The Cake Slice December 2010: Fresh Cranberry Cake (GF)

Fresh cranberries instantly conjure up images of Christmas and snowy winter days, so I was delighted when this cake was voted as December’s cake. I was so excited at the prospect of using fresh cranberries. I love dried cranberries, but until I made this cake I had never tasted a fresh cranberry in any form! I know – shock horror! This is because in the UK we only have access to fresh cranberries for the few weeks either side of Christmas. They are not sold fresh or even frozen, at any other time of year. Because of this, I have never got organized enough to buy them in time before they disappeared. After having tasted them, I am so jealous of people in America who seem to have fresh or frozen cranberries available all year round – they are so zingy and fresh tasting and I adore their vibrant glossy colour, like shiny red jewels.

This cake is a vanilla cake which is studded with fresh cranberries and topped with an almond streusel that turns wonderfully golden and crunchy during baking, giving the cake a sort of almond Florentine crunchy topping that worked so well with the moist fluffy cake. The cranberries burst whilst in the oven creating little stained pools of ruby red juice dotted throughout the cake which made it look so appetizing.

The cake is also extremely moist, although I may have undercooked mine slightly. The recipe made a huge 10inch cake which was too big for me, so I cut the quantities by a third and baked it in an 8inch tin instead. I thought this might also mean less baking time, so I checked my cake early and gave it a little shake to see if it was cooked – big mistake – the middle wasn’t quite set with the result that the centre sank! I left it in the oven for the rest of its baking time but unfortunately the damage was done. However, this didn’t decrease from the deliciousness of this cake, so no real harm done.

I adored the flavour of the cranberries in this cake. They seemed to pop when you bit into one releasing their zingy, slightly tart juices. The sweetness of the cake and the golden crispy crunchy almond topping prevented the berries from being too sharp and made for one delicious cake. My family kept cutting off little slices just to ‘neaten’ the edges.

I am now a fresh cranberry convert and have bought an extra two bags which I have stashed away in the freezer to use at a later date. This cake was also really easy to convert to being gluten free and was so festive that I bet it would make a great alternative to the traditional Christmas fruit cake if dried fruit’s not your thing. Click here to see the other Cake Slice bakers cranberry cakes.

Fresh Cranberry Cake (GF)
(Recipe adapted from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman)

Streusel Topping
65g flaked almonds
20g unsalted butter, melted
20g light soft brown sugar

Cranberry Cake
160g plain flour (I used Doves GF flour blend)
¾ tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 eggs
300g caster sugar (I only used 225g)
100g butter, melted and cooled
¾ tsp vanilla extract
230g fresh cranberries

Method – Streusel

Heat the oven to 150C. Grease an 8inch round spring form pan.
Combine the butter, almonds and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Work the mixture between your fingers to form large crumbs. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Method – Cake
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Combine the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium high speed until the mixture is lightened and increased in volume, about 5 minutes.
With the mixer on low speed, add the butter in a slow stream. Turn the mixer to medium speed and beat for another 2 minutes. Stir in the vanilla.
Gently but thoroughly fold in the flour mixture, half a cup at a time. Then stir in the cranberries.
Scrape the butter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula. Sprinkle the streusel over the batter. Bake the cake until it is golden and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 1 hour to 1hour 10minutes.
Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Release the sides of the pan and use a large spatula to slide the cake from the pan bottom onto the wire rack. Cool completely before cutting into wedges and serving.
Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Makes one 8 inch round cake

Heritage Beetroot & Goats Cheese Bruschetta (GF)

Beetroot. What springs to mind when you hear that word? I’d wager it’s a round rooty vegetable with a deep purple colour – be it raw, sliced, diced or picked, the colour purple is often what we imagine. Now think bright gold, striped blushing pink and pearly whites. Think Sainsbury’s Heritage Beetroot.

I love beetroot. I never ate it growing up. I was never forced to eat the sharp pickled variety which seems to have put a lot of people off beetroot for life. I came to beetroot later, raw or roasted in salads and instantly loved its earthy flavour and finger staining purple colour. I’ve seen other colours and varieties of beetroot used on tv, but never actually seen any to buy or taste myself, so I was delighted to be offered the chance to sample some of Sainsbury’s new Heritage Beetroot bunch – complete with three stunning varieties of differently coloured beets.

