Recipe of the Week - Secret Heart Lemon Cake {Gluten & Dairy Free}

With Valentine's Day falling this weekend I thought it worth sharing a suitable recipe this week. I first shared this recipe for Valentine's Day 2013 but as I have gained so many new followers since then I'm sure there is no harm in sharing it again!

You will need to set aside a couple of hours to make this cake, although it isn't really all that labour intensive. A lot of the time is taken up with the cake baking in the oven so you can go ahead and do something else.

If you don't think you have the time to make a secret heart cake then you could also just make a simple Lemon Loaf using the recipe below. I know any of the men in my life would be more than happy with a plain old Lemon Loaf!

You need to make double the amount of mix that you would make for your usual loaf cake recipe, so if you are wanting to make just the one Lemon Loaf rather than the heart cake, then simply half the amounts below.

One final point to remember, is that to make this strictly gluten free then please replace the oat milk with any other dairy free milk alternative (rice, soya, oat, almond). Our boys can eat oats OK and I like to use oat milk in cooking as it doesn't have a strong flavour. Rice would probably be the next best alternative as it also has very little flavour, but it's not recommended for under 5s.

Anyway, the cake...

You will need:

8oz dairy free margarine

10oz sugar

2 eggs

1 cup of oat milk (or other dairy free milk)

16oz Doves Farm Gluten Free Self Raising Flour

rind of a lemon

pink food colouring

for the topping:

juice of the lemon

3-4 tbsp sugar

you will also need a lined loaf tin and a heart shaped cutter.

Part One

~Beat the margarine and sugar well in a mixer, or with a hand held mixer, until it looks light and fluffy.

~ Meanwhile beat the eggs & the milk together then mix the flour & the lemon rind together.

~Add a little of the egg mix to the butter/sugar mix, beat well and then add a little of the flour mix, beating well again.

~Keep alternating a little of each of the two mixes until everything is mixed together.

~Take about half of the finished mix and add to another bowl.

~You now have two equal bowls of lemon loaf mix.

~To one of these bowls add the pink food colouring and mix well.

~ Pour your pink mix into your lined loaf tin and bake at about 190C for around an hour. You might want to check it after about 50 minutes though, depending on your oven. When it's ready, allow to cool on a wire rack for about half an hour or so.

Part Two

~Once your pink mix is cooled enough to handle, slice it up as though you were going to serve it. 

~Take your heart shaped cutter and cut a heart out of the middle of each slice.

~Re-line your loaf tin and add a small layer of the plain coloured loaf mix to the bottom.

~One by one, add the hearts, standing upright on their points, in a line until the tin is full.

~Use the rest of your plain mix and fill in the gaps down the side of the tin and then cover the top too.

~Put back in the oven, this time for about 30-40 minutes. It will be nice and golden on the top and a skewer stuck in the side (not in the middle because remember the middle bit is already cooked!) will come out clean.

~When you take the cake out of the oven, mix together the topping ingredients and drizzle over the top of the warm cake.

~Cool down again on a wire rack.

~Best served with a nice cup of tea and your true love!

Recipe of the Week - Cinnamon & Orange Cake {Gluten & Dairy Free}

This week we are re-visiting an old recipe that I shared some time ago on the old blog.
It has remained very much a favourite with everyone in our house and is definitely worth sharing again. Besides, I served this at church on Sunday morning when it was my turn on the tea rota and promised someone who asked for the recipe that I would share it again soon!
I love the flavour of cinnamon and especially love the cinnamon infused crunchy sugar that finishes this cake off. The orange juice helps keep the cake lovely and moist and, as with so many of my favourite bakes, this cake is one that you can rustle up in no time!
You could make this cake without using free from ingredients and you wouldn't have to alter any of the quantities.

You will need:
6oz dairy free margarine  6oz sugar 6oz Doves Farm Wheat Free Self Raising Flour 3 eggs 1tsp ground cinnamon 1 orange, the zest
to finish off the cake you will also need 
the juice of the orange 3-4tbsp sugar 1-2tsp cinnamon (depending on how strong you like the cinnamon flavour)
- Put the margarine, sugar, flour, eggs, cinnamon and orange zest in a bowl and beat well until smooth.
-Put into a greased and lined tin (I use a square brownie pan which is about 20cm square) and bake at 180C for around 20 minutes until golden brown.
-Remove cake from the oven and while it is still warm pour the juice from the orange all over the top of it.
-Let the juice soak in properly before mixing together the rest of the sugar and cinnamon and then sprinkle this all over the top of the cake.

Recipe of the Week - Magic Lemon Pudding {Gluten & Dairy Free}

At this time of year, when the weather is so grey and the days feel like there has hardly been any daylight at all, it's hard to resist the lure of a comforting pudding.

