Gluten-Free King Cake

I know Mardi Gras is over, and it's not really something I celebrate anyway, but Tuesday I found a recipe online for a gluten-free king cake and decided on a whim to bake it. Of course, I did have to make a few substitutions and slight changes, but I think it came out just fine.

This is one to eat the same day, as it doesn't keep very well. I sealed it up in cling film but by the following afternoon it was pretty dried out. I'm not sure how to remedy this. Considering it's king cake though, I suppose there's not meant to be any left over to add temptation during lent. But I don't do lent, and I would like to enjoy it for more than one day.

I don't have step-by-step photos this time, mostly because my kitchen table was otherwise occupied on the day, and it was a cloudy and rainy afternoon so the light wasn't all that great. Still, I have a photos of the yeast proofing (exciting, I know!) and the finished cake. Also, I know that the sprinkles aren't technically Mardi Gras colors since there are a few white and pink nonpareils in there, but lacking purple, gold, and green sanding sugar, I had to improvise.

I found this recipe on the Art of Gluten-Free Baking website, and it calls for a special flour blend. I didn't have any tapioca flour or the sweet rice flour. Since it seemed pretty similar to Flour Blend #2 from the Gluten-Free Baking book, and I had some of that already mixed, that's what I used. Except I was short 1/2 cup, so I subbed some Flour Blend #1.

Ingredients:
4 cups gluten-free flour mix
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt (recipe called for 2 teaspoons salt)
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 extra large egg (I only had large eggs)
4 yolks from extra large eggs (I used 2 whole large eggs and 2 yolks from large eggs)
3/4 cup warm water
2 tablespoons yeast
1/2 cup warm milk
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375% and grease and flour a bundt or tube pan.

Dissolve the tablespoon of sugar in the warm water and add in the yeast. Set aside to proof. As promised, here are the photos. It may be necessary to transfer the yeast to a bigger bowl.

  

Mix flour, nutmeg, salt, and lemon zest together in a large bowl and set aside. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg(s) and egg yolks and beat until well combined.

Add the flour and warm milk alternately in batches, beginning and ending with the flour, and mix after each addition until just combined. Pour in the yeast gradually so it doesn't slosh out everywhere. Once all the yeast has been added, beat on high for a few minutes.

Spoon batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the cinnamon evenly over the top and let the cake rise until doubled (about an hour).

Just before baking, you're supposed to brush the top with egg wash, but I didn't do that. Since I used a bundt pan, the top becomes the bottom, so what's the point? Bake for 25-35 minutes, until it reaches an internal temperature of 190 degrees.

Let cake cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then remove from pan and allow it to cool completely on a wire rack before icing. I used the simple glaze recipe, which is just powdered sugar and the juice from one lemon mixed together. You want it to be a little runny, but if it's too thin it won't do a good job of covering the cake and it will just make a mess. Before the icing dries, add sprinkles.

 

I was really happy with how this cake came out. It tastes similar to an old-fashioned coffee cake, and the texture was spot-on. It's just a shame that it dries out so much. I'm wondering if the recipe could be halved. Since it doesn't keep well, I think I'd rather make a smaller cake next time.

My Five for 2010

Here's a list of my top 5 favorite recipes I've posted this year. I really wanted to do a top 10 of 2010, but I didn't feel that was being selective enough since I lagged most of the year and only shared 23 recipes. These are favorites because they're gluten-free, delicious, and easy to make or worth the effort. If they're somewhat healthier that also counts to their advantage.

Narrowing it down to 10 was no problem, and picking out my top 4 was easy enough, but I really struggled with number 5. I couldn't decide between Chocolate Torte Dressed in Berries, Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookies, or Gluten-Free Shortbread. I finally settled on the peanut butter cookies, since they're so easy to make and can be considered somewhat healthy. Also, the dough can double as a pie crust.

I really liked the Mini Lemon Tarts I made last week, even if nobody else did. They are a bit time consuming to make if you use a mini muffin pan, but that just means they're more of a special occasion type treat as opposed to a snack to keep on hand. I think they'll get better as I make them more and figure out why my filling didn't set up. I'm putting them in at number 4 since I thought they were yummy, and I see potential for playing around with different fillings.

Number 3 would have to be the Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Tarts. Again, these require a bit of time and effort, but they are so delicious.

The blueberry pie I made (several times) is my second favorite. I love the almond crust, and just thinking about the filling is making my mouth water. I'm looking forward to next summer now.

My top favorite recipe for 2010 is the Fresh Peach Cobbler. By far. This was a recipe I just kept making while there was an endless supply of Farmers Market peaches.

