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A lovely gluten-free apple cake with coconut flour.

The weather here has hula-hooped back into summer. I kid you not. It is ninety-seven degrees here in Little Russia, my West Hollywood neighborhood. As in 97. That's three shy of one hundred, Bubbe. In September. And what am I doing? Baking a cake. Heating up the kitchen. It figures.

As soon as I buy apples and start daydreaming about my favorite fall confections, imagining clear, cool evenings and Eva Cassidy's haunting rendition of Autumn Leaves, September turns sultry and sends me back into the closet, peeling off my straight legged jeans and Converse All Stars faster than Gordon Ramsay can mock sashimi.

So I may as well share my latest gluten-free cake recipe with you. I mean, I suffered extreme heat for it. I hot flashed till I was squishy for it. I panted and sweat until I resembled an over-ripe heirloom tomato. You know, dimpled and dented. Flabby. A little misshapen. And well. Squishy. Not a pretty sight.

Not that I'm trying to induce guilt or anything.

Not me.

So go ahead. Enjoy this new apple cake recipe. Share a slice or two amongst yourselves. Don't worry about me here in hot little WeHo. Really. Go. Bake. Discuss. Have some coffee.

And coffee tawk.

xox


Read more + get the recipe >>

I literally make this cake for every party, family gathering, and everywhere else that i go when i need to bring a dessert, and its gobbled up within minutes. Its the most moist sheet cake i have ever had, and of course its via the pioneer woman herself! Here is the recipe; its amazing!

Ingredients

• FOR THE CAKE:
• 2 cups Flour
• 2 cups Sugar
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• ½ cups Buttermilk
• 2 whole Beaten Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• _____
• FOR FROSTING:
• ½ cups Finely Chopped Pecans
• 1-¾ stick Butter
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 6 Tablespoons Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

Preparation Instructions

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.

In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.
Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make the icing. Chop pecans finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.

Cut into squares, eat, and totally wig out over the fact that you’ve just made the best chocolate sheet cake. Ever.

LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT! oh and i added some cinnamon to the frosting and it was very very tasty :]

Posted By Amanda

This recipe again comes from my mother-in-law. It earned its title from when Jeremys aunt entered into the county fair baking contest and it won first prize. :) It really is very delicious. I had never been a huge carrot cake fan but every time Ive made this it has been fantastic and Ive loved every bite. In the past Ive made it in a 9x13 pan, but for Easter I made it in two 9" rounds and it worked great! Either way is delicious.


Carrot Cake

1 c. oil
3 eggs
2 1/4 c. sugar
2 c. grated carrots
1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans (plus more for the topping if you like)

Mix together oil, eggs, sugar, carrots, pineapple and vanilla. Add the rest of the ingredients. Pour into a 9x13 pan or two 9" round cake pans that have been rubbed with butter and dusted with flour. Bake in 350 degree oven for about an hour for 9x13 or 40-45 minutes for 2 rounds. Cool before icing.

Icing
1 cube butter (1/2 cup)
1 8 oz. package cream cheese
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Few drops of milk until correct consistency

Mix until smooth and creamy and spread after cake cools. Sprinkle cinnamon on top or put some nuts on the top, if desired. Also spread in between the two layers if youre doing 2 rounds. This will make a ton so youll probably have some leftover.

Also, you can double the cake recipe and bake it in a jelly roll pan. There will be no need to double the icing however, because it makes plenty!

I think it must be a rare person in Britain who has not eaten McVities Jamaica Ginger Cake.  Its a treat I remember from my childhood, there is something about the stickiness of a McVities Ginger Cake that is unequalled in any other shop bought cake.



So I was delighted when I was asked to review some of McVities cake bars and the said Ginger cake.  We got stuck into the Jaffa Cakes Cake Bars last night, they are very light and because they are individually wrapped would be more suitable than the packet Jaffa Cakes for lunch boxes and picnics.  The sponge in them is also softer than in the traditional Jaffa Cake, but there is still the organgy zing and the thin dark chocolate coating. Very nice indeed!

