Fruity Fluffy Cake

I made this yesterday, and at first it was going to be an orange-lime cake, until the rest of my family came home with the produce . . . boxes and boxes of ripe fruit. So, it became an orange-lime-watermelon-nectarine-peach cake with a layer of homemade cream cheese and fluffy frosting. 

      Oh, and this turned into a layer cake because . . . well, I messed up when I was trying to separate the egg whites, therefore I used 2 eggs and 3 egg yolks to make a egg-rich orange cake. I put those two layers together, with cream cheese, fresh strawberries and fluffy frosting as the filling, and more fluffy frosting and fruit piled on top. 

It ended up as a pretty, tall layer cake that I took to the neighbors when we went over for dinner. They all liked it, and there were 1 or 2 pieces left that I left for the neighbor kids. One of my older sisters wanted to eat it right as it came out from the oven, it smelled really yummy!

Fruity Fluffy Cake (Gluten-free, Cow Dairy-free, Corn-free)

Hanunyah Creation

2 ¼ cups rice flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda + 1 teaspoon cream of tartar (or 2 teaspoons baking powder, if not corn-free)

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup lard

½ cup milk

½ cup citrus juice

2 eggs

½ cup chopped watermelon

½ cup chopped peaches

½ cup chopped nectarine

¼ cup cream cheese (optional)

5 egg whites

1/3 cup sugar

½ cup chopped strawberries and/or peaches (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 11 inch baking pan.

For the Cake:

2. Mix together all of the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center. Pour in all of the wet ingredients and fruit and mix well (DO NOT over mix).

3. Pour into the prepared pan, and bake in the preheated oven about 25 minutes or until the cake tests done with a wooden toothpick. Remove from pan (I use silicone, so this is easy) and cool.

For the Frosting:

4. Spread the cream cheese on the cake. Beat the egg whites until foamy, and gradually add the sugar while still beating. Continue beating until stiff peaks form. Spread on cake.

~ Making the layers ~

~ Hanunyah

Featured On - Gluten-Free Wednesdays (By The Gluten-Free Homemaker)

Lime Meringue Pie

Well, since we got about 50 limes the other day, and one of my sisters had been asking me to make Key Lime Pie, it was about time. I looked for key lime pie recipes, but it is traditionally made with sweetened condensed milk. So I googled and found this recipe. I named it Lime Meringue Pie because this is not how key lime pie is traditionally made. This was actually my first meringue, and I was surprised how easy it was and how well it turned out. They all liked this (except for my weird little brother didn't like the filling . . . :) ).

Note: I may use milk next time, to make it creamier and because we have a lot of milk right now. (I think we are milking about 25 goats twice a day right now, so getting 10 to 15 gallons a day for us! Sooooo, we make all kinds of cheeses, use it in baking, and make a couple gallons of yogurt and kefir everyday or every other day).

Lime Meringue Pie (Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Corn-free)
Adapted from SouthernFood.About.com/

Crust:
1/2 cup lard
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon guar gum
1/2 teaspoon baking soda + 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (or 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder, if not corn-free)
1 1/4 cups rice flour
***OR***
your favorite GF pie crust, baked


Filling:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup rice flour
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder (or 3 tablespoons cornstarch, if not corn-free)
2 cups water
3 egg yolks, beaten
1/4 cup lime juice
grated peel of 1 lime (optional)


Meringue:
3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
5 tablespoons sugar


1. Preheat oven to 350°. For the Crust - Beat the lard, sugar and egg. Add the rest of the crust ingredients. Spread half of the mixture thinly in a greased 9 inch pie pan*. Bake in preheated oven for about 9 to 12 minutes, until golden brown. If it puffs up too much, press down with a spoon.


2. For the Filling: In a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the sugar, flour, and arrowroot; gradually stir in the water. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Gradually stir about 1/3 of the mixture into the beaten egg yolks; stir mixture into the remaining hot mixture in the pan. Continue cooking over low heat, stirring, for two minutes. Stir in the lime juice and peel and cool slightly. Pour into the baked crust and cool.


3. For the Meringue:

Beat egg whites until light and frothy. Add the 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Gradually beat in the 5 tablespoons sugar and beat until the meringue is stiff and glossy.

Pile the meringue lightly on cooled pie filling, spreading it until it all the way to edges of the pastry to prevent the meringue shrinking. Bake in a preheated 425° oven until the top is brown, 3 to 6 minutes.

Notes:

*You should only have to use about 1/2 of the crust mixture. I made cookies and some muffins with the rest of the dough (for the muffins I added milk and baked - they turned out great!).

~ Hanunyah

Featured on - Gluten-Free Wednesdays (by The Gluten-Free Homemaker)

Suriyah's Hamburger Buns

Well, I know these aren't necessarily sweet, but it has to do with baking :).

