Gluten Free Poke Hole Cake Recipe

Have you ever heard of a Poke Hole Cake?  This is a recipe that my family has been used many times, including for my first birthday.  It is extremely easy to make, and there are lots of opportunities for your children to help.  My kids really wanted to help make a birthday cake for their father, so I decided that this was the perfect recipe.  

Poke Hole Cake

4 cups almond flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup honey
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
2 packages instant pudding
1 cup confectioners' sugar
4 cups cold milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan with crisco and dust with almond flour.

In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda.  Then add the honey, eggs, and vanilla extract.  Mix all of the ingredients together until it has been combined thoroughly.  Scoop the batter into the prepared cake pan.

Bake for 30 minutes, until a knitting needle inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.  While the cake is still warm, poke holes in the cake with the handle of a wooden spoon throughout the cake.  Ideally, the holes should be about 2 inches apart.  Since my children were the ones who poked the holes, I just made sure that the holes were spread out throughout the whole cake.

After poking holes, mix the pudding mix and sugar together.  Gradually add milk and stir.  Then beat at a low speed for no more than 1 minute.  Pour the pudding over the whole cake, making sure that the pudding fills all of the holes.  Chill the cake for 1 hour and then serve.

Cook's Notes:  My mother used to make this recipe with a cake mix instead of a made from scratch cake.  You could also make this using any flavor you want of cake or pudding.  We are chocolate lovers, so tend to choose chocolate over any other flavors.

So, get your kids in the kitchen and have some fun baking!  They will feel so proud when they get to share what they made.

<3 Cassidy  

Gluten Free Unicorn Birthday Cake

I really enjoy making special birthday cakes for my family.  I have posted about my adventures in a previous post, and you can see some of my other cakes I have made.  This year is my daughter's 5th birthday.  This is a big birthday for us, because she is starting Kindergarten in the fall.  She is my youngest, and it feels like just yesterday we brought her home from the hospital.  So, I asked her what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday.  She has become fascinated with unicorns lately, so she asked if she could have a unicorn cake.  I searched online and found this on the Parenting magazine website.  The website was pretty detailed in it's descriptions, but I modified it slightly to make it gluten free and more to my daughter's specifications.

This is how I created my Gluten Free Unicorn cake.  First, I made a 2 chocolate cakes inspired by Elana's Pantry almond flour cookbook.  Here is my recipe.

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

4 cups almond flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup honey
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Then, take out an 8-inch square pan and an 8-inch round pie pan and coat them with Crisco, so the cakes will not stick to the pan.  

Add the almond flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda into are large bowl.  Combine until it is mixed well.  Set aside.  In a small bowl, mix together the honey, eggs, and vanilla extract.  I used a stand mixer for this part, so I am sure that all of the ingredients are mixed together well.  Pour the wet ingredients into the larger bowl with the dry ingredients.  Mix it all together until it is well blended.  Then divide the batter between a 8-inch square pan and an 8-inch round pie pan.  (I scoop the batter into the pans using a measuring cup, so that I could split the batter more evenly.  It does not matter the size, it is helpful for me to see that my scoops are even between pans.)  


Bake in the oven for ~25 minutes.  Take out and let cool.  I put the cakes in the freezer overnight to harden them a little to help with the frosting process the next day. 


When you are ready to start decorating the cake, these are the ingredients you will need.

1 sugar cone
1 pink jelly bean
1 green round candy (I used an M&M, and I made the unicorn have the same eye color as my daughter.)
Vanilla frosting*
Red licorice*
Course purple decorating sugar
Course silver decorating sugar
Course red decorating sugar

You will also need a large platter, and I did not have one that was large enough.  So, I cut out a large flat piece of cardboard from a box in our garage.  Then I covered it in aluminum foil, and I used duct tape to secure the foil on the back of the cardboard.  It worked perfectly, and it was less expensive than buying a new large platter.

Once you have all of your ingredients, it is time to trim the cake.  There is a great template on how to cut the unicorn shape, and I highly recommend that you go to the website to see this.  When you are done trimming,    arrange the unicorn on the platter as shown on the template.


Next, you will need to cover the cone in vanilla frosting.  Then cut open the sugar cone on the backside, so that the open end fits well against the side of the cake by the ears.  When it is placed correctly, it will look like a horn coming directly out of the cake.  Then sprinkle silver sprinkles on the cone to make it look like it is sparkly.


Spread most of the frosting on the cake and make it smooth.  Press the pink jelly bean for the unicorn's nostril.  Press a green M&M for the unicorn's eye.  Cut the licorice into 3-inch strips and arrange then on the back of the unicorn's head and in-between the unicorn's ears to represent it's mane.  Pipe on a little smile for the unicorn and sprinkle some red sugar for the lips.  Sprinkle purple sprinkles over the whole unicorn to make it seem more magical.


Then serve to a wide-eyed birthday girl who thinks that you are the most amazing mother in the world to create such a special and perfect cake.  And make sure to take pictures, because the moment will be all too brief. 


