Tarty Rhubarb Cake

Ingredients:

2 large eggs
175g caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
85 unsalted butter
75ml milk
125g gluten free plain flour (or regular, if you don't need to be gluten free)
2 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon


Method:

Preheat oven to 200c.  Line the base and sides of a 24cm round springform cake tin with baking paper.

In an electric mixer, mix eggs and sugar for a good 5 minutes or more until it is well-mixed and creamy looking.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter, just before it melts, add the milk.  This will help to avoid burnt butter.

Sift the dry ingredients, and add to the electric mixer while mixing, stopping the machine to check all the sides of the bowl.  Don't over-beat, but make sure all the lumps are gone.

Quickly put the mixture into the cake tin and place the fruit carefully over the top, it may sink in so a fancy pattern is not necessary - although try to keep the fruit evenly distributed.  The longer you take to do this, the more the fruit will "sink" to the bottom.  If you do it quickly, you get fruit that's only half-way through the cake - which is much better!

You can also put a little baked rhubarb on top if you like, and also put flaked almonds and extra caster sugar if you like.

Bake for 10 minutes at 200c, and then reduce the heat to 180c for 25 minutes.  Use a metal skewer to check if the cake is set in the middle.   Remove from the oven, cool in the tin and sprinkle with icing sugar before serving (if desired).  Can also be served up with some extra stewed/baked rhubarb on the side with some fresh cream.

Tis the season ...

We have the luxury of having quite a few fruit trees at our house, and our latest crops have been beautiful Angelina plums!  They are the ones with the deep, dark red skins and a yellow/green flesh inside - when stewed they turn out beautifully red!

The eternal problem of having fruit trees is that they all harvest at the one time, which has meant lots of bottling, stewing, preserving and jam-making in recent months!  It's awesome - I love having things in our cupboards, things to give away, and reaping the benefits of gardening.

We were lucky enough to pick up some strawberries in Tassie at Christmas time, and along with raspberries they have been turned into jam as well in the last 2 or so months - so I think it's fair to say that we are well-stocked at the moment!

Now all I need to do is get some more pasta sauce happening for the winter months (while tomatoes are affordable) and I'll have done the major part of my "squirrelling" for another summer!  Well, until the zucchini finishes up anyway!

LOVE this time of year!

Dietary needs in hospital

Last week I unfortunately ended up in hospital for a few days.  For the first time ever I was admitted to a private hospital, and while there are some remarkable differences in Victoria between private and public hospitals (don't even get me started on my views on this!), there were some amazing similarities!

On admission, I put on my form that I was on the Low FODMAP diet, and spelt out that basically meant I was "wheat free".  I get that it's a little bit different, and so thought a quick explanation might be a helpful thing.  I figured if it came with all the other things that I am not supposed to be eating I could pick and choose, but wheat is the one thing I seriously need to watch.

That request took 2 days to filter through the system anyway, the first two days meals contained mostly wheat-based products, and when it finally did "click" on the system this is what was served up for dinner:

According to the catering slip that comes with your meal, this is gluten free vegetables!!

I know I should be thankful for being able to eat when some are nil-by-mouth, and actually being thankful that I am given food to eat when many others in the world are experiencing famine or starvation - and I truly am thankful!

I also don't blame people for finding it hard to sometimes get their head around it all these days - what free, gluten free, lactose free, etc.  BUT I'd like to think that perhaps they're willing to give it their best shot!

Perhaps my next "job" should be giving dietary advice for those that provide catering!  :-)

Spelt Flour Pizza

After an impromptu trip to Queen Victoria Market yesterday afternoon, and a few impromptu purchases (!!) we decided tonight was "gourmet" pizza night at our house!

Am now well and truly used to home-made spelt flour pizza bases, and tonight's was delicious - much thinner than normal (I am personally not a fan of thick bases) and much less 'filling'.

I even roasted beetroot and had some lovely buffalo mozzarella cheese to go on top - I think it's fair to say it a success, even with the other half who doesn't have to eat spelt flour!