One of my sisters, Suriyah makes these quick buns quite often since they are easy. In fact, she's making them right now!

Sometimes she adds pizza seasoning, and they smell sooooo good! I'm sure they taste good, too :).

Suriyah's Hamburger Buns
Adapted from: Taste Of Home


2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 cup + 2 tablespoons warm water (110° to 115°)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
3 to 3 1/2 cups rice flour


1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add oil and sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the egg, salt and enough flour to form a soft dough.


2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 3 to 5 minutes. Do not let rise. Divide into 12 pieces; shape each into a ball. Place 3 inches apart on greased baking sheets.


3. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Bake at 425° for 8 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Notes:
*Pizza seasoning - add with the salt 1 teaspoon italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon parsley, and 1 teaspoon onion powder.


~ Hanunyah

Frozen Fruit Dessert Pizza

I made this yesterday. They said it was "different", but good.

Frozen Fruit Dessert Pizza (Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Corn-free)
Hanunyah Creation


Crust:
1/2 cup lard (we were out, so I used oil)
1/2 cup sugar (I used white)
1 egg
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda + 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (or 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder, if not corn-free)
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon guar gum
1 1/4 cups rice flour

Topping:
3 pieces fruit of choice*
1/4 cup cream cheese
1 teaspoon lemon extract

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Combine all of the crust ingredients. Spread in a greased round baking pan (I use a 11 inch stoneware baking pan). Bake in preheated oven for about 9 to 12 minutes, until golden brown.


2. Combine all of the topping ingredients in a food processor (be sure to remove seeds from fruit). Spread on the cooled, baked crust and put in the freezer. You could also top it with coconut, dried fruit, etc.

Notes:

*I used 1 ripe banana and 2 ripe plums. You may use whatever kind of fruit you want.


~ Hanunyah

Disguised Dessert Pizza

Another dessert pizza . . . this one looking more like a real pizza - cookie crust, a unusual (but sweet) red sauce I came up with, and grated white almond bark for cheese.
      I was wondering around in the kitchen looking for ideas for making something that would taste good, but look like red sauce. First, I attempted some kind of brown sugar sauce, but after making it, it didn't look like that would work too well. I didn't want to mess with the stove anymore, since it was getting somewhat warm in the kitchen. So I thought I'd just make a quick no-cook topping. I picked up some kind of red hot pepper that looked like it needed used (I thought - why not? my mom likes spicy stuff, and remember how well the jalepeno peanut brittle went down? I ended up not using it though, because I debated how good it would be in this). Hmmmmmm . . . . carrots? If I could chop them up very fine, I might reach the somewhat grainy look of red sauce. They are also used in desserts sometimes, and have a mild, sweet flavor. And, since they're orange, that could help with the color, too. So, I decided - I put a carrot in the food processor. Since cream cheese went down very well in the Peanut Butter Cheesecake Dessert Pizza, I asked my sister if we had cream cheese. "Yes". Okay, that's what I'm going to use, then! I also added a little nutmeg and cinnamon, and poppy and flaxseeds to look like seasoning.

After all, this went over well. One of my sisters didn't get a piece since I took it over to the neighbors, where at least 25 people were. But, I still have a little almond bark left, so I can make it again. The neighbor/friend kids (where we go over almost every Monday for dinner, and they always look forward to my desserts), said it tasted like pumpkin pie (because of the little nutmeg and cinnamon I added). You can leave the spices out, if you want. Also, my brothers and sisters had a hard time trying to guess what was in the red sauce. They said it didn't taste like carrots.

Disguised Dessert Pizza
Hanunyah Creation


Crust:
1/2 cup lard
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt1/2 teaspoon guar gum
1/2 teaspoon baking soda + 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (or 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder, if not corn-free)
1 1/4 cups flour


Sauce and Topping:
1 carrot, very finely chopped in the food processor
1/4 cup cream cheese
2 to 3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
1/4 teaspoon poppyseeds
1/2 teaspoon flaxseeds
a few drops red food color


1. Preheat oven to 350F. Combine all of the crust ingredients. Spread in a greased round baking pan (I use a 11 inch stoneware baking pan).


2. Combine all of the topping ingredients exept the almond bark. Grate almond bark over the pizza (I used about 1/2 of a 2 ounce piece).

Carrots in the food processor. Make sure you get them very fine.

Enjoy!!

~ Hanunyah

Sweet and Salty Dessert Pizza

Another sweet pizza . . . somebody gave us a bunch of chips, so I came up with this funky flavor. They said it was good (and blog-worthy :-) ), but surely not as good as the Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Dessert Pizza.