They looked attractive even before I cut into them, but once sliced open they positively glowed with rich vibrant colours. I dithered over how to taste them and eventually decided to simply roast them and serve them on some toast (gluten free) with some goat’s cheese – bruschetta style.

As they roasted, the outer surface became slightly duller in colour, but once bitten into the full force of their colours were once again apparent. If anything I found this to be more exciting, as it was so attractive to take a bite and be rewarded by such a beautiful vibrant colour. If you want to keep the beetroots full colour for presentation too, then I would suggest roasting them whole before cutting into wedges.

I toasted some Genius fresh brown gluten free bread (I’m so impressed by this brand compared to others I’ve tried – it really is quite Genius!) and rubbed the toast with a cut clove of garlic before piling on the roasted beets and crumbling over some young soft goats cheese. The combination of the soft creamy cheese with the sweet earthy beetroots and nutty bread was delicious and made for a very tasty lunch.

The beetroots themselves had subtle differences in flavour. The golden variety was the sweetest and closest to the traditional purple kind, while I thought the white variety the most subtle. All of them had a great flavour and weren’t as earthy as traditional beetroot, so might appeal to normal beetroot haters. I was delighted to get the chance to taste them and I am so happy at the prospect of being able to have regular access to them. At only £2 a mixed bunch they are worth it to add a little sunshine to your meal.

Heritage Beetroot & Goats Cheese Bruschetta (GF)

Ingredients
1 bunch Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Heritage Beetroot (4 beetroot)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried thyme
60g young soft goats cheese
1 clove garlic
4 slices gluten free bread (or normal)
Salt and pepper

Method
Preheat the oven to 190C. Top and tail the beetroot, wash them well in warm water and remove any wispy roots but leave the skin on (its so paper thin you can eat it after roasting)
Cut the beetroot in half and then slice each half into quarters. Arrange the beetroot on a foil lined tray, drizzle with the olive oil and scatter over the thyme.
Roast in the oven for 30 minutes until softened.
Once roasted, toast your bread of choice before rubbing gently with a cut clove of garlic. Crumble over the soft goats cheese and arrange a mixed assortment of roasted beetroot slices on top. Season with a little salt and pepper and enjoy.
Serves 2 as a light lunch or 4 as a starter.

My Mums Apple & Almond Sponge Pudding

This is a delicious pudding which is perfect for this time of year. It’s warm, comforting, relatively healthy, a doddle to put together and more importantly delicious!

It’s a simple mixture of lightly cooked apple topped with a quick almond batter that bakes into a delicious sponge-topped apple pudding. The sponge is made using ground almonds, rather than flour meaning it’s also gluten free – I didn’t adapt it to be this way, this is the way my mum has baked this dessert for years. You can’t go wrong with the pairing of apple and almond.

The only change I have made to my mums version is to use light brown sugar in the topping rather than white sugar. This results in a more golden coloured sponge and a subtle caramel overtone, which is delicious with the apple.

I love Bramley apples for their juicy tartness and the way they easily cook down into fluffy mounds of smooth apple puree. I have often enjoyed tucking in to bowlfuls of this on its own, especially for breakfast with yogurt or porridge. However for this pudding you also want some pieces of apple to add texture and bite. A simple way to achieve this is to stir some raw apple slices through the puree just before baking. The apple gets fully cooked in the oven but retains its shape and provides a good contrast to the smooth apple puree.

This pudding is comfort in a bowl, perfect for this time of year. To me it needs no accompaniment, but I wouldn’t say no to serving it with some thick creamy custard either.

