Moist Gluten Free Yellow Cake

This post is from my other blog Stefanie's This and That. I think you will enjoy it.

I recently made this cake for my sister's birthday. Neither of us have been eating gluten or sugary foods. I wanted to make her something special to celebrate her birthday so I came up with this and some cream puffs. I will post the recipe for those soon. You can use regular sugar and increase the amount used but this was more than sweet enough with the frosting on it. If I were to make it again I would use powdered birch xylitol and make my own powdered sugar with it to make my frosting. Either that or do a blend of my own powdered xylitol sugar and the corn-free powdered sugar to help reduce the actual sugar in the frosting. It was DELICIOUS don't get me wrong, it was just more sugar than we want to have or are used to. The texture of the cake was great. Our husbands loved it and were surprised it was gluten free. This is definitely what I will be using for our cakes unless I make a sourdough cake using fermented spelt. Not everyone can do sourdough so this is a great option for those who can not tolerate any gluten whatsoever. It is very moist. You'll love it.

Moist Gluten Free Yellow Cake

1 3/4 cup GF Pantry All Purpose Flour
1/4 cup arrowroot flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 packets Wholesome Organic Stevia
2/3 cup birch xylitol or sugar of choice
1/3 cup coconut sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup vanilla hemp milk or milk of choice
2 egg whites, beaten until stiff peaks form
3 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease and flour three 8.5 x 4.5 loaf pans (one 9x 13 cake pan can be used). Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the flours, baking soda, baking powder, sea salt, stevia, xlyitol, and coconut sugar. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix the melted butter, vanilla, milk, and 3 eggs. Add mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium high with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Now fold in the egg whites. Divide the batter evenly between the three loaf pans. Bake for 23 to 28 minutes until done. Cakes should be golden and edges should pull away slightly from the sides of the pan. If using a 9x13 pan baking time will need to be adjusted some.

Butter Cream Frosting

2 sticks salted butter softened
3 3/4 cup or 1 pkg of Wholesome Organic Powdered Sugar (it's corn-free)
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 to 2 Tbsp vanilla hemp milk

The natural sugar has some clumping and you may want to sift it if you are fussy about texture. I didn't bother but it's up to you. In a medium to large bowl, combine the butter and the sugar and blend on low speed until combined. Then add the vanilla and the hemp milk and blend on medium speed until smooth. Store unused frosting in the refrigerator. Refrigerated frosting will become very stiff. Simply allow to come to room temperature before using. Add a little hemp milk if it needs to be thinned.

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Spelt Tips

I just wanted to share a some helpful tips I've learned about using spelt flour. If you can keep these things in mind when baking with spelt, I believe you will have good results.

 

•     Do not over knead or add too much flour
•     Spelt dough is softer and stickier than wheat
•     When converting wheat recipes to spelt, reduce the liquids by 10%
•     Don't over rise. Do not allow to double as with wheat. Volume should only increase by 1 1/2 times.
•     If you cut slashes in the dough, do it before it rises or you may deflate the dough.

A free PDF with helpful information on how to bake with spelt. It has conversion charts that can be helpful and save you some time. http://bake-with-spelt.com/

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Sourdough Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are the first cookies I've had made with gluten containing flour in ages. They were very good. I'm not so sure that whole wheat sourdough agrees with me 100%. I know I can't have wheat if it's not fermented sourdough. I will be posting more recipes soon that are either spelt or rye flour. My spelt starter that I made from scratch is doing great. It should just continue to get better as time goes on. I will attempt some bread with it tomorrow. Tonight I made sourdough mocha cake and vanilla cupcakes with spelt flour. I will post those recipes over the next couple days. Until then, here is a recipe for yummy chocolate chip cookies. I forgot to weigh the sugar but I think that isn't something you can mess up too bad by using cups instead of grams.

Sourdough Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
280g starter, whole wheat
250g organic whole wheat flour
220g butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup birch xylitol
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
5 oz  Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips If you like more chocolate, use the whole bag
1/2 cup nuts or seeds of choice - optional

Mix starter, butter, and flour. It will be stiff. Cover and leave at room temperature 8 to 10 hours or overnight.

Sourdough mixture after fermenting overnight.