If you're looking for a good wheat-free pizza base recipe, this one seems to work pretty well:

200ml water
1 tablespoon olive oil
375g spelt flour (either white or wholemeal)
1 3/4 teaspoons yeast
2 teaspoons full cream milk powder
1 teaspoon bread improver

I just throw it all (in that order) into the bread maker and run it on the 'dough' setting.  Has always turned out fantastic, and is enough base for 1 family size pizza and 1 large size!

Gluten Free Raspberry Coconut Slice

A bit more cooking this weekend, and another old family favourite which converts nicely to gluten free!

Base:
90g butter (at room temperature)
1/3 cup castor sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup gluten free self raising flour
2/3 cup gluten free plain four
1/2 cup raspberry jam (or any other jam really) - or more depending on taste!

Topping:
2 eggs
1/3 cup castor sugar
2 cups coconut


Method for Base:

1.  Cream butter, sugar ad egg until smooth and creamy

2.  Stir in sifted flours in two batches (I sift my GF flours twice, to give them the "lightest" possible texture - but it depends on what brand of flours you are using as to whether you need to do this or not).

3.  Spread mixture evenly over the base of a well-greased 28cmx18cm lamington tin (don't use a bigger tin unless using larger quantities of mixture, as the base will not be the required thickness, and the jam will make the base go soggy).

4.  Spread evenly with jam, then with topping.

5.  Bake in moderate oven (180c for gas) for around 40 minutes or until the topping is a nice golden brown colour.

6.  Cool in the tin.  Cut slice only when cold.


Method for Topping:
Beat eggs lightly with a fork, then beat in sugar.  Stir until well combined.  Add coconut and mix well.   Mixture should be a nice, yellow colour (the better quality of eggs, the more yellow it will be).

End product (forgot to take photos along the way for this one - oops!)

GF Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's a beautiful sunny, winters day in Melbourne today!  The washing is drying (hopefully) on the line, the house has been cleaned and I've been for my morning walk down and around the duck pond!  So I decided it was time to hit the kitchen and do some baking!

Am trying out a few recipes that I've always made, and adapted for my new wheat-free diet.  Mostly I'm using gluten-free flours because it's just easier this way, and because I'm having relatively good success with them!


Ingredients:

125g butter (at room temperature)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup castor sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg
1 1/2 cups gluten free self-raising flour
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 160c.

2.  Cream softened butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

3.  Mix in the vanilla essence and egg.

4.  Stir the sifted flour and cocoa.  Mix well.

5.  Add chocolate chips and mix well.

6.  Place teaspoons of mixture on greased baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes.

7.  Leave to cool for a few minutes before turning onto a wire rack.

I roll my raw mixture because I like the rounded cookie end product, but you can just "dollop" the mixture onto the tray too!

End products!  Makes between 20-30 cookies (depending on size)!

And some of the ones that were just "dolloped" on the tray!  (Still like the round ones better - hehe)

Gluten Free Corn & Bacon Muffins

It's a shocking day in Melbourne today - blowing a gale and on-and-off rain bursts, which isn't all that bad as it helps me to justify being able to spend the day inside baking!

I've adapted a muffin recipe to match the Low FODMAP requirements, and they turned out much better than I expected, so I thought I'd share the recipe and a few pics.  Of course you could leave out the bacon for those that are vegetarian!


Wet Mix:
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup oil
1 cup sharp cheese, grated
1.5 cups canned creamed corn
1 cup plain yoghurt
3 spring onions (green part)
2/3 cup diced, cooked bacon
1/2 cup chopped parsley

Dry Mix:
1.5 cups cornmeal (I used polenta)
1.5 cups gluten-free self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bi carb soda
2 tablespoons sugar

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200c and grease the muffin pans.

Thoroughly combine the dry mix ingredients.

Mix the wet mix ingredients and combine with the dry mix.

Place in greased muffin pans and bake for 20-25 minutes (takes less time if making mini-muffins)

Makes 16 large muffins or 12 large muffins and 12 mini-muffins.

 Straight from the oven!

Close-up!

With a bit of Tassie Duck River butter!

Without the butter - just so you can see!