My 16th, Gluten-Free Vanilla Birthday Cake!!

October 25th was my 16th birthday, and I decided that I didn’t want to go overboard to celebrate. My Bat Mitzvah was a few years ago, and that was enough of a big party experience to last a lifetime. Happily, I did end up having a really, really fun day. I had a volleyball game at my high school (which we won of course), and my dad brought doughnuts for after the game from Harold’s Square. My team and I all sat around chatting, munching on doughnuts, and hanging out for a little while. I was able to get my massive amounts of homework done ahead of time, so I had a fun, relaxing afternoon.

After the volleyball game, my dad and I took the train to 84th and Amsterdam, where we ate dinner at a fabulous restaurant called Jacob’s Pickles. We ordered fried artichokes as a starter and they were delicious. I ordered a warm and perfectly seasoned salmon salad for dinner, while my dad enjoyed a chicken sandwich. Obviously, being a foodie, I couldn’t have been happier to try such savory foods with a Southern flair.

On the way home from the restaurant, we stopped at Ben and Jerry’s, across from our apartment on 103rd and Broadway, to buy my beloved ice cream cake. Unfortunately, we discovered that all of the cakes ‘may contain nuts’.  We walked up to another ice cream shop on 107th and bought a java chip and dulce de leche cake that made my love for ice cream cakes only grow. After eating cake and opening presents, I ended my day by watching an episode of House MD.

🙂

The following weekend my family threw a party for me with some family friends, and I couldn’t wait to make a Halloween themed birthday cake. I wanted to try my hands at a simple white cake with lemon, cream cheese, and buttercream frosting. The cake turned out perfect – inside and out. I hope you enjoy!!!

**I added a 1/2 cup of sprinkles before pouring the batter onto the prepared pans. The finished product turned out really festive and cheery, and I recommend adding sprinkles to spice up your traditionally boring ‘white cake’ interior.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups  all purpose gluten free flour blend

1 teaspoon xanthan gum (unless your blend already contains it)

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups (300 g) granulated sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

4 egg whites + 1 whole egg , at room temperature

1 1/3 cups (10 2/3 fluid ounces) buttermilk, at room temperature

*To halve the recipe, use 3 egg whites (75 g) in place of the 4 egg whites and 1 whole egg.

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease 2 8-inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each with a round of parchment paper (trace the perimeter of the cake pan on the parchment, then cut out the circle). Set the pans aside.

2. Into a medium-size bowl, sift the flour, xanthan gum, cornstarch, baking soda and baking powder. Add the salt, and whisk to combine well. Set dry ingredients aside.

3.  In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for at least 3 minutes, stopping at least once to scrape the entire mixture off the sides and bottom of the bowl. The mixture should be very light and fluffy.

4. Separately, whisk together the egg whites, egg and buttermilk in a small bowl.

5. Alternate adding the the dry ingredients with the buttermilk and egg mixture in 4 different parts, starting and ending with the dry. The batter may appear curdled at times.

6. Once all of the ingredients have been added, scrape the sides of the bowl and beat for another minute on medium speed to ensure that everything is combined. Then turn over the batter a few times by hand. It should be very thickly pourable and relatively smooth.

7. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared baking pans and smooth each into an even layer with an offset spatula. To remove air bubbles, bang each pan on the counter a few times.

8. Place the baking pans in the center of the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes rotate the pans, and continue to bake until the cakes are lightly golden brown all over, and have began to pull away from the sides. This will be around another 10 minutes, baking for a total of about 30.

9. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool in the pans for 15 minutes before turning out upside down onto a wire rack (and removing the parchment paper liners). Cool completely before frosting and serving.
10. Here is the lemon, cream cheese buttercream frosting recipe. I will post my modified version at another time.(http://allrecipes.com/recipe/7556/lemon-cream-cheese-frosting/)

Love,

Ally

Vegan Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

When I was 9 years old, in the same weekend I visited a wonderful petting zoo in Oakland on Saturday and on Sunday I was ‘taught’ the in’s and out’s of animal cruelty by my 7 year old next door neighbor and good friend. Of course, I ultimately decided to become a strict vegetarian. Like most children trying new things, this attempt lasted no longer than two weeks. My parents ‘cure’ was to cook spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.