Apple & Almond Sponge Pudding

Ingredients
700g Bramley apples
50g caster sugar
½ tsp cinnamon

Almond Topping
80g ground almonds
50g light soft brown sugar
60g butter
1 egg
½ tsp almond extract

Method
Fill a large bowl with water and squeeze the juice of half a lemon, lime or orange into it. Peel, core and slice the apples into 1cm thick slices, placing them in the citrus water to prevent them from browning.
Transfer two-thirds of the apple into a large saucepan and add 1 tbsp water. Heat gently until the apples start to break down and soften. Add the sugar and cinnamon and cook until the apple has almost completely broken down. Taste the apple and add a little more sugar if it is too tart for you (the sponge topping will add sweetness).
Remove the pan from the heat and stir through the remaining third of raw apple. Transfer the apple mix into a large oblong or square pudding basin, you will want the apple mix to fill it almost to the top.
Preheat the oven to 190C and prepare the spongy topping.
Melt the butter in the microwave or a small saucepan. Add the brown sugar and mix well with a spoon or spatula. Lightly whisk the egg and then beat into the butter mixture, followed by the almond extract and ground almonds.
Pour the runny batter evenly over the top of the apple mixture, smoothing it into the corners.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until the topping is golden brown, risen and springy to the touch.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes before spooning into serving bowls and enjoying with custard, cream or on its own.
Leftovers taste great cold but can also be reheated by a short burst in the microwave.

Spiced Pear Cake with Star Anise

It was my dads birthday at the end of November and I created this cake especially for him. He shares my love of cake and so I really wanted to create him a cake using some flavours he might not have tasted before. I was originally hovering around the idea of beetroot, but I casually suggested beetroot flavoured desserts during conversation and he wasn’t keen so I knew I had to come up with something different. My next thought was something with some spice.

As I was hunting through our spice cupboard (we literally have an entire three shelved cupboard donated just to herbs, spices and seasonings) I came across some star anise I bought a few months back but have never done anything with. I gave it a sniff and the smell instantly reminded me of liquorice. I decided to see what would happen if I blitzed it in our spice grinder, seeds, husk and all.

I took the lid off the grinder and was hit with an intense spicy, liquorice, almost aniseed aroma that was just intoxicating. Wow – this could be fun! I decided to combine it with fresh pears and added the other spices to help mellow and balance the anise. I added a little extra flour to help combat the juices that were sure to seep out the pear during baking and used a mix of caster and soft brown sugar for flavour.

The cake baked up well and I loved how little chunks of pear poked out of the top and sides. I decided to use a simple plain buttercream to fill and top the cake as I wanted the cake layers themselves to be the stars of the show. However, I did use a recipe for evaporated milk buttercream that my grandmother gave me. It follows the same principles as standard buttercream only you use a tin of evaporated milk instead of regular milk. For some reason you can use a lot more of the evaporated milk than usual, without the buttercream turning runny. It seems to thicken up as you whisk it in creating a very light and creamy buttercream.

I went for a simple decoration by cutting the outline of a pear out of paper to create a stencil that I then dusted cinnamon over. I thought this looked quite stylish and hinted at what was inside the cake. The finished cake smelt divine, warm and spicy but in a different and slightly unusual way.

The cake cut easily and was much enjoyed by the family. As I hadn’t made it gluten free I had to sit there are watch them all eating it (so hard), but my reward came from the many groans and exclamations of appreciation I got from the tasters. The pear kept the cake wonderfully moist and everyone was so excited over the unusual spicing. They had fun guessing what it was and my dad guessed correctly in the end – well done dad!

They ate the cake over three days and I’m told that the spices developed even more the longer it stood, like a good gingerbread, and that it stayed fresh and moist thanks to the pear. I’m longing to try converting this recipe into a gluten free cake, and I’ll defiantly be using star anise again in the future.

Spiced Pear Cake with Star Anise
(An Apple & Spice creation)

Ingredients
210g self raising flour
100g butter
100g caster sugar
80g soft brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp freshly ground star anise*(see note below)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 large ripe pear – 250g whole/200g peeled, cored and diced
1½ tsp baking powder
50ml milk

Evaporated Milk Buttercream
180g butter
360g icing sugar
75-100ml evaporated milk
Cinnamon for dusting

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease two 8inch/20cm cake tins and line the bases with greaseproof paper.
Make sure your butter is softened and add to a bowl along with the flour, sugars, baking powder and spices.
Peel, core and finely dice the pear into 1-1.5cm cubes and set aside (you don’t have to be too precise).
Add the eggs to the dry mix and beat with an electric mixer until the batter starts to combine. Add the milk and beat again until the batter is smooth, light and well combined, about 1 minute.
Carefully fold in the diced pear using a spatula.
Divide the cake mix between the two cake tins and level the surface. Bake for 28-30 minutes until the cakes are lightly golden brown and springy to the touch when pressed in the centre.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes before turning out of the pan and carefully peeling away the greaseproof paper. Leave to cool while you make the buttercream.

