Carrot and Apple Cake

In addition to gluten-free, I've been baking egg-free and dairy-free of late as well. This recipe is a great place to start if you're baking for someone who has multiple allergies or problems with cholesterol.

I concocted the recipe using my Mom's gluten-free, egg-free banana bread recipe as a starting point, and playing around with egg and butter substitution.

My Mom generally substitutes half a large mashed banana per large egg in a recipe for sweet baking.

For sweet or savoury baking, I've begun substituting 1 tablespoon of whole flax seeds and 4 tablespoons of water per large egg in recipes.

You can also use chia seeds in the same proportions without needing to grind them first. They have the benefit of being milder tasting than flax seeds as well.

Egg-free doesn't have to be scary. Have fun with it.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Sunday Lunch

The Table Setting

The Menu

Starter

Gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free savoury pancake
with butter bean hummus and wild rocket.

• Savoury Pancakes: See this recipe.
• Butter Bean Hummus: 1 tin of butter beans (reserve half of the liquid) zhoeshed in a mini food processor with 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, cumin and salt.

Main Course

Baby spinach salad with fried aubergines, grilled tomatoes, 

chickpeas and goat's milk feta; with a side

of carrot-nut stuffed green peppers.

• Salad:
• Wash baby spinach well and mix with goat's milk feta and a can of chickpeas.
• Fry aubergine slices (1 cm rounds) in a little olive oil and salt. Cut up into bite size pieces before adding to the spinach.
• Grill tomato slices (1 cm rounds) in the oven, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. While still warm, toss tomatoes into the salad (the goat's milk feta will melt deliciously).
• Season to taste.
• Side dish:
• Cut peppers along their natural lines to create little pepper bowls.
• Use a food processor to finely chop a handful of raw cashew nuts, some carrots, wild rocket, salt and olive oil to create the stuffing.

Dessert

Gluten-free, egg-free banana bread served with

fruit salad and double thick cream.

• Mom's Banana Bread:
• 125ml butter
• 125ml sugar
• 4 large or 5 small bananas
• 2 cups gluten-free cake flour (e.g. Nature's Choice)
• 1tsp bicarb
• pinch of salt
• 125ml milk
• Mix ingredients together and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for one hour in a loaf pan, or 30 minutes in a rectangular oven dish.

Martha Stewart's Banana Bread (Gluten-Free)

This comforting and more-ish banana bread stays moist for days; something of a feat for many gluten-free breads. The original, gluten-filled recipe can be found at marthastewart.com.

This was the first recipe where I didn't substitue cup-for-cup with gluten-free flour. Instead, I went and found a site which lists what the weight of a cup of rice flour is versus a cup of normal cake flour (btw, it's quite a bit heavier), and so modified the recipe accordingly. This handy trick allowed rice flour to stand alone as the flour of choice without dragging the recipe down to a heavy end-product. You live and you learn, right.

OR = Original Recipe

Ingredients:

• 113g/1 stick butter (room temp)
• 75g sugar (OR: 1 cup)
• 2 large eggs
• 195g rice flour (OR: 1 and a half cups of cake flour)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup mashed bananas (very ripe)
• 125ml/half cup buttermilk (OR: 125ml sour cream)
• 1 tsp cinnamon (OR: 1 tsp vanilla)
• 125ml/half cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)
  

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees Celsius (OR: 350 fahrenheit).
2. Butter a loaf pan.
3. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs and beat.
5. Add flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and mix till just combined.
6. Stir through bananas, buttermilk and nuts.
7. Pour into the prepared loaf tin.
8. Bake for around 1 hour 10 minutes, but start checking from 40 minutes.
9. Remove from the oven when a cake skewer comes out clean, rest in the pan for 10 minutes and then turn out to cool.

Substitutions for eggs and nuts:

My thanks to Rahel from TX on her wonderful feedback and tips! Here they are:

- 2 heaping tablespoons of condensed milk in place of the eggs; and

- reducing sugar to 3/4 cup if using the condensed milk; and

- leave out the nuts!