* Cook's notes:  I doubled the frosting recipe, so there would be plenty of frosting to cover the cake.  I did not use gluten free licorice, because the rest of my family is not gluten free.  However, there are a few brands who make a licorice that is gluten free.  

Enjoy!

<3 Cassidy

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe

Today I made a gluten free Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe.  It was really simple to make, and it was really delicious.  I found many different ways to make this recipe online, and this is my version.   I am also thinking about adding some dried fruit next time I make them.  That will hopefully add another layer of deliciousness to these amazing muffins.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Muffins

3 eggs

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup honey

2 1/2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup chocolate chips

3 cups almond flour, firmly packed

1 rounded teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place muffin liners into the muffin tins and set aside. 

In a medium bowl, beat eggs with a stand mixer.  Then add the coconut oil, honey, milk, and vanilla extract.  Mix together and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the almond flour and baking soda.  Then add all of the wet ingredients and combine until it is well mixed.  Then add the chocolate chips, and stir until the chips are spread throughout the batter.

Using an ice cream scoop, spoon about one scoop into the muffin tins.  Each cup should be about 3/4 the way full.  I was able to get 14 muffins out of this batter.

Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned and the knitting needle stuck in the center of a cupcake comes out clear.

I tried one of these muffins fresh from the oven, and it was amazing.  The muffin was moist, and the chocolate chips were melted.  It hit the spot.  I am looking forward to having one for breakfast tomorrow morning.  

 I hope you enjoy this making this recipe.

<3 Cassidy  

Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Pancakes Recipe

Even though the kids had pancakes this past weekend at the Lion's Club Pancake Breakfast, they still wanted to have pancakes for dinner one day this week.  When I asked both of my children why they wanted  to have pancakes again, they said because their daddy makes the best pancakes.  I have to agree with that, but there is a caveat.  My husband puts chocolate chips in the batter and he makes the pancakes into fun shapes.  He has made bunny faces, teddy bears, and even a lightsaber.

After I found out that I was pregnant, my husband and I talked about some important traditions that we wanted to continue with our family.  One of them was that my husband wanted to be able to make chocolate pancakes, and he wanted to eventually do it with our children.  He remembered how it was his job to give a "chip alert" when the pancakes seemed low on chocolate chips.  So, he practiced.  My husband's parents even bought us a brand new griddle, so he could perfect his pancake making skills.  Fast forward almost 7 years, and my husband has perfected making a variety of pancakes.  He has made regular pancakes, high fiber pancakes, and even gluten free pancakes.   Now we decided to try almond flour pancakes.  I based my recipe from The Nourishing Home blog.  Since this was our first try, my husband did not make this batter into shapes.  We will have to try again when we are more familiar with this type of batter.  Here is our recipe.  

Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Pancakes

1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup buttermilk or 1/4 cup of milk with 1 teaspoon lemon juice*
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the griddle to medium heat.

In a medium bowl, combine the almond flour, baking soda, and salt.  Then set it aside.

Next, you will need to separate all 3 eggs.  Place the egg whites in a medium sized mixing bowl and set it aside.  Place the egg yolks in a large mixing bowl.  Add the melted butter to the egg yolks and mix together using a mixer.  It is really important to make sure that the butter is cool to the touch, because you don't want any of the egg yolk to get cooked.  As you are mixing, add the buttermilk, maple syrup, and vanilla to the yolk mixture.  Once everything is mixed well, mix in the dry ingredients that have been set aside.  Make sure that there are no lumps in the batter, and then set aside.

Attach the medium bowl with egg whites to the mixer and clean whisk attachment.  Whisk the egg whites rapidly until they are a foamy consistently.  It should take about 1-2 minutes.  Then add the foamy egg whites to the batter and mix together slowly and carefully with the whisk.  You do not want to beat them too much, because they can lose the air that you added to the egg white to help the fluffiness of the pancakes.

Once the batter has been combined well, add some chocolate chips to the batter.  You can decide how chocolaty you want the pancakes.  Plus you can always add more chocolate chips are you are making the pancakes.            

Grease the griddle with canola oil or coconut oil.  Once the griddle is hot, ladle spoonfuls of the batter onto the griddle.  The pancakes should be about the size of a silver dollar.  (My husband uses 1/4 cup measure and fills it halfway with pancake batter.)  Cook the pancakes for a couple of minutes until the edges dry out a little.  The batter should begin to bubble a little bit when it is ready to flip.  Carefully flip the pancake and cook for a few more minutes.  Both sides should be browned, but not over-cooked.  (Once you have successfully cooked one pancake, it is important for the official tasters of your house to taste the pancakes.  Then you know if you are doing it correctly.)  

Serve the pancakes hot off with griddle with pure maple syrup.  You can make sausage or bacon as a side dish, but it is not necessary.

*Cook's Notes:  I used 1/4 cup milk plus 1 teaspoon lemon juice, because I do not regularly keep buttermilk in the house.

