Flourless Chocolate Cake

free of gluten, dairy/casein, grains, and soy

printer-friendly recipe 

4 oz dark or bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup apple sauce or other fruit puree
3/4 cup sugar or splenda depending on dietary needs
3 eggs
1/2 cup cocoa powder

• Preheat oven to 375 
• Chop chocolate and mix it with applesauce, melt in microwave safe bowl and mix until lumps are gone. 30 seconds at a time. 
• Whisk in sugar and eggs. 
• Whisk in cocoa powder a little at a time until smooth. 
• Prepare 8-9" baking pan by lightly oiling it. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom and lightly oil it as well. 
• Pour in batter and bake 25 minutes. 
• Cool 5 minutes then invert on serving plate. 

Notes from Sara P: 

1. Top with ganache or any other toppings of desire or just eat plain, it's fantastic.
2. Nice thing about this recipe is it doesn't take any expensive or unusual ingredients and by varying out the chocolate with other baking chips, I do believe a host of flavors could be achieved. I haven't tried yet though. It's on my to do list. 
3. I also believe a variety of mix ins could really make the difference in flavors with this cake. 
4. Even with the sugar and whole eggs at 9 servings it's still only 160 calories a slice. It'd be easily adaptable for diabetics.

Reader Favorites - Laura's Caramel Raisin Pudding Recipe

Every now and then I'll have a reader who is kind enough to send me a favorite family recipe. These cherished memories on faded & stained index cards and old envelopes mean so much to me. My favorite recipes at home are those written out by my great grandmother and saved in a small notebook. She clipped tons of newspaper recipes from the 30's - 60's and I have a lot of them. (Do not call Hoarders on me... you better not! lol)

To see Great-Grandma P's scribbled notes, the soft paper of recipes that were well used & loved... it's a wonderful memory of her. Reader Laura sent me a similar recipe not too long ago. She said that she remembered her mother & grandmother making the recipe and she now had the recipe on an old index card. She thought the recipe was probably from the 50's and it was still one of her favorite desserts and super easy to make gluten free. Laura used my master baking mix for the flour in this recipe and she said it tasted just like her grandmother had made it. You can't get a better compliment than that!

Do you have an old family recipe you would like to share? If you need help making it gluten free or just want to share it with my readers, please email me!

Laura's recipe uses an old technique to make a dessert pudding underneath a simple crust. A similar technique is used in this wonderful old chocolate cobbler recipe featured several months ago. If you make Laura's recipe and take a picture, please share it with me! Thank you so much for sharing some of your family memories with me Laura!

Laura's Caramel Raisin Pudding
free of gluten and soy
printer-friendly recipe

Pudding Ingredients:
2 cups water
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon butter or margarine
3/4 cup raisins

Batter Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup Master Baking Mix -or- gluten free bisquick
1/2 cup milk -or- non-dairy substitute

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To make the pudding: In a large saucepan mix together the water, brown sugar, and butter. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat and stir in raisins. Pour brown sugar/raisin mixture into a large greased baking dish. In another bowl mix together batter ingredients. Drop batter by tablespoons into the pudding. Bake for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Serve warm. Especially good with ice-cream!

Gluten Free Cinnamon Raisin Teabread/Muffins Recipe

On an outing with a good friend on Friday afternoon I found a "Breadman" bread maker at a favorite thrift store. It's an older model and by looks alone, I think it had barely been used. For $6, I figured it wasn't a bad investment if it worked. I washed the machine out thoroughly with hot, soapy water and attempted a gluten free loaf. It worked great for the sandwich bread! I couldn't find a full operating manual online, so I'm still playing around with the machine to see what the best cycle will be for my gluten free sandwich bread. I'm also trying to tweak a few recipes so I can come up with a gluten free "bread machine" recipe for you that works really well.

But I also wanted to prove that I could use this kitchen appliance for more than just one thing! I have an extremely tiny kitchen with barely any counter space -OR- cabinets.... so for this appliance to earn a spot, I have to be able to use it for a variety of different recipes! My husband suggested making cake. :-) He's a smart man.

Instead of cake, I decided to go on a healthier route and try a "teabread" -- I don't really know what signifies a teabread from a quick bread from a cake... but I liked the sound of it. I attempted one recipe from this popular vegan cookbook... but it was a flop. The batter was very wet and it just didn't work well in the bread maker (it's probably a great recipe for an oven -- just not the bread maker!). So instead, I went back to baking with the gluten free flours I know and created my own recipe. This is a variation of my standard gluten free cake recipe and I love the texture of this bread. It's just lightly sweetened and the aroma of cinnamon while it was baking made me smile. This is a soft, unassuming bread that pairs perfectly with a cup of Earl Grey.


Gluten Free Cinnamon Raisin Teabread -or- Muffins Recipe
created by Carrie Forbes of www.gingerlemongirl.com on 8/1/2011
free of gluten, soy, dairy/casein, and rice
Printer-friendly recipe
Makes 1 small 8 1/2"  x 4  1/2" loaf, 12 muffins, or makes about a 1 lb. loaf in the bread maker.

Dry Ingredients:
⅔ cup sorghum -or- millet flour
⅓ cup arrowroot starch
⅓ cup garfava flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon xanthan gum

Wet Ingredients: 
½ - ¾ cup almond milk
¼ cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add In’s: 
½ cup raisins
⅓ cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Directions:

For OVEN: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease loaf pan or line a muffin tin with paper liners. In a large bowl whisk together all dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl whisk together all wet ingredients, using ¾ cup of milk. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix together until fully combined. Pour batter into loaf pan or into a lined 12 muffin tin. For loaf bake 25-35 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack, then slice & serve if in loaf pan. This lightly sweetened bread is delicious with a cup of hot tea!

For BREAD MAKER: I used my breadmaker to make this bread on Sunday. I mixed up the ingredients by hand because it’s a very easy recipe and poured the batter breadmaker loaf pan to bake only. Follow the above directions as for oven, except only use ½ cup milk in the wet ingredients. Use the “bake” cycle on your bread machine and bake for 40-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. The first time you make this, check on the bread every 20 minutes or so just to make sure your breadmaker doesn’t bake hotter than mine does. Cool on a wire rack, then slice & serve. This lightly sweetened bread is delicious with a cup of hot tea!

Here was my first batch of gluten free sandwich bread straight from the bread machine. It was a really good bread. Once I get the measurements just right, I'll share the recipe with you! :-)