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