After you make these pancakes, I hope your loved ones will tell you, like our's did, that this is the best meal ever.  Enjoy!

<3 Cassidy  

Gluten Free Coffee Cake Recipe for Passover

 

One of our favorite Passover breakfast treats is a Honey Pecan Swirled Coffee Cake.  It is so yummy, but it is not gluten free.  So, I decided to try to adapt this recipe to be gluten free.  Below is my adaptation of this recipe.  If you want to make the regular version, here it is.  I have made it many times, and it always comes out beautifully.  You can substitute any nuts for the pecans, and I used matzah cake meal instead of plain matzah meal.  The matzah grains are finer in the cake meal, so there is less of a grainy taste for the coffee cake.

Gluten Free Honey Walnut Swirled Coffee Cake

1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup honey
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
6 eggs, separated
1 cup almond flour
6 tablespoons potato starch

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease a bundt pan with shortening or oil.  Place a small metal mixing bowl and whisk in the freezer until you are ready to beat the egg whites.  (I have found that this will shorten the amount of time it will take to beat the egg whites into soft peaks.

In a medium bowl, mix together 1/2 cup honey, walnuts, cranberries, chocolate chips, and cocoa powder.  (This does not seems like a large enough volume to put in a medium bowl but you need the space to mix these ingredients together.  It is very sticky, so it is nice to have a larger bowl to prevent overflow.)

In a large bowl, combine 3/4 cup honey, egg yolks, almond flour, and potato starch.

Remove the small bowl and whisk from the freezer.  Place the egg white in the bowl and beat until they form soft peaks.  I like using my free-standing mixer, but a handheld mixer will work fine too.  When the egg whites have formed soft peaks, add the whites into the yolk mixture and mix together.  

Spread 1/3 of the batter on the bottom of the bundt pan and then spoon 1/2 of the walnut mixture on top.  Spread another 1/3 of the batter into the pan and top with walnut mixture.  Finish with the last of the batter.  Take a spoon handle, and gently swirl the filling around the batter.

Bake for 40 minutes or until a metal knitting needle comes out clean when inserted near the center.  

Let sit and cool until you can touch the bottom of the pan.  Remove from bundt pan.  Serve warm or room temperature.

I found that this version of the coffee cake stuck to the pan a little more.  I really greased my bundt pan, but it still had trouble coming out of the pan.  I think I might need a new bundt pan.  Even though this did not come out of the pan as I would have liked, the coffee cake was light and fluffy.  It was sweet but not overpowering.  It is something that you could eat during Passover or all year long.  I hope you enjoy making this in your kitchen.

~Cassidy

Fudge Brownies Recipe for Passover

Passover is a special time where we are supposed to remember what it was like to be a slave in Egypt, and rejoice that were are free.  We are never supposed to forget, so something like this never happens again.  My husband and I feel that this is a very important lesson to teach our children.  So, we try to set this week apart from the rest of the year.  We remove all of the chametz, bread or other leavened foods, from our refrigerator and cupboards.  Since we do not feel the need to throw away perfectly good leavened food, we just put the chametz in our freezer or in the back of the closet.  It remains out of sight until the end of Passover.  We also try to do a whole house cleanse before Passover begins.  It helps remind us how Passover is different from all other nights.

Since there are many foods that we have to abstain from eating, I try to make some special foods that are only made for Passover.  One of those recipes is a special fudge brownie.  It is not gluten free, but it has become a tradition in my family since the kids have been born.  So, I made it for my husband and children.  I am going to make macaroons for me.  I personally feel that I am getting the better end of that deal!

This recipe is from "A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking"  by Marcy Goldman (p.298).  I could not find my version of this book at Amazon, but here is a newer edition.

Decadent Fudge Brownies with Glossy Fudge Frosting

Brownies:

2 cups sugar

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter

3 eggs

1 tablespoon coffee

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup matzah cake meal

Glossy Fudge Frosting:

2/3 cup coffee

7 ounces chocolate chips

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease a 7x11 inch casserole dish.  

Melt the butter in the microwave in a small bowl.  In a medium sized bowl, mix the sugar and butter together.  Then add the eggs, coffee, cocoa, salt, and matzah cake meal.  Mix all of the ingredients together.

Scoop the batter into the prepared dish.  Then bake for 20-25 minutes.  (The brownies only took 20 minutes in my convection oven).  Do not overbake them.  The brownies should be set and seem dry to the touch, but there should not be crust around the edges.  Then let them cool.

For the frosting, heat the coffee in a small saucepan.  As it comes to a boil, add the chocolate chips and reduce the heat.  Remove the pan from the heat, and stir until the chocolate is completely melted.  Cool in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.  Whisk in the softened butter and spread the frosting on top of the cooled brownies.  Cut into squares and serve.

These brownies are really rich, but my family loves them.  I hope you and your loved ones enjoy them as well.

~Cassidy