Thursday Recipe - Chocolate GF Sponge Cake

I'm experimenting with a wheat-free diet. My health issues are getting the best of me and I'm willing to try anything that might help at this point.

So I decided to start this wheat-free diet on my birthday. While I have guests in the house. And all sorts of other crap going on in my life. Not a good idea. Extra stress is not pleasant.

But it did give me the option of playing around with my GF sponge cake recipe. It's easy, fairly quick to pull together, and makes a delicious cake. I made one on Saturday that was gone before everyone got a slice. It was vanilla, filled with coconut cream, whipped topping, and fresh berries. Today I shall attempt chocolate sponge with chocolate whipped frosting.

*Note: This cake is more dry than the vanilla version. It's best to underbake it a bit, then after it cools, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Frost and serve the next day. Mine also didn't rise nearly as high as the vanilla one. Still tasty.

Chocolate Gluten-Free Sponge Cake

7 eggs
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. cocoa powder
1/4 t. salt
1/3 c. rice flour
3/4 c. almond flour

Heat oven to 325. Grease a 10-inch springform pan and set aside.

Separate eggs, being careful to keep the yolks out of the whites. Set the whites aside.

Beat the yolks until very thick and creamy, at least 3-5 minutes. Add sugar and salt. Beat for another 1-2 minutes. Stir in flours. Set aside.

Beat whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold egg yolk mixture and cocoa into the whites until the bits of white foam are all incorporated and cocoa is mixed in.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes, just until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes in the pan, then gently release the cake. Finish cooling on a baking rack.

Once cool, split the cake into two layers. Fill with half of the chocolate frosting. Use the rest of the frosting to decorate the cake. Refrigerate to set.

Store in the fridge.

Thursday Recipe - Gluten-Free Easy Sponge Cake

I never thought Gluten-free and Easy could be in the same title, especially not for cake. Most of the recipes I looked at required weird ingredients or special mixes or something else strange or a tricky baking method. This one is fairly simple. It does take almond flour and rice flour, but both of those are pretty easy to find these days. It's based off one I found in an old cookbook that used ground almonds and lemon zest and had really bad directions. The first time I tried to do this, I ended up with a burnt on the bottom, flat, giant hockey puck. I changed things up and made a much more delicious cake the second time around.

The cake makes one 10-inch round thick enough to split and use for a 2-layer cake. We filled it with a couple of different things, but feel free to go hog wild and do whatever you like in your cake. This would make an awesome strawberry shortcake dessert. Just sayin'.

Gluten Free Easy Sponge Cake

7 eggs, separated
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 t. salt
1 c. almond flour
1/2 c. rice flour
1 t. vanilla or almond flavoring

Pre-heat oven to 325°. Spray a 10-inch spring-form pan or 2 8-inch cake pans. Make sure you get the corners and bottom really well. Set aside.

Separate the eggs. Be careful not to get egg yolk in with the whites. Set the whites aside.

Beat the egg yolks until they are very light yellow and fluffy and thick, this takes about 3-5 minutes. Don't underbeat at this stage. Add sugar and salt and beat again. Stir in flours and flavorings. Set aside.

Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form, 3-5 minutes. Gently fold the egg yolk mixture into the egg whites. You want to keep as much air as you can. Stir gently just until you can't see large puffs of egg white. I use a rubber scraper to stir, lifting up from the bottom to the top. The thicker egg yolk mixture tends to settle to the bottom while the whites are on top. You want to get them mixed evenly throughout but don't go overboard on stirring or you will lose your air, which is what makes this cake rise.

Scoop batter gently into the prepared pan. Smooth out the top.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, just until set and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes. Use a thin knife to loosen the cake from the sides, then turn out onto a serving platter and let cool completely.

Frost and decorate like any other cake.

Note: this cake is more chewy and sponge-y than a normal cake, more like an angel-food cake. Use a sharp serrated knife to cut it.

If you want to fill the cake - 
After it is completely cool, use a long serrated knife to split it into two layers. Carefully remove the top layer, spread on the filling, then replace with the top layer.

Suggestions for fillings:
peach-rhubarb jam (homemade and delicious!)
berry pie filling (raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, etc)
lemon curd
chocolate mousse
pretty much anything you'd fill a regular cake with

Thursday Recipe - Frog Eye Salad, Dairy-free and Gluten-free

This is one of those classic recipes. It's called a salad but it's more of a pudding. The traditional recipe calls for canned fruit, whipped topping, and a tiny pasta called acini de pepe. There are lots of recipes out there for it. It's been a staple potluck dish since the 1960s or 1970s. I like it for dessert. It's sweet, but not too much. Plus it's fun to serve frog eyes.

My daughter, the one with food allergies, adores tapioca pudding for some reason. I couldn't stand the stuff when I was her age. So I had an epiphany today. I could combine the tapioca pudding with the frog eye salad and make something she could enjoy along with the rest of us.

This recipe is similar but uses just fruit juice.

Frog Eye Salad, DF GF version

1/3 c. pearl tapioca (tiny little white balls, look for it in the baking section of the grocery store)
1/3 c. sugar
3 c. almond or coconut milk (the drinking kind in a carton)
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/8 t. salt
1 18-oz can pineapple tidbits in pineapple juice
1 16-oz can fruit cocktail in water or juice
1 8-oz can mandarin oranges
whipped topping (optional)

Mix tapioca, sugar, milk, vanilla, and salt in a 2-quart saucepan. Let sit for 30 minutes. This helps plump up the tapioca so it cooks more evenly and has a smoother texture.

Cook and stir over medium heat until the mixture thickens and boils. Remove from heat and let cool, stirring occasionally. (You just made tapioca pudding if you want to stop here and refrigerate it.)

Open the cans of fruit. Drain. (Save the juice and use it instead of milk in the tapioca pudding half of this recipe. It makes a nice fruity pudding.)

Stir the fruit into the tapioca pudding. Stir in whipped topping if you want a lighter texture, but it's totally optional. Serve immediately or refrigerate and serve later.

Makes about 6-8 servings.

Thursday Recipe - GF Lemon Bars

Whoops, a day late. But life has been that way this week.

Messing around this week with recipes, when I wasn't scrambling to keep up with life, I made these for my daughter. She loved them. The secret is to get the gluten-free pie crust and use that. This makes an 8x8 pan of about 16 bars, depending on how you cut them.

Gluten-Free Lemon Bars

1/4 package Pillsbury gluten-free pie crust
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. lemon juice
2 eggs
1 T. gluten-free baking mix (or use 1 T. of the pie crust)
1/2 t. baking powder
dash salt

Lightly spray an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray. Crumble pie crust into pan, pat into a smooth crust. Bake at 350° for 18-20 minutes, just until lightly browned.

Meanwhile, beat sugar, lemon juice, eggs, baking mix, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl until thick and smooth. Set aside.

When crust is done, pour filling over hot crust. Bake at 350° for another 20-25 minutes, until filling is set and top is very lightly browned. Let cool before serving.