Sweet and Salty Dessert Pizza (Gluten-free, Dairy-free)
Hanunyah Creation


Crust:
1/2 cup lard
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon guar gum
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 cups rice flour
1/2 cup crushed chips (I used corn chips)

Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup milk*
2 tablespoons lard
1/4 cup crushed chips (I used corn chips)
1 teaspoon lemon extract

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Combine all of the crust ingredients. Spread in a greased round baking pan (I use a 11 inch stoneware baking pan). You may need to add a teaspoon or two of water (before spreading in the pan) for easier spreading. Bake in preheated oven for about 9 to 12 minutes, until golden brown.

2. For the sauce, combine the brown sugar, milk and lard. Stir until dissolved, and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add the extract and chips. Beat until thick, and spread on the crust.


Notes:
*You may need to add a little water if the dough is too thick to spread in the pan.
**For the milk in the topping I used some "cream cheese" that my sister made, that didn't turn out right - it was really thin (it smelled like cream cheese, it just was too thin to hang), so we used it in baking.




~ Hanunyah

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Dessert Pizza

I've made up 3 dessert pizzas (fruit, chip [posting later] and this one), and they said this was the best one, and definitely a keeper. They also said it tasted like cheesecake, thus the name.

Topped with cocoa and chopped white almond bark

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Dessert Pizza
Hanunyah Creation


Crust:
1/4 cup lard
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon guar gum
1/2 teaspoon baking soda + 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (or 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder, if not corn-free)
1 1/4 cups flour


Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup lard
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 to 1/3 cup cream cheese*
cocoa (optional)
chopped white almond bark (optional)


1. Preheat oven to 350F. Combine all of the crust ingredients. Spread in a greased round baking pan (I use a 11 inch stoneware baking pan). You may need to add a teaspoon or two of water (before spreading in the pan) for easier spreading. Bake in preheated oven for about 9 to 12 minutes, until golden brown.

2. For the sauce, combine the brown sugar and milk. Stir until dissolved, and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add the lard. Beat until thick, and set aside. Spread 1/2 cup of peanut butter over the crust, then cream cheese, then the brown sugar sauce, and swirl around a bit with a knife.


Notes:
*Cream cheese - I used 1/4 cup over the peanut butter, then a little more on the top. They said it had a good cream cheese flavor, and my sister was suprised when I told her I only used about 1/4 cup.




~ Hanunyah

Caramel Sauce

You may have noticed that my last couple recipes have a brown sugar sauce in them. It is very quick, simple and easy, and would be great as a dip for apples, or maybe even over ice-cream.

Caramel Sauce (Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Corn-free)

Hanunyah Creation

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup goat milk

1/4 cup lard

Bring sugar and milk to a boil over medium-hight heat. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add lard. Let cool for a couple of minutes, then beat until thick. Store in the refrigerator, and warm up when ready to serve.

~ Hanunyah

Banana Peanut Butter Layered Dessert

We've been getting slightly over-ripe bananas lately, so we froze most of them, but kept out a couple of bunches for me to bake with. So I made up another creation today ;). They haven't taste-tested this yet.

This is it at the last layer, when I started putting the fluffy stuff on it.

The most time-consuming part of this is making the cookies (that are baked in a pan), pudding and sauce, but still it didn't seem like it took that long.

*Note: You could add chocolate chips to the vanilla cookies (since it is actually my Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe), that would be a great addition. If you were going for the chocolate twist, you could even make some of the pudding with cocoa. I didn't do either of these because we are out of chocolate chips and cocoa.

Banana Peanut Butter Layered Dessert (Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Corn-free)
Hanunyah Creation


3 bananas

Vanilla Cookies:
1/2 cup lard
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon guar gum
1/2 teaspoon baking soda + 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (or 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder, if not corn-free)
1 1/4 cups rice flour

Peanut Butter Cookies:
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar (you can use white)
1 egg

Pudding:
1/2 cup brown sugar (you can use white)
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder (if not corn-free, 3 tablespoons cornstarch)
2 cups goat milk
3 tablespoons peanut butter

Caramel Sauce:
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup lard

Fluffy Topping:
5 egg whites
1/4 cup brown sugar (you could use white)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. For the Vanilla Cookies: Cream the sugar and lard until fluffy. Add the egg and beat. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Spread in an 8x8 inch baking pan and bake for 10 minutes (?), until golden brown on top. Cool, and cut into small squares.

2. For the Peanut Butter Cookies: Mix all the ingredients together. Spread and bake in an 8x8 inch pan for 10 minutes (?), until golden brown on top. Cool, and cut into small squares.

3. For the Pudding: In a microwave-safe bowl, whisk together the sugar and cornstarch. Whisk in milk a little at a time so the mixture does not have any dry lumps. Place in the microwave, and cook for 3 minutes on high. Stir, then cook at 1 minute intervals, stirring between cooking times for 2 to 4 minutes, or until thick. Divide in half. Leave one bowl plain, and add 3 tablespoons peanut butter to one bowl. Cool, and set aside until ready to use.