Buttercream

Make sure your butter is soft. Beat the butter with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Sift over the icing sugar, half at a time and use a spatula to start to work the sugar into the butter. (Don’t go straight in with the whisk or else you’ll create a sugar dust cloud!)
Add a tablespoon of the milk to slacken, before adding the rest of the icing sugar and working it in with a spatula as before. Once the icing sugar is starting to form clumps with the butter, add another tablespoon of the evaporated milk and switch to the electric mixer. Beat until smooth and creamy.
With the electric mixer still running, slowly drizzle in the rest of the evaporated milk until you have a thick creamy buttercream. It may seem like a lot but it should take most of it – some icing sugars may take a little more or less so use your judgement.
Keep whisking until you have a smooth, light and creamy buttercream.

Assembly
Place one of the cooled pear cake layers on a serving plate and cover with two-thirds of the buttercream. Top with the second layer of pear cake and use the remaining buttercream to cover the top of the cake.
Scatter the top of the cake with a light dusting of ground cinnamon, either all over or through a stencil to create a design (I made a pear outline stencil).
Serve in generous slices.
Makes one 8inch/20cm cake

*Note: If you don’t have a spice grinder to create your own star anise powder then simply crush two whole star anise and add them to the milk required in the cake mix. Heat the milk until it comes to the boil then remove it from the heat and leave to steep for 1 hour to allow the star anise flavour to permeate the milk. Then remove the star anise and use the scented milk as above.

Getting That Festive Feeling: Gluten Free Christmas Cake

Baking the Christmas cake is something I look forward to every year. Its fun choosing the fruit combination, I always stick to the basics but try to have something a little different each time. The fruit is then soaked overnight in brandy before being baked into the dark spicy cake mix the following day. Whereupon more brandy is added and the baked cake is wrapped up tight and squirreled away to mature for a few weeks before being marzipaned and iced in the run up to Christmas. Having to wait before eating it fills me with excited anticipation, and I’m sure it makes it tastes better when I finally get to taste it on Christmas Day. There is just something so festive and traditional about its preparation and the aromas that waft through the house on baking that it can’t help but put me in a good mood.

I normally try to get the cake baked by mid November so it has lots of time to mature, but I have only just got round to it this year – where have the days gone?? The arrival of a light scattering of snow at the end of last week meant staying indoors with the Christmas cake mix was a far cosier prospect than venturing outside, so now we have Christmas cake!

This year the Christmas cake is, of course, going to be gluten free. However, this does not offer any problems as Christmas cake is basically lots of fruit stuck together with a bit of cake mix, rather than a cake containing fruit. Its got so much fruit that you don’t need to worry about it not rising or being fluffy enough as this is not that sort of cake. You could even replace the all the flour with ground almonds and still end up with a delicious cake.

For my cake I decided to use a combination of buckwheat flour and brown rice flour. I love the flavour of buckwheat and the brown rice has a nice fine texture, plus a bit of hidden fibre never hurt anyone. If you want to make a non GF cake then just add the same amount of plain flour in place of the rice and buckwheat flours. If you do want to make this cake gluten free then be sure to check your ingredients carefully. I’ve used fresh citrus zest in place of candied peel as I prefer it, but I did look at the back of the packet and was surprised to see that they’d added wheat flour to try and prevent the little peel pieces from sticking together. Why they bother when it’s covered in sticky syrup anyway I don’t know, but be sure to check!

I love the colours of this fruit mix. It’s so cheering to cut into a slice of the dark cake and see the glossy reds, browns and oranges of the dried fruits peeping out. After the fruits have been soaking in brandy they smell heavenly, all sweet, citrusy and alcoholic. However, nothing surpasses the aroma that wafts from the oven while the cake is baking, hot warm spices and sticky dark treacle – ahh bliss.

Feel free to adapt the fruit and soaking liquid below to suit your own preferences or whatever you have on hand. I added some dried apple this time but in the past I’ve used dried cranberries, figs and prunes. Experiment and have fun!

