My friend Andrea made this gorgeous gluten-free, kosher for passover chocolate cake. According to her father, it was so good, he’d even eat it not on passover. That’s high praise.
This flourless chocolate cake was created by David Lebowitz and he actually calls it his chocolate idiot cake “since any idiot could make it…and only an idiot could screw it up.” For the recipe for this easy, kosher, gluten-free dessert check out David’s website here.
When I was a kid, I didn’t realize that carrot cake actually had carrots in it. We got the kind with the frosted orange carrots arranged in a circle atop cream cheese frosting. Once I was served carrot cake without the frosted carrots and declared that it was not the real deal. When someone pointed out the shredded carrots speckling the cake, I was slightly disgusted. Carrots in a dessert? Yuck!
I’ve since gotten over this, and carrot cake is one of my favorite desserts . I always associate this cake with Easter. It probably has something to do with associating carrots with bunnies, and bunnies with Easter. No matter the reason, to me, carrot cake is as Easter-y as pumpkin pie is Thanksgiving-y. I was shocked this past November when Alex requested it as his preferred birthday dessert. I even chided him, letting him know I thought it was not appropriate for the season. I quickly took that back (remembering that it was his birthday after all) and made a fabulous, particularly spicy carrot cake with ginger cream cheese frosting.
the cake
from bettycrocker.com
from Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef by Shauna James Ahern and Daniel Ahern
8 ounces cream cheese
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
3-4 cups powdered sugar
coconut flakes, for decoration, optional
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease one round 8×8 or 9×9 pan. Combine the cake mix, the water, the butter, the spices, the vanilla, and the eggs in a large bowl. Then add the carrots (and optional nuts). Mix until combined well. Pour the batter into the greased pan and bake for 33-38 minutes for the 9×9 pan and between 36-41 for the 8×8 pan. The cake is done when a knife or toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let the cake cool before you frost it.
To make the frosting (which I do while the cake is baking), combine the cream cheese, butter, and spices in a bowl until creamy and smooth. This is much, much easier in an electric mixer, as the cream cheese is quite dense. Then, add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time and slowly if you are using an electronic mixer to prevent the sugar from going everywhere. 3 cups should be sufficient, but add more sugar if you like it sweeter and thicker.
Frost the cake and sprinkle coconut flakes for decoration if so desired.
Last night at our monthly Greater Rochester Celiac Disease Support Group, we had a real treat, or many treats, to be correct. Wegmans unveiled to our group their brand new line of fresh gluten free baked goods. This, of course, is a huge deal. Wegmans is already the leader in providing gluten free products, having developed their own brand of gluten free baking mixes this past year. Now, after 2+ years of trial and error, they are launching their own brand of gluten free baked goods, fresh from their gluten free test kitchen.
We gluten free folks know that gluten free baking isn’t easy and is in fact much more difficult than wheat-based baking. Wegmans’ Bakery Artisan, Patty Fowler knows that too. Patty has been testing out recipes for over two years, making sure the quality of the product satisfied Wegmans’ standards and the customer’s taste buds . To ensure these standards, Wegmans built their own top of the line baking facility, dedicated to exclusively producing gluten free goods. Celiac disease sufferers and those with a gluten-intolerance can rest assured that the products coming out of the kitchen are 100% gluten-free due to state-of-the art gluten-testing equipment. To make it official, the facility has been certified and exceeded the expectations of the Gluten-Free Certification Organization.
Review of the Goods
All sweets are made from the Wegmans baking mixes and everything has a shelf life of 7 days.
Multigrain Bread-$5 for a loaf: I enjoyed the flavor very much, but the bread was a little too moist for me. I preferred the texture of the white bread but I love that it is all whole grains, and I would not think twice about making a sandwich with this bread. However, with both breads, I would like a thicker slice.
Vanilla and Chocolate Cupcakes-$6 for 2 chocolate and 2 vanilla: I really enjoyed the vanilla cupcake, it was light, spongy, and moist and the frosting wasn’t overwhelmingly sweet. However, I did not like the chocolate cupcake. I felt it was too dense and I preferred the frosted brownie as a frosted chocolate treat. I wish I could buy these separately!
Starting TODAY, Pittsford Wegmans will carry these gluten free goodies. Based on customer feedback, Wegmans will decide whether to roll out these products in other stores. So, what are you waiting for- go!
A cynical co-worker once confessed to me that his favorite holiday was Valentine’s Day. He said that despite the consumerism associate with this hallmark holiday, at the core, V-Day celebrates love, the most worthy of all things to celebrate. I have to confess my heart melted when he told me this and I’ve been a big fan of February 14th ever since.
This year, I hosted a valentines crafting party and brunch with my girlfriends. After blood-orange mimosas and an assortment of food, we got creative and made valentines for our loved ones, ranging from sweet to sexy. I would post a photo of my valentine to Alex, but then it wouldn’t be a surprise, so you’ll just have to wait to see how I incorporated menswear into the holiday.
As for the day-of, most of the time Alex and I celebrate by enjoying a romantic dinner, although one year we mixed it up with a Bacon and Bourbon Expo. For our first Valentine’s day in Rochester, we made reservations at Edibles on University Avenue. Edibles accommodates both vegetarian and gluten free diets by having separate menus available.
If you are still looking for a way to express your love this Thursday, here are some ideas that are romantic and gluten free!
Not too long after I was diagnosed with celiac disease and started sharing my new diet with family and friends, was my godson, Matthew put on a mostly gluten free diet. He misses enjoying traditional baked goods, especially crusty french bread. However, Matthew is learning to live with this diet- his family eats mostly gluten free to support him and some of his friends in school are also on the same diet. His favorite gluten free dish is lamb chops with gluten free bread crumbs – which sounds utterly delicious! And his favorite thing about being gluten free is baking and discovering new gluten free recipes. Matthew lives pretty far from me and we don’t get to see each other all that often. But from afar, we are able to share our gluten free experiences together by sharing recipes. This past holiday season, Matthew sent me a long list of his favorite gluten free recipes that inspired me to bake (which doesn’t happen all that often!). I chose to make lemon bars and every time I had one for a treat, I thought of Matthew. So here’s one of Matthew’s favorite recipes that I chose to make, Lemon Bars, from The Gluten Free Bible.
Lemon Bars
The Gluten-Free Bible by Publications International Ltd. Staff
1 cup Gluten-Free All-Purpose blend (You can used any blend you have on hand, but I prefer a blend without bean flours)
1 cup macadamia nuts or slivered almond (Matt uses almond meal from Trader Joe’s)
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1/3 cup lemon juice
Additional powdered sugar for dusting
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease a 9×9 square baking dish. I used an 8×8 pyrex and it worked just fine.
2. Place flour, nuts, butter, powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon lemon peel and salt in food processor. Process until mixture forms fine crumbs. Press mixture onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes or until light golden brown . Matt doesn’t use a food processor, but I did because it makes this much easier! Don’t be alarmed by the amount of flour mix you end up with, it presses down to the perfect amount. I had to bake my crust for 20 minutes and it still wasn’t golden brown, but it was done.
3. Beat granulated sugar, eggs, lemon juice and remaining 1 tablespoon lemon peel in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until blended.
4. Pour mixture evenly over warm crust. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until center is set and edges are golden brown . Cool completely in pan on wire rack . Dust with additional powdered sugar . Store tightly covered at room temperature.