4. For the Caramel Sauce: Bring sugar and milk to a boil over medium-hight heat. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add lard. Let cool for a couple of minutes, then beat until thick. Set aside until ready to use.*

5. For the Fluffy Topping: With the mixer on high speed, beat the 5 egg whites until frothy. While still beating, slowly add the sugar, and continue beating until stiff peaks form.

6. To Assemble: Slice up 1 1/2 bananas in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Put a layer of the vanilla cookie squares, and pour the peanut butter pudding over it. Slice another 1 1/2 banana over those layers, put a layer of peanut butter cookie squares over it, and pour the other bowl of pudding over it. Pour some caramel sauce over it, and top with the fluffy egg white mixture.

Notes:
*I only used about half of the caramel sauce, so if you have extra store in the refrigerator and make this again or use for something else.


~ Hanunyah

Bread Pudding

Tuesday some friends came over to butcher a pig. I made this while they were here, and as soon as I cut it and said that they could have some, it was like the locusts came in! It was only about 5 minutes until the pan looked like this, and it was a 10x13 inch pan (a doubled recipe)! -

So, I guess it was good! I sliced a peach over the bread (before baking), and the one time I made it before I used the raisins. Old, dry pancakes work well in this recipe (that's what I used the first time, and the second time I used pancakes and "rice bread" - cornbread recipe, with rice flour instead of cornmeal).

Bread Pudding (Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Corn-free)
Adapted from AllRecipes.com

7 slices worth of old GF, DF, CF bread, pancakes or rice bread*
2 tablespoons oil
raisins or fruit (optional)
4 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon maple (or vanilla) extract
2 cups goat milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Break bread into small pieces into an 8x8 inch baking pan*. Drizzle oil over bread. If desired, sprinkle with raisins or sliced fruit.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, spices and maple extract. Add the milk and beat until well mixed. Pour over bread.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.

Notes:
*The bread - if you're not sure how much bread to use, just fill the pan with pieces of the bread product you're using until the pan is about 2/3 full. My family liked it with more bread, so it wasn't so gooey like a custard, but it was actually kind of spongy. They liked it like that, but if you like it more like a custard, then you may use less bread. I hope that makes sense ;).
**The baking pan - I used a 6x11 inch pan for when I didn't double the recipe, and a 10x13 inch pan when I doubled it. If you double it, you'll have to bake it longer. I don't know how much longer I baked it when I doubled it, I just left it in the oven until it was done.

Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Corn-free bread pudding, before "the locusts" came ;).

~ Hanunyah

Caramel Fruit Cookie Pizza

*I entered this in The Gluten-Free Homemaker's Gluten-Free Wednesdays recipe carnival. Please check out all of the great entries here!

Tonight I wanted to experiment some, but didn't really know what I wanted to make. I was looking through my recipe files, and saw a recipe for a Banana-Berry Brownie Pizza. So I figured I would make something like that recipe. But, I looked to see if we had cocoa - we are out. So I made the dough for Chocolate Chip Cookies without the chocolate chips, spread in a round pan and baked. I made up a sauce with brown sugar (because we've only had brown sugar for the last few days, and we're out of powdered sugar), then topped with a couple bananas and a peach.


This was good! They (my brothers and sisters) really liked it.

*Note: I think I'm going to do the sauce different next time. I beat it until it was the consistency of a caramel sauce, then put it on the crust when the crust was still hot, and it melted and soaked into the crust. Next time I'll try beating the sauce more until it's like fudge, then spread on the cooled crust.

Caramel Fruit Cookie Pizza (Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Corn-free)
Hanunyah Creation


Crust:
1/2 cup lard
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla or maple extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon guar gum
1/2 teaspoon baking soda + 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (or 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder, if not corn-free)
1 1/4 cups rice flour

Sauce:
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup lard
1 teaspoon vanilla or maple extract

Toppings:
2 large bananas
1 peach

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Combine all of the crust ingredients. Spread in a greased round baking pan (I used a stoneware baking pan, not sure what size - I think 11 inch or something around that). Bake in preheated oven for about 9 to 12 minutes, until golden brown.

2. For the sauce, combine the brown sugar and milk. Stir until dissolved, and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add the lard and extract. Beat until thick. Spread over the cookie crust. Slice and arange your desired fruit over the cookie crust and sauce.

~ Hanunyah

Cookie pictures

Here are some pictures of cookies me and my sister made over the last few weeks.

Oatmeal cookies with maple topping

Oatmeal cookies with chocolate topping

No-bake cookies

Oatmeal cookies, Flourless Peanut Butter cookies and cupcakes, Fruit Bars (aka Horse cookies), GAPS goodies

Black Gold Cookies

~ Hanunyah