gluten free low fat upside down apricot cake.

This is a remarkably light sponge for a gluten free cake: The non allergic people at the party were none the wiser and came back for seconds!

1 and a half Tblspns of brown sugar.

400g can of apricots drained well

3 eggs separated

half a cup of caster sugar

half a tspn vanilla paste

2 thirds of a cup of Self Raising gluten free flour mix

Pre heat oven to 160*C. Grease pan and line with baking paper. Sprinkle brown sugar on base and arrange apricots on top of the sugar with the cut side up.

Beat egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar beating well until sugar is all gone and mixture is smooth and glossy. Beat in the egg yolks and vanilla. Sift flour into mixture and fold through gently with a metal spoon. Gently smooth over apricots and bake for 30 - 35 minutes. Allow to cool in tin for 5- 10 mins before turning out onto plate. Best eaten on the day it is made but it can be frozen for up to three months.
I served it with very not low fat double cream.

I am going to try this sponge with different fruit like blueberries or apple or pears...

Quince and coconut cake

125g soft butter

3/4 cup caster sugar............creamed

3 eggs ...........mix in one at a time

3 cups sifted SR flour

1cup of coconut cream...............mixed in a bit at a time alternately with flour

Spoon into a greased and floured spring form tin

Top with Quince Poached in Sugar (3 quince, about 4 cups of water and 3 large tablespoons of sugar) simmer for an hour and a half, cool and spoon on top of cake mixture. After this time the quince will have turned a lovely pink colour and the pectin in the fruit will have made the syrup all jammy.

Bake in a moderate oven for aprox 50 mins.

Serve with thickened cream.

Cranberry, vanilla cake with rose water icing.

This is my afternoon tea and today's teacup. Pretty isn't it? The cake is my creation a plain vanilla cake with crasins (dried cranberries) added the icing is a butter icing with rosewater flavour.

Cranberry vanilla cake with rosewater icing.

125 g butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tspn vanilla bean paste
3 eggs
3 cups SR flour
1/2 cup milk
About 2/3 cup crasins

Cream the butter and sugar beat in the eggs one at a time. sift the flour and add to the creamed butter an sugar alterating with the milk, folding in with a large metal spoon. Mix in cranberries. Spoon into prepared cake ring tin and bake for about 40 mins in a moderate oven. (aprox 180'C)

icing:
about 75g butter
about 1cup pure icing sugar
about 1 tspn of rose water

cream butter and icing sugar together add the rose water. if the icing is too thick add a tspn of milk at a time until desired consistency is achieved.
( I just had a thought that coconut milk in the icing and a sprinkling of coconut on the top would also be good. Being allergic to food colourings, I might try the juice of the preserved wild hibiscus flower that we put in champagne to give the icing a pink colour.)

Holiday High Tea

I made an Apple and Rhubarb Crumble Cake.


I used the basic vanilla cake base from this cake but added 3/4 of a cup of milk rather than 1/2 a cup to make a less dense cake. I topped the batter with about 1 and 1/2 cups of stewed apple and rhubarb and topped with a crumble mixture
2 tble spns raw sugar
3/4 cup wholemeal plain flour
1tspn (or a good shake) of ground cinnamon
60g of butter
1/2 cup of chopped almonds

Rub butter flour and sugar together. Add almonds sprinkle over cake mixture. Bake about 50 mins in moderate oven until golden and skewer comes out clean.

Enjoy with organic clotted cream!

I also made Caramelized Onion and Fetta Tarts
These are so easy and very yummy! (Don't let on how easy they are as people think you are very clever!)



Caramelized Onions
3 or 4 spanish onions sliced
a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to cover the base of a frying pan
about 2 tble spoons of brown sugar
a good splash of balsamic vinegar
a good pinch of sea salt

Gently fry the onions in the olive oil as they start to go translucent add the sugar and balsamic vinegar continue to cook until they are soft well coated. Add salt.
At this point you will need to taste the mixture to see if more sugar or vinegar is required to get the balance right.

Tarts
Caramelized onions
puff pastry sheets
your favourite fetta (or blue cheese for a yummy variation.)
chopped rosemary

Cut pastry into squares and pop into patty pan or muffin tins.
Top with onion mixture, crumble over cheese and sprinkle with chopped rosemary. Bake in a hot oven until pastry is crisp and golden.

Coffee and Almond Crumble Cake

I baked this cake and it's yummy.


Almond, Coffee Crumble Cake
(An adaptation of one by Gordon Ramsay)

Crumble topping
Rub together 40g butter with 60g of plain flour and 40g brown sugar. Mix in about half a cup of flaked almonds (omitted from the one in this photo as I had none in the pantry. But they do add a yummy crunch.)



Cake.
set aside and alow to cool one third of a cup of good strong expresso.
Cream together 170g butter and 170g raw caster sugar. Beat in 3 eggs one at a time. Mix in a tspn of good quality vanilla extract or paste.

Mix in half of the coffee with a large metal spoon. Mix in 100g of almond meal.



Sift together half a tspn of baking powder with 100g of SR flour and then fold it into the mixture.



Fold through the remaining coffee.



Spoon into a lined, greased spring form tin, sprinkle crumble mixture on top.
Bake for about 50-60mins at 170degrees celsius (150 if you have a fan forced oven)
Sprinkle with icing sugar to serve. (Nice warm or cold)