{Recipe} Banana cake #gluten & dairy free

So to tackle my on-going allergies, I decided to go wheat and gluten free. Here is my recipe for gluten and dairy free banana bread... or cake because it is actually light and fluffy like cake, not heavy like bread.

So you could bake it for less time in little cupcake cases and top it with dairy free 'buttercream' for  gluten-dairy free cupcakes! My 3 year old daughter loves banana cake!

In a bowl add...

2-3 mashed ripe bananas
6 table spoons of olive oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 table spoons of maple syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
2 eggs (could substitute for 1/2 cup soy milk and 1tsp of vinegar for egg free)

Mix it all together and then add...

1 1/4 cups of gluten free flour
2 tsp baking powder

I find the best gluten-free flour is the IGA gluten free bread mix. It gives a nice finished cake product, not to crumbly, and not too dry.

NOTE: The mixture will look a bit too runny for cake, but when you bake with gluten free flour, the flour takes a little longer to soak up the moisture from the eggs, oil and banana. So if your mix is NOT runny, your cake will be really dry.

Bake at 180 degrees celsius for about 30-40 min. When it gets its rise in the middle and is firm to touch, it's cooked. I double check with a skewer or knife.

The texture of this cake is really nice. It's not crumbly, it's easy to cut into pieces. It is light, not to heavy like mud or sticky date cake.

Definitely a keeper... will be a great snack for afternoon tea at work!

{Recipe} Vanilla cupcakes! Australia!

So if you have been following my blog or my twitter and facebook, you will know we moved to Australia from the UK! I was devastated when I suddenly found my trusty cupcake recipe didn't work here! The Australian butter seems fattier, the flour heavier and the eggs have a strong eggy smell. So with some adjusting and baking practise, we have an Australian version of our Perfect Cupcake Recipe!

Ingredients:            
100 grams of good quality butter at room temp (I like Dairy Soft in the white container, 80grams of the yellow container)
100 grams of Castor sugar (approx 5 tbs)
1 egg
50mls of milk
150 grams of white wings SR flour (approx 7 tbs if you don't have scales like most Aussies)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbs quality vanilla essence or paste

Directions:
1. Beat the butter and sugar together until it becomes slightly lighter in colour
2. Add the egg, milk and vanilla
3. Sift in the flour and baking powder and beat with electric mixer until it becomes lighter in colour as well, about 2-3 mins.
4. Put into cupcake cases. This recipe will make 12 cupcakes using the smaller sized shallow cases that look more like patty cake cases. Or it will make 10 cupcakes in the bigger american-type cupcake cases.    A table spoon of mix in each one will produce cupcakes just below the rim (as pictured above), so you can seal in with icing to keep the cake fresh (as pictured below.
5. Bake in the oven for 10-12 mins at 180 degrees Celsius.

Viola! Pretty delicious cupcakes!

Ginger bread cupcakes with glace ginger pieces

If you love ginger, you will lurrrve this recipe. I made these for a New Years party and they were so yummy, but just like all good cupcakes, even better the next day!

Ingredients
1/3 cup of dark brown sugar (can cut down to 1/4 if adding glace ginger)
100 grams of butter (or dairy-free margarine)
1 egg
1 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup of milk or soy milk 
1 cup of self-raising flour 
1 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup of glace ginger: hot or mild depending on taste

Directions
1. Beat together the butter, sugar and eggs
2. Add spices, salt, and vanilla and milk
3. Mix in flour and baking powder by hand
4. Add the chopped up glace ginger pieces and mix gently
4. Put a tablespoon of mixture into cupcake cases and bake for 10-15 mins.
6. Test middle of cupcake with knife or skewer.

Coconut cupcakes with vanilla buttercream

The cupcakes in the pictures of my new retro dresses topper range are coconut flavoured with vanilla butter cream. yum yum.

Straight out of the oven, I couldn't taste the coconut and I could smell egg... which is a real no-no for me... if you have read my other posts you will know I hate that eggy smell.

  BUT!..... the next day they tasted wicked... and we tried very hard to leave them for everyone else to eat, but once we started, we couldn't stop! My DH and I ate 3 each!! :} (there goes my diet. again. stop baking cupcakes Janelle!!).

Here is the easy-peasy yummy-scrummy recipe!

Coconut cupcakes!
Ingredients
100 grams of soft butter (or dairy free spread)
1/3 cup of white sugar (or whatever you use to sweeten: syrups etc)
1 egg
1/2 cup of desiccated coconut
2 tsp of coconut flavouring 
a pinch of salt
1/4 cup coconut milk (or milk or soy)
1 tbs of corn flour
3/4 cup of self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder

Directions:
1.mix butter, sugar, egg, salt, and flavouring together with an electric beater.
2. mix in by hand, the coconut milk and then the flours and baking powder
3. put a small table spoon of mixture into each cupcake paper, 1 1/2 if you want cupcakes to pop up higher.
4. Bake in oven @180dC for 10-15 mins. Test they are cooked inside, don't wait for them to go golden on top as they might go dry. 


Vanilla Butter-cream
Beat with an electric mix: 250gms of butter to 500gms of pure icing sugar (not the icing mixture) and 1 tbs of vanilla extract/essence of flavouring. Your favourite colour and you're good to go! Remember to wait for the cupcakes to cool down!! :)