Seriously Good gluten free Banana Cake

Ahhh this recipes takes me straight back to my gran's house when we'd eat this almost straight from the oven. She'd add butter and it would all melt into the sweet warming bread. While it doesn't really need butter on it I like the extra creamy taste. I've also added 75g of walnuts to the mixture before to give a a bit of extra bite.

Hope you love this recipe just as much as I do.

TheFreeFairy :)

Gluten Free Banana Cake

225g gluten free flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
75g margarine
175g caster sugar
2 medium eggs, beaten
4 really ripe bananas

1. Heat oven to 180ºC, 350ºF, Gas Mark 4. Grease and line the base of a 1 kg (2 lb.) loaf tin.
2.  Mix together flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
3.  Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, add the eggs a little at a time alternately with the flour.
4.  Stir in the remaining flour, bananas and walnuts and place in prepared tin. Bake for about 1¼ hours.
5.  Cool on a wire rack.

Zingy gluten free Lemon Cake

Hi everyone, well this is the second installment of by birthday menu. I know it's a bit later than the previous post but I know you'll love it just as much. This cake has to be in my top 10 as it's light and airy with a naughty zingy kick of lemon icing-just enough to make you go 'ooh' but not enough to to make you suck your cheeks in. I hope you love just as much as me :)

TheFreeFairy



Lemon cake

225g unsalted butter , softened
225g caster sugar
4 eggs (room temperature is best as the mixture is less likely to curdle)
finely grated zest 1 lemon
225g self-raising flour

For the drizzle topping
juice 11⁄2 lemon
85g caster sugar

1.Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.

2. Line a loaf tin (8 x 21cm) with greaseproof paper, then spoon in the mixture and level the top with a spoon.

3. Beat together 225g softened unsalted butter and 225g caster sugar until pale and creamy

4. Adds the eggs, one at a time, mixing slowly.

5. Spoon into the loaf tin and bake for 45-50 minutes

6. Mix the drizzle topping ingredients about 5 minutes before the cake is ready.

7. Poke a skewer (or knife) into the cake. If it comes out clean it ready if not bake for 5 more minutes then test again. If it still doesn't come out clean repeat this step until it does.

8. Cool the cake for a couple of minutes

9. Prick the cake all over with a skewer and then pour over the topping and allow to cool and set completely.

Gluten free cupcakes

Cupcakes

Tucking in to a light and delicate sponge cupcake elaborately decorated with a cremy buttercream topping and edible wafer roses aaah you would think I was dreaming...but no. This is in fact totally gluten free. Yes that right gluten-free.

I topped them off with a light and airy butter cream topping and wafer roses

I couldn't make them without my electric mixer. For this recipe I strongly recommend it. While it is possible to do it by hand I haven't been able to replicate the same light and airy sponge.

Anyway, enough of my chit chat here's the recipe:

Makes 12 muffin size cakes

100g caster

100g margarine, room temperature if possible (dairy free if possible- I use vitalite)

2 eggs

100g gluten free flour (I like doves farm the best)

For the topping

250g unsalted butter, room temperature for best results

500g icing sugar

a splash of vanilla essence (I strongly recommend the good stuff like Nielsen messey Vanilla extract as the cheaper stuff just dosen't seem to have the same taste)

1 teaspoon of milk

1. Beat the margarine on a low speed until its soft.

2. Add the sugar and beat together until well combined.

3. Add the first egg and beat until its totlly combined.

4. Add half of the flour and carefully fold in.

5. repeat steps 4 and 5.

6. Spoon into cases. They should be about 3/4 full

7.Bake for about 40 minutes. They should look slightly golden and shouldn't sizzle when they come out from the oven. Allow to cool completely before applying the buttercream.

8. For the buttercream put the butter and icing sugar into a food processor and process on a really low setting. (I've tried full power straight away and I promise it doesn't go well-it's kind of like a flour explosion) Gradually increase the speed unil it's totally combined. Once it's really smooth add the vanilla essence and blend for a few more seconds.

9. Add the milk for a little extra creaminess and voila! stage 1 is complete.

Gluten free Sticky toffee Pudding

Makes 4

Ingredients

For the Puddings
125ml boiling water
1/2 tsp instant coffee granules
1/4 bicarbonate of soda
50g dates, chopped into small pieces
a couple of drops of vanilla essence
90g gluten free self raising flour (I use dove's farm found in the gluten free isle of most supermarkets)
40g margarine
75g light brown sugar
1 egg

For the sticky sauce
2 tbsp double cream
85g soft brwon sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 160c/140c fan/gas 3.

2. Grease 4 ramekins and place on a baking tray. I like to use the flexible rubber ones as they help the pudding come out a bit easier but ceramic or anything else would work too.

3. Measure the boiling water in a jug. Add the chopped dates, coffee, bicarbonate of soda, dates and vanilla into the jug and leave to fizz

4. Meanwhile weigh out the other ingredients.

5. Cream together the butter and sugar

6. Add the flour and egg and mix. Don't worry if it looks a bit dry

7. Add the ingredients from the jug and mix together. Don't worry if it looks quite sloppy-it's meant to be like this as the water will help the puddings to rise as it evaporates. Equally, don't worry if it curdles slightly- it's just a freaky gluten free thing

8. Fill ramekins to 3/4 full

9. Bake for 15-20 minutes. The puddings should have a slightly domed top when cooked and a knife should come out clean after being poked in. They should look a bit like this:  (I even had enough for a spare yey!)                                     

10. To make the sauce add both of the sauce ingredients to the pan and whisk until clear. DO NOT DO THIS UNTIL LAST MINUTE. If you dothe sauce will go hard and will be impossible to get out of the pan. You should end up with something like this:

I added a touch of edible fairy dust for a bit of extra magic. Enjoy TheFreeFairy xxx