Texture inside of sourdough after fermenting overnight.

After fermentation, in a small bowl, mix together the sugar, xylitol, sea salt, baking soda. Add the eggs and vanilla. Add this mixture to the sourdough and mix until combined. Add chips and nuts.

Adding egg mixture to sourdough.

Cookie dough mixed and ready to bake.

 Drop spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in a 375F preheated oven for 12 to 14 minutes until light golden brown. Allow to set 1 to 2 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack. Makes 22- 24 large cookies.

Raw dough ready to bake.

Baked cookies ready to eat!

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Sunny Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread

This is a variation of the 100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread I already posted. I personally like this one better. The flavor is more mild and the tartness of the wheat is mellowed by the molasses and the sunflower seeds. I called this bread Sunny Whole Wheat because of the use of sunflower seeds and honey in the bread. It's nice to have a a couple slices of this in the morning for breakfast. Enjoy!

 


Sunny Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
182 g starter
378g whole wheat flour
210g water, warm but not hot
57g butter, melted and cooled
20g blackstrap molasses
40g organic honey
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
65g organic raw sunflower seeds, chopped in a food processor

In a large bowl mix the starter and water. Stir in the honey, butter, sunflower seeds and sea salt. Mix in the flour until well combined. The dough should be a somewhat shaggy dough. Cover and allow the dough to rest 20 minutes. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. I often knead the dough directly in the bowl.

Cover and allow the dough to ferment 3 hours. Do two stretch and folds; one every 1 1/2 hours. After three hours the dough should be just about doubled. Turn dough onto a floured surface and gently deflate the dough and shape the dough into a loaf. Place in a 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf pan. Cover and allow to rise for 4 to 6 hours or until the dough has risen 1 inch above the rim of the pan.

Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cover with foil and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes or until done. Bread will be golden and the interior temperature should be 205F or higher. Remove the bread from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. *Optional: Rub butter on the crust when it comes out of the oven to soften the crust, give it extra flavor and enhance the appearance.

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100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread

This recipe makes a basic whole wheat bread that is good for sandwiches. It could be modified to make breads other than loaf style. I think the combination of wheat and honey along with the sourdough make it quite a bit more sour than other breads. Some of my family liked it but for myself and my father, it was a bit sour. I have never been a fan of 100% whole wheat anyhow so that probably is a factor. If you like 100% whole wheat you should enjoy this bread.

 

100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
182 g starter
378g whole wheat flour
210g water, warm but not hot
57g butter, melted and cooled
50g organic honey
1 1/2 tsp sea salt

In a large bowl mix the starter and water. Stir in the honey, butter, and sea salt. Mix in the flour until well combined. The dough should be a somewhat shaggy dough. Cover and allow the dough to rest 20 minutes. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. I often knead the dough directly in the bowl.

Cover and allow the dough to ferment 3 hours. Do two stretch and folds; one every 1 1/2 hours. After three hours the dough should be just about doubled. Turn dough onto a floured surface and gently deflate the dough and shape the dough into a loaf. Place in a 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf pan. Cover and allow to rise for 4 to 6 hours or until the dough has risen 1 inch above the rim of the pan.

Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cover with foil and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes or until done. Bread will be golden and the interior temperature should be 205F or higher. Remove the bread from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. *Optional: Rub butter on the crust when it comes out of the oven to soften the crust, give it extra flavor and enhance the appearance.

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Ancient Grains

A post from my previous blog sourdough365.com

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

I plan to do a post or two about history of natural leavening and ancient grains and the benefits of both. In the meantime, I did come across a couple of videos that I would like to share. The first is a short clip about the ancient grain Einkorn and a project to re-establish this nutritious grain. Einkorn is almost twice as high in minerals than modern wheat and makes a richly flavored, more digestible bread. It is being grown at the University of Massachusetts Amherst experimental farm in Deerfield to help prevent the extinction of this delicious and nutritious grain inherited from the ancient world.



The second is a webinar on the ancient grains Einkorn, Emmer and Spelt. It covers their origins and attributes, current and potential uses and markets, and what we know so far about how to grow them. This webinar is for those interested in specialty grains, including farmers, consumers, bakers, chefs, millers, and other grain processors.

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