Click below to see my Christmas cakes from Christmases past (Look back through November and December from 2 years ago for a complete set-by-step guide to creating a Christmas cake.
I’ll do another post nearer Christmas and show you this years design!

3 years ago – Poinsettia
2 years a go – Holly Wreath
1 year ago – Gingerbread House

Gluten Free Christmas Cake

Fruit Soaking Mix
170g raisins
170g sultanas
50g dried apricots
50g glace cherries
35g dried apple rings
Zest of 1 lemon
Zest of ½ orange
50ml brandy

Cake Mix
100g buckwheat flour
80g brown rice flour
20g ground almonds
120g light muscovado sugar
120g soft butter
1 tsp mixed spice
25g black treacle
2 eggs

Feeding
20ml Brandy

Method
Place the raisins and sultanas into a bowl. Chop the cherries into quarters and add to the bowl. Chop the apricots and dried apple into pieces the size of the sultanas and add to the bowl.
Add the zest of the lemon and orange.
Drizzle over the Brandy and stir to coat. Cover with cling film and leave for at least 24 hours in a cool place to allow the fruit to plump up and absorb the Brandy.

To make the cake

Lightly grease a 6.5inch/17cm deep round spring form tin. Grease the tin well and line the base greaseproof paper. Preheat the oven to 140C.
Make sure your butter is soft, then weigh all the cake ingredients, expect the pre soaked fruit into a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until well combined.
Add the pre soaked fruit, including any remaining juices and fold together using a spatula.
Spread the mix into the tin, creating a dip in the middle to allow for doming in the oven. Press down gently.
Bake in the oven for 2hours 10minutes until browned and quite firm to the touch.
Allow to cool in the tin for 1 hour before pricking the surface of the cake and drizzling over 20ml of Brandy. Cover the cake and leave to cool in the tin before unmolding. Leave the greaseproof paper on the base and wrap the cake tightly in clingfilm and leave to mature for at least two weeks. Feed again with another 15ml of Brandy one week later. A week before Christmas, trim the top of the cake into a level surface and brush with a little more brandy before adding a layer of marzipan and covering in fondant and decorating. Also tastes great un-iced if desired.
Makes 1 x 6.5inch/17cm cake

Roasted Vegetable Quiche with Gluten Free Pastry

Looking at this quiche I expect you’re thinking – ‘mmm looks tasty but I think she overcooked the pastry, it looks a little dark.’ Well hold your horses – it’s not over baked, it started out that colour! You see this isn’t any ordinary pastry it’s a gluten free pastry, made from brown rice flour and brown teff flour – result – brown pastry!

I have generally been getting on quite well with gluten free baking – the sweet stuff anyway. It seems if you add enough raising agents, eggs, butter and sugar than pretty much everything tastes good. It’s the savoury side, namely bread and pastry that has been my downfall. I attempted a gluten free loaf a few weeks ago, I even used a pre mixed gluten free bread mix to ensure I got a decent loaf. Unfortunately things didn’t turn out that way. In its defence the crust was good, thick and crusty, but it was flat, misshapen and the inside was like gumming wallpaper paste. It stuck to the knife in horrible globs as I tried to slice it. The following day it had solidified into a dense dry lump, and you know what? I was so determined that it wasn’t going to be a failure that I still ate it – toasted and covered in jam or peanut butter. However, the experience made me nervous and I haven’t attempted one since.

Yesterday I woke up after having dreamed a really odd dream that I was having a picnic on the moon, but had forgotten to bring any food. However, it turned out the moon was made of quiche (who knew?) so I sat there with a fork eating it. I woke up craving quiche and newly determined that savoury baking wasn’t going to get the better of me.

I browsed a few sites to get some ideas and it seemed that a combination of different flours and starches was the way to go. I decided to try out a new flour that I have recently discovered but until then had not used – brown teff flour. I had to order it as I couldn’t find any shops that sold it. It arrived looking suitably space age in a shiny silver pouch, the sort of thing astronauts probably eat their meals out of. I combined this with some brown rice flour for bulk and tapioca starch as a sort of binder, as this one goes more gummy when wet.

