Posts tagged as:

baking

Mini Pavlovas

by Emilia on July 6, 2008

A pavlova is a naturally gluten-free cake made with some meringue and filled with whipped cream along with berries or fruit. I did not want to make a post about regular pavlovas so I made some mini pavlovas filled with balsamic strawberries and whipped cream mixed with mascarpone cheese.

These taste fairly light and they are something that I would recommend having after a heavy meal or in some hot weather. Some sparkling wine or champagne would compliment these cakes nicely, if you feel like it.

Once again I would advice that everyone adjusts this recipe according to their own taste, use just whipped cream for example and just the kind of fruit you like, you could also adjust this to be dairyfree with some whipped coconut cream for example- I myself absolutely love balsamic strawberries and mascarpone so that is what I will be using. I had a combination of balsamic strawberries along with mascarpone at a restaurant a long time ago; me and my sister both had the same the dessert and we went on and on talking about the dessert for the rest of the evening - it is really so ridiculously tasty.

Mini Pavlovas recipe

Serves 4-6 people

-4 egg whites

-2,5 dl or 1 cup caster sugar

-2 tsp cornstarch

- 1 tsp vinegar

Preheat the oven to 125 C or 257 F. This is very important since you can not leave the meringue waiting for the oven to be hot enough.

Make sure your eggs are room temperature; this is also of the utter most importance when making this.

Separate the egg whites from the yolks. It is important not to get any water on the egg whites and also no yolk should be present. If you happen to get some yolk into the egg whites you can take some kitchen paper and put that on the yolk part and it will get sucked into the paper and your meringue will not be ruined.

Place the egg whites into a bowl that is dry and made out of glass or steel, if you use a plastic one it might have some fat stuck to it and that will ruin the meringue.

Beat the egg whites with a hand held mixer or by hand, but then you would need to make sure that your whisk is round and made out of steel so that it captures enough air into the meringue.

When the egg whites have turned foamy measure half of the sugar and pour it into the bowl slowly, mixing everything at high speed at the same time. It helps if you have someone helping you out in the kitchen at this time, but this can be done alone too, it’s just a bit harder that way.

Measure the other half of the sugar and mix it together with the cornstarch. Pour them into the bowl once again mixing at the same time.

Beat everything together until you have a shiny and hard mixture.

Lastly mix in the vinegar. Now you can make the traditional meringue test and hold the bowl over your head and see if anything falls on your head; it’s done if nothing falls.

Line a baking tray with baking paper and spoon the meringue on to the baking tray, make small circles with the spoon and make the edges rise higher than the middle of the cake making a small nest in the middle. If you are making a big pavlova then draw a circle on to the baking paper and spoon the meringue on to the baking tray using the circle as help and form a big round meringue cake; you will need to make the nest in the middle with the bigger version too. You can lift the meringue with a spoon around the edges to make it look fluffier.

If you are aiming for a more professional looking pavlova you will need a round tipped piping tube and using that you can pipe the meringue into a perfect circle. I myself don’t mind if mine look like they were hand made.

Bake the mini pavlovas for 1 1/2 hours. Let them cool before taking them of the baking tray.

Fill them with your choice of filling and remember to fill them just before serving, they are not as good as they should be if you leave them to wait.

This is how I separate egg whites; I crack the egg open onto my hand.

I let the egg whites drop away from the yolk which is on my hand.

The yolk usually remains nicely without any trouble, I find this to be the easiest way in which to separate egg yolks.

The finished meringue should look like this after you have added the vinegar to it; it is shiny and very white.

Test the meringue by turning it upside down, it’s done of it sticks. I prefer to not test it above my head.

Spoon the meringue onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Make small nests by spooning the meringue higher on the sides.

Balsamic strawberries

- 1 cup diced strawberries

- 1 tbls balsamic vinegar, it is fine to use the cheaper variety

- 2 tbls honey or 2 heaping tbls sugar

Mix everything together and let it sit for 1 hour. Add some freshly ground black pepper if you feel like it.

Whipped cream with mascarpone

-1 part whipped cream

-1 part mascarpone cheese, something like Philadelphia is fine too

- sugar and vanilla extract according to taste

Whip the cream until it is light and fluffy and then mix in the cheese, sugar and vanilla extract.