Although my vegetarianism was a short-lived extravaganza, I have always admired the ideals and reasoning behind vegetarian and/or vegan living. In my English class this year we were assigned a creative project on a societal flaw, and one of my peers chose to present on animal cruelty and the motives behind living a vegan life. Her presentation was both fascinating and heartbreaking, and I immediately became interested in vegan lifestyles. This let me to research vegan recipes. After trying a few out, I started to fall  in love with vegan baking. Knowing that I will probably never be vegan doesn’t stop me from trying to bake delicious vegan treats.

While eating at vegan restaurants in NYC is always an eye-opening and fun experience, I struggle to find homemade vegan cookies, cupcakes brownies etc. that I am proud to give out to my vegan friends. This recipe is definitely an exception. These vegan vanilla cupcakes tasted no different than any other cupcake I’ve made, and the chocolate frosting, even without butter and milk, tasted delicious. My success with this recipe has definitely inspired me to continue to trying vegan recipes in the future. I can’t wait to try some vegan brownies next! ENJOY!

 

INGREDIANTS:

Cupcakes:

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 cups almond milk

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup coconut oil, warmed until liquid

1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Vegan Buttercream Chocolate Frosting:

1 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened (sifted)

1 1/4 sticks of vegan butter (softened)

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup non-dairy milk (almond)

1 tsp vanilla extract

 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F . Grease two 12 cup muffin pans or line with 18 paper baking cups.
2. Measure the apple cider vinegar into a 2 cup measuring cup. Fill with almond milk to make 1 1/2 cups. Let stand until curdled, about 5 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond milk mixture, coconut oil and vanilla.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared cups, dividing evenly.
6. Bake in the preheated oven until the tops spring back when lightly pressed, 15 to 20 minutes. When done, cool in the pan over a wire rack.
7. While the cupcakes are baking, make the vegan frosting:
   1. Add the butter, milk, vanilla extract and cocoa powder to a large mixing bowl and using an electric hand or standing beater, start mixing them together until the liquids thicken with the fluffy cocoa. Turn beater on low and beat until smooth.
   2. Add in the powdered sugar one cup at a time and beat until frosting is fluffy. Avoid overbeating.
8. Frost the chocolate frosting onto the cupcakes when they are completely cooled. If the cakes are warm, the heat will easily melt the vegan butter.

Love,

Ally!

Simple Gluten-Free Pancakes

Although gluten-free cooking and baking often tastes as good as using similar substitutes or ingredients that contain gluten, sometimes discovering delicious, gluten-free recipes has proven more difficult than expected. The wide variety of different gluten-free ingredients has made being gluten-free in the 21st century relatively easy if you set your mind to it. BUT, surprisingly, one of the most difficult gluten-free challenges that I have faced are completely homemade gluten-free pancakes.

There are many different gluten-free pancake mixes that make incredible pancakes, but for some reason making gluten-free pancakes from scratch is really hard. The end result often tastes too dry, not fluffy enough, too dense or just tasteless. The other day, I found a recipe on the back of a gluten-free all-purpose flour and decided to try it out. They were soooooo good! If I was given a plate of regular pancakes and a plate of these gluten-free ones, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell which is which. They were moist, fluffy and flavorful. My mom and I didn’t even need syrup! I hope they come out as delicious for you as they did for me!

INGREDIENTS

³⁄₄ cup gluten-free flour (I use Gluten-Free Flour Blend)

¹⁄₂ teaspoon xanthan gum or ¹⁄₂ teaspoon guar gum

1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons baking powder

¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

²⁄₃ cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 tablespoons cooking oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, vanilla, eggs, and cooking oil.
3. Add milk mixture to the dry ingredients, and whisk until well blended.
4. Let stand for about 10 minutes.
5. Preheat ungreased, non-stick frying pan to medium heat.
6. Pour batter by spoonfuls onto the hot pan.
7. Pancakes are ready to be turned over when the edges are no longer glossy, and the bubbles that pop stay open. To check the second side for doneness, you just have to lift an edge of the pancake up with a spatula and take a peek.

Love,

Ally