I was surprised on opening the pouch that the brown teff flour had such a dark cocoa brown appearance. You may think being labelled as ‘brown’ this might have been pretty obvious, but brown rice flour is surprisingly light in colour. This is the reason behind my dark brown pastry – it’s not over baked, it’s whole grain!

I also added an egg and some xanthan gum which is a special powder that helps replace some of the action from gluten, making things a little more elastic so they don’t crumble so easily. Kneading the dough I was actually really impressed how much it resembled ‘real’ pastry. It was smooth and pliable and didn’t crack on rolling out. An additional bonus is that you can knead or reroll it as often as you like as there is no gluten in the dough to overwork, plus it doesn’t shrink on baking.

I filled the quiche with some roasted veggies and after a short bake in the oven I was able to tuck into a slice for lunch. Oh it was delicious. The pastry was light and crisp but didn’t crumble; nor was it tough or chewy. It had a slightly gritty texture from the rice flour, but I liked this, similar to a shortbread biscuit. The roasted veggies added a wonderful flavour and sweetness. So all in all a great success – yay!

Teff is a teeny tiny grain that is approximately 150 times smaller than a grain of wheat. It is actually the smallest grain in the world! However, for such a tiny grain is also highly nutritious, especially when left wholesome brown (white teff flour is also available). Teff contains 40% more calcium than milk, has twice as much iron as wheat and contains all 8 essential amino acids making it a complete protein. It’s also high in fiber, potassium and zinc. That’s one super grain. (click here for more info) To me, it has a wholesome toasted flavour similar to rye flour, although stronger. I can see it becoming one of my new favourite flours.

Pastry done, bread to go – oh err, wish me luck!

Roasted Vegetable Quiche with Gluten Free Pastry

Gluten Free Pastry
100g brown rice flour
60g brown teff flour
40g tapioca starch
1½ tsp xanthan gum
1 egg
80g cold butter
2-3 tbsp cold water

Roasted Veg Filling
2 eggs
400ml milk
1 tsp dried thyme
1 small red onion
1 small brown onion
½ red pepper
½ yellow pepper
½ large courgette
3 springs fresh rosemary
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

Method – Pastry
Weigh the flours, tapioca starch and xanthan gum into a bowl. Cut the cold butter into little cubes and rub it through the flour using the tips of your fingers, lifting them above the rim of the bowl and letting the flour fall back into it as you rub. Continue until all the butter has broken down and the mix contains some small clumps.
Lightly beat the egg, add to the flour mix and work in using a round bladed bread knife. Add two tablespoons of cold water and mix gently.
Tip the mix out onto a clean work surface (t may still look too dry at this stage) and switch to your hands and try to bring the mix together into a dough. If it still seems too dry add a little more water, a teaspoon at a time, until you are able to form a dough.
Knead the dough gently until smooth. Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge to chill for 30 – 60 minutes.

Roasted Veg Filling

Preheat the oven to 200C. Cut the onions and peppers into small-ish chunks, about 1inch/2.5cm. Slice the courgette into 1-2cm slices.
Place the veg onto a baking tray and drizzle over the oil. Tuck the springs of rosemary in-between the veg and place in the oven to roast for 50minutes (after 30minutes, give the veg a mix and return to the oven for the remaining 20minutes).
Once roasted, remove the from the oven and leave to cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 180C and place a large baking tray in the oven to heat up.

Assembly
Remove the chilled pastry from the fridge and roll it out between two big sheets of clingfilm until 3-4mm thick (this does away with the need for flouring a work surface). Use to line a 6-7inch round tin or a long rectangular tart tin.
Arrange the roasted veg inside the tart.
In a bowl, beat the eggs, milk, dried thyme and some seasoning until well combined. Pour over the roasted veg and carefully transfer the quiche onto the preheated baking tray.
Bake for 35-40 minutes until the egg mixture it set and the pastry crisp.
Allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before removing from the tin and serving.
Serves 4

The Cake Slice November 2010: Cinnamon Pudding Cake (GF)

I was delighted when this cake won the vote to be Novembers cake. I adore cinnamon in any form and the idea of using it in a hot pudding cake sounded perfect for the cold chilly winter days we have been having. This pudding cake takes the form of a self saucing pudding. It’s a cinnamon spiced cake that has a thin caramel sauce poured all over the top of the batter before being baked in the oven. During the baking process, the sauce seeps down to the base of the pan and thickens up into a thick and gooey caramel with the cinnamon sponge on top – magic!