Another naturally gluten-free dessert which also very easy, and takes less than 10 minutes to make, is some cream quark with berries or fruit.

Quark

- 500 grams quark

-2,5 dl or 1 cup cream

- 2 cups chopped fruit or berries

- 1 dl or 0,4 cup sugar, you can also use honey or something like stevia

-2 tsp vanilla extract

Whip the cream and then fold in the berries, sugar, vanilla and quark.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Gluten-Free Rhubarb Pie

by Emilia on June 23, 2008

I decided to make some rhubarb pie the other day since I had this rhubarb craving going on. Adding something with coconut was essential since I have been on this coconut binge for some time now, I even eat coconut cream by the spoonfuls from jars; maybe a bit strange, but this is something that I can not explain, I just give into it.

As I gave into my current passion combined with some rhubarb I decided on a pie with shredded coconut and quinoa flour as a base. You can of course substitute the quinoa with something else, but I would not say that it tasted bitter or strange here. I didn’t use any xanthan gum or psyllium husk as a binder; I left the pie to cool before cutting it and at least when cool it holds together nicely without added binders.

The taste was very good, I ended quite happy with the end result; I especially loved the crumbly coconut topping. As something negative I would have to say that with all the fat and sugar used in this it is heavy to eat, so I wouldn’t recommend going on a pie binge with this one. I served this with some thick coconut cream which I really recommend trying if you don’t eat dairy. Some ice-cream would also be lovely combined with this pie. This is dairyfree if you substitute the butter with some dairyfree margarine.

Gluten-free rhubarb pie recipe

-150 grams butter

-0,4 cup or 1 dl sugar

-1-2 tsp vanilla

- 1 egg

- 0,2 cup or 0,5 dl shredded coconut

-3 dl or 1,2 cup flour (I used quinoa)

- 1 tsp baking powder

The filling

-7 dl or 3 cups chopped rhubarb, or berries, or fruit

-1 tbls flour

-1 dl or 0,4 cup sugar

-1 tbls cinnamon (don’t use this with berries, use it only with apples and rhubarb)

The topping

-100 grams butter

- 2,4 dl or 1 cup shredded coconut

-1 dl or 0,4 cup flour

-1 dl or 0,4 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 200 C or 400 F.

Make sure all your ingredients are room temperature.

Measure the soft butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat them until they are creamy and pale. Add the egg. Measure all of the dry ingredients and combine them. Mix everything together.

This will be quite runny and you can spoon it into a greased pie form. Make sure it is evenly spread.

Mix the filling ingredients together and fold them into the chopped rhubarb gently. Pour everything on top of the pie.

Mix the topping together and spread it on top of the rhubarb.

Bake for approximately 40 minutes. Quinoa is notorious for never baking if there is a thick layer of it, so the time will depend on the thickness of the quinoa base and also on the flour you used, rice flour will probably be done faster so keep an eye on your pie.

Let it cool before cutting or I am almost sure it will not hold together.

Another way to eat rhubarb is to make some rhubarb “candy”.

Chop some rhubarb into thin slices and take a jar and some sugar.

Make layers with the rhubarb and sugar- one layer of rhubarb, then a layer of sugar etc. Let it sit in the fridge for 24 hours and it will end up almost like candy.

My aunt used to make “candy” a bit like this for us, but she used garlic cloves and honey. Just peel the garlic cloves and stick them into a honey jar, make sure they are totally covered with honey and leave everything to sit for at least 2 months, half an year would be ideal. Garlic candy doesn’t sound all that delicious, but it really is very good.

Popularity: 45% [?]

A Gluten-Free Almond Cake

by Emilia on June 12, 2008

This cake is actually called Ellen Svinhufvud cake and it is a very classic old Finnish dessert. The origin of the name dates back to the wife of a Finnish president called Pehr Evind Svinhufvud; his wife loved this cake and she served it often with some afternoon coffee - we don’t have afternoon tea here in Finland, we drink coffee, a lot of coffee.

The best part about this cake is that it is naturally gluten-free without making any adjustments and of course without using any binders, or other not so delicious edibles.

The overall flavour of this cake is too delicious for words, and really, I’m not exaggerating now, it is a total dessert heaven. It consists of thin layers of macaroon sheets and some coffee flavoured buttercream. It can be a bit heavy, so serving it with some fresh fruit or berries is a good idea, but it is just as good served with just a strong cup of delicious dark roast coffee.

