Gluten-Free Lemon Cake

It has been a while since I blogged so today I'm finally catching up with blogs to follow and desserts to enjoy. Gluten-Free Lemon Cake is a great mix of the previous two posts as it combines dessert with a fabulous recipe from the Celiac Teen website.

I made this cake for a bridal shower this weekend and I think it may be my new favourite dessert. It is perfectly light and decadent at the same time. It also tastes like summer to me and is the perfect patio treat paired with a nice light white wine. I'm already planning to make it again.

Lemon Cake
1 cup salted butter
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons lemon zest (or feel free to add more for extra flavour)
4 eggs
3/4 cup almond milk (or soy or regular milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup lemon juice (best if freshly squeezed)
3/4 cup tapioca starch/flour
3/4 brown rice flour (or any rice flour will work)
1/2 cup sorghum flour
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease two round 8 inch cake pans (or one larger and one smaller version if you don't have matching cake pans)
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Cream until light and fluffy. Add in zest and mix until combined.
3. In another bowl, combine eggs, almond milk, vanilla and lemon juice
4. In a separate bowl, combine remaining agreements
5. Alternatively add flour and liquid mixture to the butter mixture until all ingredients are incorporated.
6. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Buttercream
4 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
4 1/2 cups icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Beat together cream cheese and butter until creamy
2. Slowly add in sugar about a 1/2 cup at a time until incorporated
3. Add vanilla and blend until buttercream is fluffy

Spread on bottom cake layer and then add the top piece. Spread icing on the top layer with a spatula.

Enjoy this seriously delicious dessert. It is light, fluffy and perfect. Love it. Thanks to the celiac teen for posting the great dessert.

chocolate chip cookies

Pre-celiac, I loved to bake. The Joy of Cooking chocolate chip recipe was my favourite. There is something comforting about the smell of freshly baked cookies filling the house.

For the first six months of gluten-free eating, I focused on meals and cooking - not baking. There were a few recipes I would try (like the lemon squares) but I wasn't ready to attempt recreating my favourite cookie. In December, I attended a Living Gluten-Free Community event about adapting recipes. I was inspired and finally felt ready to tackle my favourite cookie.

(Check out the links section to connect to the Living Gluten-Free Community)

I jumped right in and decided to adapt the Joy of Cookie recipe. The cookies were too liquid, they spread and then cooled to a crispy, flat strange thing. And 'thing' is the best explanation. I cannot say they tasted bad exactly, but they weren't what I remembered either. It felt like a failure and I wondered if I was ready. I wish I took pictures of the depressing little things. Plus I would never want readers to think that everything turns out the first time around!

I've been testing out new baking treats on my dad's office. Today I stopped by and a few people asked if more cookies were coming soon. I came home and was about to remake a recipe but decided to search through some borrowed cookbooks to see if I could find a new recipe.

And I found something perfect in Gluten-Free Cooking by Anne Sheasby. The recipe is simple and quick (and I adapted it slightly to use butter instead of margarine). Plus don't they look great? I've already had four by the time I sat down to write this up.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

6 tablespoons softened butter
1/4 cup light soft brown sugar
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup rice flour
3/4 cup gluten-free cornmeal
1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
pinch of salt
2/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Lightly grease two baking sheets.

Place the butter and sugars in a bowl and cream together until light and fluffy

Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Fold in the rice flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt, then fold in the chocolate chips.

Place spoonfuls of the mixture on the prepared baking sheets, leaving space for spreading between each one. Bake 10 - 15 minutes until the cookies are lightly browned.

Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool before transferring to a wire rack.

For the dairy free, try with gluten-free/dairy-free margarine and dark chocolate chips or substitute.

They may not be exactly how I remember chocolate cookies but this recipe finally converted me to a new favourite. Bake and enjoy...and at this rate, I will be making another batch for the office as the first batch is going to disappear quickly.

frosted lemon squares

The type of food I really wanted to eat the weeks after my diagnosis were desserts, except most of what I would eat as dessert was now off limits. A good friend of mine, who happens to be a celiac and dietitian, gave me my first cookbook as the starting ground for cooking. The book Healthy Gluten-Free Cooking by Darina Allen and Rosemary Kearney. What I loved (and still love) about this book is the simplicity of the recipes and the limited use of gluten free flours. Most of the book depends on rice flour, tapioca flour and xanthan gum for the recipes which are all easy to find. I flipped through the book trying to decide what to try to make and decided on making my first dessert.

One of the reasons I wanted to bake so quickly after my diagnosis was to be able to eat the new foods with memories of my old eating in order to see if I could tell the difference. I feared that years down the road I would be serving inedible gluten free food to friends and they would be too polite to tell me it just was not the same. I also have always loved baking.

The recipe is simple and I have made these many times since to rave reviews by friends. They are a moist, not too sweet treat perfect for a light dessert or a cake with afternoon wine or tea.

Frosted Lemon Squares

1.5 sticks (6 oz) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup (3 oz) rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1.5 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum

For the frosting:
Freshly shredded rind and juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup superfine sugar

Preheat oven to 350ºF

Put the butter, sugar, eggs, rice flour, tapioca flour, gluten free baking powder, and xanthan gum into a bowl and mix together. I do this by hand but a food processor or mixer would work perfectly too.

Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared pan and bake for 25 - 35 minutes or until pale golden brown. My pan is a rectangle that makes for thin squares.

Meanwhile mix all the ingredients for the frosting in a bowl. As soon as the biscuits are cooked, spoon a little of the frosting over the top at a time, allowing it to soak through before pouring on more. Leave to cool in the pan. Cut into squares.