The Hobnob Flapjacks have the distinctive hobnob oaty taste and crunch with a thin layer of milk chocolate, perfect with a cup of tea or coffee.

The poor old Jamaica Ginger Cake had got a bit squashed in the post, but the slice I had with my afternoon coffee tasted just the same as always, rich, sweet and sticky with lots of ginger punching through.  I decided that as it was rather flattened, I would use it to make a dessert for tonights dinner.

Enter the pear lurking in the fruit bowl needing used up!

Jamaica Ginger Cake and Pear Trifles

makes 2

2 thick slices of McVities Jamaica Ginger Cake
1 ripe pear, peeled, cored and diced
2 tbsp dark rum or coffee liqueur
1 tbsp maple syrup
4 tbsp ready made custard
2 tbsp Greek yogurt or creme fraiche
A few split almonds (optional)

1. Crumble the McVities Jamaica Ginger Cake into the ramekins.
2. Place the chopped pear pieces on top of the cake.
3. Pour over the rum or liqueur and the maple syrup
4. Cover with the custard
5. Spoon the Greek yogurt or creme fraiche on top.
6. Decorate with almonds if liked.

You can get some free McVities cake on McVities Bring out the Cake Facebook page, print out the voucher and collect your cake from the supermarket.

[This post is a part of a joint project with my blog friend Raaga. Check that post here]

This is another Another Subcontinent food forum inspired recipe. Food enthusiasts on the forum have been discussing the mava / mawa cake to shreds [or pieces] rather. Being in Bombay, close to many Parsi bakery shops, mava cake is really no big deal. It is considered a most Plain Jane cake, and I have seen kids who wont even consider this a cake, for there is nothing fancy-schmancy about it. Generally sold as cup cakes, packed in batches of six, these make a lovely tea time treat.

Merwans, a Parsi Bakery in Grant Road (Bombay) - is famous for its Mava cake and the foodies on the forum were in the quest to reproduce the same magic in their kitchens. Ravum provided a recipe for an eggless version using condensed milk, khoya (solidified milk), milk, flour and butter. Khoya is also called mava, and thats how this cake gets its name. Check a photo essay of the almost century old, Merwans bakery here.

Since I was on a cooking low, I asked Raaga if shell give me company and support in making this as a joint blog project. Even though she would be making it in Gurgaon and me in Bombay, it seemed like a great support to me and a fun thing to do. Being the great sport that she is, she managed to make it today and we decided to blog about it together.


[Recipe in Ravums words]

Ravums Eggless Mava Cake


Wet Ingredients
1 tin Milkmaid (400 gms)
50-75 gm butter (1/2 to 3/4 slab of a 100 gm of Amul butter)
200 g mava (khoya)
1/2 cup milk (You can use water, but you the cake browns better with milk)
1/4 cup milk (this is to be used if while mixing the wet and dry ingredients, if your batter is too thick).

These must be heated together till butter melts and the mix is homogeneous. Cool it to room temperature.

Dry Ingredients
1.5 cups (US cup) maida (all-purpose flour)
1 tsp baking powder
2 cardamom (peel and powder the seeds)
Pinch of saffron - pound with a pestle with a bit of sugar
Cashew nuts

Sift the maida and baking powder three times (for volume). Add the cardamom, saffron, and cashew nuts.

Whisk the dry and wet ingredients together. Use the 1/4 cup of milk if the batter is too thick. The final consistency should be that of idli batter, or the besan batter used for making pakoda. Bake in a greased pan till light brown on top. [I baked at 175 C for 20 minutes in a 6 cup tube pan]

Raaga made cupcakes out of these and youll get more details from her on her space.

Many thanks to Ravum of the AS food forum for sharing this recipe and Veena for her generous tips.

This is my submission to Vees Diwali special Jihva event.

Heres wishing all of you a very Happy Diwali and a wonderful year ahead. May the festival of lights, bring lots of light and happiness into your lives.