I was a little dubious that this would work as described as my caramel sauce was very thin and liquidly when I poured it over the cake batter, so much so that it completely drowned the cake mix. However, the cake worked its magic in the oven and the golden cinnamon sponge emerged from beneath and baked into a lovely golden cake, complete with a crisp crackly crust – delicious.

My cake batter took on a slightly golden colour due to the flour I used. I am still experimenting with different gluten free flours and for this cake I used predominantly gram flour (chickpea flour) and just a little maize and tapioca flour. Gram flour is used mostly in Indian cooking, either as a thickener or in the batter used to make onion bhajee’s. It has a soft chalky feel to it, similar to cornflour and quite a savoury taste. I wouldn’t recommend it for normal sweet cake batters, but as this cake was so sweet and had all the gooey caramel sauce I felt it could take it.

The finished cake looked and smelt wonderful but the problems started when it came to turn the cake out. The recipe suggested inverting the cake onto a plate so that the caramel sauce at the base became the top of the cake. When I attempted this my caramel sauce was so thick and gooey that it stuck the cake to the pan, causing it to brake and come away in chunks instead of turning out cleanly. Well, darn.

Personally I think it would have been far better to serve the cake straight from the pan and keep it as a pudding with the sauce underneath, but hay ho, I’ll know to do this next time.

Despite its rather poor appearance it tasted fabulous when still hot out the oven. The cake was soft and moist with the cinnamon flavour coming through nicely. I have said in the past that I am not a fan of caramel, but this caramel was divine! I suspect it was because it was made with brown sugar, rather than burnt white sugar which came it a far nicer subtle caramel overtone. When paired with the hot cinnamon cake it was gorgeous.

With my delicious yet broken cake I decided to do away with attempting to cut a neat and even little square, which was what I had intended to do, and instead dug straight in with my fork. It may not have been pretty but when you have hot spiced cake with gooey caramel sauce who’s going to complain? Even my fork knew what to do – Eat Me!

I found the cake tended to get a little dry when cold, but a short burst in the microwave softened the caramel and had it back to being a soft and moist cake once more. As its called ‘Pudding Cake’ then I feel serving it warm is as it is intended to be. I’d make this cake again, but I think its best eaten the day, if not the minute its baked and next time I’ll serve it straight from the pan rather than trying to turn it out!

Click here to see The Cake Slice blogroll.

Cinnamon Pudding Cake (gluten free)
(Recipe from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman)
For the Caramel Topping

200g light brown sugar
170ml water
15g unsalted butter
½ tsp salt

For the Cake
240g plain flour (OR, 200g gram/chickpea flour & 50g maize/tapioca flour mix)
2 tsp GF baking powder
2½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
30g unsalted butter, softened
200g caster sugar (I only used 100g)
225ml whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method – Topping
Heat the oven to 180C. Spray the bottom and sides of an 8 inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Combine the brown sugar, water, butter and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking occasionally, then set aside to cool.

Method – Cake
Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
With the mixer on medium-low speed, add a third of the flour mixture to the bowl. Add half of the milk and the vanilla. Add another third of the flour, followed by the remaining milk and the rest of the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds.
Scrape the batter onto the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Pour the topping over the batter (the pan will be very full). Carefully transfer the pan to the oven and bake until set, 45 minutes.
Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, invert it onto a large rimmed serving platter and serve warm.
Let any leftover cake cool completely before storing in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 day or in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Notes & Alterations

On recommendations of other bakers I stirred 3tbsp of the syrup through the cake batter before placing it in the tin and I baked the cake in a 9inch pan and reduced the baking time by 10 minutes. This helped keep it moist as some early bakers had commented the cake was dry when baked for the full amount.
I only left my cake in the pan for 5 minutes only before trying to turn it out, but the caramel had already began to set and my cake stuck and broke. I would recommended turning it out of the pan immediately after removing from the oven while the caramel is still hot and runny.