My top 5 favorite recipes for this year:

1. Fresh Peach Cobbler

 

2. Blueberry Pie

 

3. Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Tarts

4. Mini Lemon Tarts 

5. Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookies

Mini Lemon Tarts

I found another recipe I wanted to try courtesy of my Epicurious iPhone app. This one is vegan, gluten-free, and raw. I usually really like raw desserts, so when I saw Lemon Pudding Filled Coconut Cupcakes with Shaved Coconut Topping I was practically drooling just reading over it.

I made mine in a mini-muffin tin and didn't have enough coconut left to top them, so they are more like tarts than cupcakes, but they're still super yummy. I also didn't have any agave nectar on hand, so I used maple syrup instead. Apologies for not having any pictures of the beginning steps for this recipe, as I only took photos of the assembly, but these are really easy to make in a food processor.

Lemon Pudding filling

1/3 cup cashews
1 1/2 bananas
1/4 cup lemon juice (from 1 to 2 lemons)
2 tablespoons agave nectar (I subbed pure maple syrup)

Grind cashews into a powder in food processor. Add the bananas, lemon juice, and maple syrup and process until smooth. Let chill in the refrigerator.

Cupcakes/tart shells

2 1/2 cups dry pecans

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

3/4 cup firmly packed pitted dates

3 tablespoons alcohol-free vanilla extract 

One thing about raw recipes, don't ignore the "alcohol-free" detail when it comes to using vanilla extract. Trust me on this one. As it happened, I didn't have any alcohol-free vanilla extract, so I used 2 tsp of my pure vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons plus a teaspoon of water.

Combine the pecans, coconut, and salt in the food processor and process into evenly sized small pieces, taking care not to overprocess into a butter. Scoop the mixture into another bowl. Combine the dates and vanilla in the food processor and process into small pieces. Return the pecan mixture to the food processor and pulse to mix. It should have a crumbly but sticky texture.

 

I put mine in the refrigerator overnight, and then it was nice and cold when I was ready to use it. The recipe says to use a cupcake pan, but I wasn't sure how rich these would be so I decided to use a mini-muffin tin to make them more bite-sized. I don't think removal would be an issue either way, but I lined mine with some festive mini-muffin baking cups.

 

I used my measuring spoon to put a teaspoon of the cupcake/tart shell mixture in each, then used the back of it to press it into the cavity.

  

I then added another teaspoon to the top and used the flat top of my spurtleto press the mixture deeper into the bottom of the cup and up the sides. I had to use my fingers to tidy the tops and make sure the sides were evenly distributed.

 

I used a clear plastic disposable piping bagto add the lemon filling. 

  

Then the mini tarts got to sit in the fridge for a few hours to chill and firm up. 

 

I think the filling was supposed to set up more than it did. For some reason, my filling stayed pretty runny even after it chilled in the refrigerator overnight, so I maybe added too much lemon juice or something, but I'll figure that out on the next round.

The recipe was supposed to only make 6 standard-size muffins, but I got nearly 18 mini tarts. You're also supposed to top them with more coconut, but I didn't do that. Apparently the filling keeps for a few days in the refrigerator when stored separately, and the cupcakes/tart mixture will keep for several weeks. Keep the assembled tarts in the fridge and use within a few days. If they last that long. Making these bite-sized seemed like a good idea at the time for portion control, but I find myself snacking on them.

More Fare Entries

In addition to my "Pick of the Crop" decorated cake, I'm entering 4 baked-from-scratch cakes in the County Fair (3 of them are recipes found in The Cake Bible). They're all boxed up and ready to go because I have to turn them in first thing tomorrow morning.
My "fruit-iced" entry is a Lemon Chiffon cake with raspberry and lemon glaze. The glaze for this cake turned out a bit too runny, but of course I didn't realize that until it was too late.

I'm also entering a chocolate cake with ganache filling and chocolate mousseline icing. I had some leftover ganache, so I used it to pipe roses and leaves on the top. I will most likely avoid piping roses with ganache from now on.

Below is my miscellaneous entry. It's a "Golden Luxury" cake with raspberry filling and white chocolate icing. I've been wanting to put raspberries and vines on a cake for a while now. I nicked the idea from The Wilton School Decorating Cakes book, page 69.

I forgot to add vanilla to my sour cream pound cake, so it will probably be bland. To try and compensate, I topped it with a sour cream and powdered sugar glaze. The shells around the bottom are to hide where some of the edge came out a little uneven.