The fact that this is a traditional recipe should not hinder you from making adjustments with it; just use the basic idea and start adjusting it the way you want it. I, for example, like using Baileys with it, just because I think that Baileys compliments the flavour of coffee so well. Try tasting some Baileys Tiramisu, if you get the chance, and you’ll see what I mean.

One thing I have always wanted to make is a cake like this with some whipped cream, dark chocolate, Kirsch and cherries; I think it would work well with the light almond taste and the crisp layers of macaroon sheets.

This is to be seen, someday I will make it.

You can also substitute the almonds with toasted hazelnuts; it will give a whole other kind of taste to the cake.

This recipe is adjusted from a recipe which appeared in a Finnish magazine once. I am going to warn you though that this cake is not the easiest or fastest thing you can make, but I assure you that the taste is worth it.

If you want to make a dairy free version substitute the cream with almond- or soy cream and the butter with a dairy free margarine.

Ellen Svinhufvud Cake Recipe

Macaroon sheets:

-1,4 cups confectioner’s sugar

-6 egg whites

-150 grams ground almonds (nut meal)

The filling:

-0,4 cup strong coffee

-0,24 cup Baileys (or just coffee, or something else)

-0,6 cup cream

-5 tbls sugar (you can use 2 tbls muscovado sugar and 3 tbls regular sugar)

-300 grams butter

-100 grams ground almonds (nut meal)

For decorating:

-a handful of toasted almond slivers

-confectioner’s sugar

Start by measuring the confectioner’s sugar and then separate the egg whites. Beat them with a mixer until they become sticky, this will not resemble regular meringue and it will take something like 15-20 minutes to beat them.

Preheat the oven to 125 Celsius/ 257 F.

Add the nut meal carefully to the egg and sugar mixture, fold it in.

Line two baking trays with baking paper and start spooning the mixture onto them. You should make four rectangular shaped cake bases with the mixture.

Bake them until they are dry, but not yet burned. It will take something like 1 1/2 hours. Change the position of the trays in the oven a couple of times when they are baking.

Make the filling meanwhile.

Add the sugar to the coffee (the coffee should be hot) and let it cool. Add the cream and the Baileys.

Beat the soft butter until it is creamy. Add the coffee mixture to the butter small amounts at a time. Lastly add the nut meal.

When the cake bases have dried and are done, take them out of the oven and leave them to cool.

Layer each cake base with the buttercream and decorate the cake with toasted almond slivers and confectioner’s sugar.

Measure 1,4 cups confectioner’s sugar and separate 6 egg whites.

Beat them with a mixer until they become sticky (15-20 minutes).

Fold 150 grams of nut meal into the mixture gently.

Layer two baking trays with baking paper.

Make four equal sized rectangular shaped cake bases.

Heat the oven to 125 C/257 F and place them into the oven. They should bake for something like 1 1/2 hours, until they are dry, but not burned. Keep an eye on them at the end of the baking.

Meanwhile make the filling.

Measure 0,4 cups strong hot coffee.

Add 5 tbls of sugar to the coffee. I have added the Baileys already to the coffee in that picture, but you should really add it with the cream after the sugar has dissolved into the hot coffee.

Add 0,24 cup of Baileys with 0,6 cup of cream to the coffee after it has cooled down and the sugar has dissolved. Mix everything together.

Measure 300 grams of butter. It should be of room temperature (like everything should be when you start baking). Beat it until it is creamy. Add the coffee mixture to it small amounts at a time. Lastly add 100 grams of nut meal and mix everything together.

When the macaroon layers are done place them upside down on some baking paper. Take a kitchen cloth and moisten it with ice cold water and then just move it along the baking paper. This will make it easier for you to take the macaroon sheets of the baking paper without breaking it.

Be careful, these macaroon sheets break easily. You should also avoid moistening them with the kitchen cloth, just be careful and you’ll have no problems. My sister demonstrates with her hands.

Start pulling the baking paper very carefully.

Let them cool down before you start putting the cake together.

Layer each cake base with the butter cream and place them on top of each other.

Decorate with toasted almond slivers and confectioner’s sugar, or with something else.

Popularity: 8% [?]

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