Birthday Cake and Cupcakes

Gracie's birthday was May 4th. Her family forgot it was her birthday, so they called me the night before her birthday and asked if I could make her a cake. Her favorite flavor is lemon, so I made over 50 cupcakes (1/2 of them lemon, and 1/2 vanilla), and a 2 layer cake (top layer lemon, bottom layer vanilla). She liked them, they were nice and fluffy and pretty moist.

This is the only picture I got of the cupcakes. I used colored sugar to decorate everything - just mix some food coloring and a few drops of water into white sugar.

Cake or Cupcakes (Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Corn-free)
Adapted from www.Babble.com

Cake:
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons shortening or lard
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 3/4 cups gluten-free flour (I use rice)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup milk (I use goat milk)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Icing:
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon shortening or lard
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place cupcake papers in three 12-hole muffin trays. If you don’t have enough trays, just fill the papers and cook them in a second batch.

2. Beat shortening until creamy. Add sugar one third (1/2 cup) at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and milk, and beat until well combined. Spoon into cupcake papers (about 1/2 full to 3/4 full).

3. Bake for about 15 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Transfer to wire racks and allow to cool completely.

Icing:

Cream shortening until smooth. Add the milk and half the sifted confectioners sugar. Beat until well combined. Add the remaining confectioners sugar and beat until mixture is light and fluffy. The mixture should be a spreadable paste; if it is too dry add some more milk, if too wet add more confectioners sugar.

~ Hanunyah

Cinnamon Rolls

These were also a hit! You can roll them out and make them like rolls, or make them in a Bundt pan.

Note: the ingredients with an * have a note at the bottom of the recipe.

Cinnamon Rolls
Adapted from I Am Gluten-free



Makes 8 or 9 cinnamon rolls, or, if this recipe is tripled, 2 Bundt pans of buns.

Rolls:
2 tablespoons shortening or lard
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup of milk, room temperature (about 110 degrees F.)
1 packet yeast (1 tablespoon)
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup potato starch*
1 cup arrowroot powder (the recipe called for corn starch)*
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon guar gum*
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon safe vanilla extract

1 - 2 tablespoons sugar

Filling:
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoons cinnamon

Glaze:
¾ cup powdered or confectionary sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
milk

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.


2. In medium bowl, combine shortening and sugar. Mix well. Measure warm milk and add yeast to milk. Whisk well to fully dissolve. Add milk/yeast to sugar mixture. Add remaining ingredients. Mix very well, being sure to remove all lumps. Dough will be soft.

3.
a. If you are making rolls - Take a piece of plastic wrap and lay it out so it covers a 13 1/2" x 13 1/2" square. Sprinkle sugar on the wrap. Lay ball of dough on top of that. Then pull out another sheet of wrap and gently lay over the dough. Pat the dough down into a roughly squarish pancake. Lift the top wrap up and then reposition it. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough in between the two layers of wrap. Occasionally you'll have to lift and reposition the wrap because it gets "stuck" under the edges. You might have to occasionally flip the whole thing over. Make sure that when you're done you've got ABOUT a 13 1/2" x 13 1/2" square of dough. 
      Remove top piece of wrap. Combine filling ingredients. Spread evenly across dough's surface. (Original recipe poster suggested leaving about a 1 1/2" sugar free edge because when you roll the dough all the sugar shifts and fills this in; otherwise all the sugar spills out). Use the bottom piece of wrap to lift the edge of the dough and start to roll it up forming a long cylinder. Cut off or trim up the irregular ends of your "log". Then cut into 8 or 9 slices of similar size, about 1 1/2" wide. Place rolls into a greased round glass pie pan.
b. Bundt pan method - Take large tablespoonfuls of dough, roll in sugar mixture, and place in a greased Bundt pan. Continue layers (about 3), until all dough is used.


Bake approximately 20 minutes, until tops are lightly browned.

For glaze, combine powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. The amount of milk you use will depend on how thick you want the glaze to be. Stir until all lumps are dissolved. Drizzle over warm rolls if desired.

Notes:
*For the potato and corn starch - I usually use all rice flour, since the rice flour we use is fine enough. But, if that doesn't work for you, you may use the starch. The first time I made these I used some arrowroot powder. Also, you may need to use close to 2 cups of flour/starch (whatever you're using), because the dough was very soft. Just add more as you need.
**The recipe called for 2 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum but that seemed like way to much for me, so I used allot less (and I used guar gum instead of xanthan).





~ Hanunyah

Tropical Carrot Apple Cake

I made this tonight, and it was really good!

      I was in a little hurry, because I was making it for dessert and I started at 4:30pm. But it was actually pretty easy, and didn't take that long. My sister had made cream cheese (from goat milk), so since we didn't have any powdered sugar (and I didn't feel like grinding any), I slathered plain ol' cream cheese on the cake just before serving - much easier than grinding powdered sugar, mixing up frosting, and, therefore, dirtying more dishes.
  
     It was a hit, and my sister gave it a 5 star rating :). It has a good combination of flavors and it's pretty moist. I also didn't notice any grainy texture.

Tropical Carrot Apple Cake (Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Corn-free)

Adapted from Gluten-free Goddess

3 large eggs

1/2 cup oil

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup pineapple juice (I may use water or milk next time, if we don't have it on hand)

2 teaspoons safe vanilla extract

1 tablespoon honey (for added moisture)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ginger

2 cups rice flour

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 cup flaked sweetened coconut (I used less, because that was all we had on hand)

1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots

1 cup shredded apple

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 11-inch round cake pan (I used a silicone pan).

In a mixing bowl beat the eggs; add the oil and beat; add the brown sugar and beat till smooth. Beat in the juice, vanilla, honey, and spices. Add in the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar, and beat till combined. Add in the coconut, carrots, and apples; stir to combine.

Spread the batter evenly in the cake pan; and place the pan in the center of a preheated oven. Bake until the cake is firm, and a wooden pick inserted into the center emerges clean, about 40 to 45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Frost with your cream cheese or cream cheese frosting.

~ Hanunyah