We don't eat pudding every night of the week. Just on one or two week nights, but always on a Sunday. For week night puds I want something that I can rustle up pretty quickly, ideally something that I can throw in the food mixer and let it do the work while I get the next stage of dinner on the go.

That's what I love about this pudding, which came about as a result of re-vamping our old favourite, Magic Chocolate Pudding. (You can find the recipe for that one here.) All it takes is throwing the cake ingredients in the mixer, let it mix for a few minutes, scrape it into your dish and then pour the sauce mixture on top. After 20-30 minutes in the oven you have a pudding AND a sauce.

The revamp of the chocolate version didn't come about as a result of us being tired of it. Imagine the suggestion of me tiring of a chocolate pudding?! No, I decided to try something different as my husband would far rather a lighter, fruitier pudding than a really chocolatey one, so this one was concocted with him in mind, and I'm so pleased with how it turned out that I thought I'd share it here.

The lovely lemony zing from the sauce is perfect for lifting your spirits on a grey January day. I also think it would be lovely with a handful or two of blueberries stirred through the cake mix before it's baked, but one of our boys would seriously object to that so I haven't tried that yet!

You will need:
for the pudding
4oz dairy free margarine 4oz Doves Farm Wheat Free Self Raising Flour 4oz sugar 2 eggs zest of 2 lemons

for the sauce
4oz sugar juice of the 2 lemons made up to 350ml with boiling water

- Add the margarine, flour, sugar, eggs and lemon zest to a bowl and beat with a mixer for a few minutes until smooth.
- Spread into a dish about the depth of a brownie tin or thereabouts. I should really measure my dish but I suppose it must be about 2-3 inches deep? And about 30x20cm in length/width?
- Stir the sugar and lemon juice/water combination until the sugar has dissolved and then slowly pour over the cake mix.
- Put into a preheated oven at 180C for between 20-30 minutes. It should be golden brown and you will see the sauce bubbling up from the bottom around the edges.
-Serve with some dairy free ice cream.

Recipe of the Week - Carrot Muffins with Maple Syrup Frosting {Gluten Free & Dairy Free}

These muffins seem quite fitting for January, when so many people try and eat a little more healthily to try and counter-balance all the over indulgences of December. They might be cake but they are packed with carrots and we are always being told that Maple Syrup is a more healthy form of sugar. They do, however, contain plenty icing sugar in the frosting as well, but just a little layer of frosting won't do much harm will it? 
I'm not claiming them as some sort of super food though. Just justifying my reasoning for cakes in January, not that cakes ever need justifying in my opinion. And I certainly wouldn't go so far as to make the suggestion that one of the boys made when he asked if having 5 of these muffins would count as his five a day!
Carrot cakes usually have a cream cheese style frosting on them, which is obviously no good for those who are dairy free. There are dairy free alternatives for cream cheese available but our boys don't particularly like them and so I came up with the idea of Maple Syrup frosting. The flavour is not so much of the syrup but more of a subtle vanilla taste.
For some time now I have been using Oat milk in baking and cooking as my milk substitute as it doesn't have a strong flavour like Soya milk does. It also doesn't contain any added sugar. That means that when I make these muffins they aren't strictly Gluten free, just Wheat free. If you need to make these completely Gluten free then simply swap the oat milk for another milk alternative - such as soya, nut or rice - (or milk itself, if you don't need to worry about dairy).  Muffins have the added bonus of being really quick to make and are a great thing to rustle up for an after school snack.

For around 12 muffins you will need:
For the muffins
10oz Gluten Free Self Raising Flour (I always use Doves Farm) 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 egg 3 fl oz oat milk (or alternative) 4oz sugar 12oz carrots, grated  (if you have a food processor then use the grater attachment to save yourself some time!) 3 fl oz vegetable oil
For the frosting
3oz dairy free margarine 9oz icing sugar 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- Preheat your oven to 180C and put your muffin cases into a muffin tin.
- Mix together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.
- In another bowl beat the egg and then add the oat milk, sugar, carrot and vegetable oil.
- Now pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix together. The secret to making muffins that aren't too heavy is apparently to not over mix the wet and dry ingredients together. Mix until everything is combined and no more.
- Divide between your muffin cases and bake for around 20 minutes until golden brown.
- While the muffins are baking you can get the icing made. Simply put all the icing ingredients into a bowl and beat together using an electric mixer. You could, of course, do this by hand but if you have a mixer then let it do the work for you! You might need to add a tiny drop or two of your milk alternative to help the icing come together but if you do, then just a tiny bit at a time. Once the icing has come together, continue to beat it for another minute or two as this will make your icing fluffier.
- Spread the icing on the cooled muffins.
- Enjoy!

Recipe of the Week - Gluten & Dairy Free Ginger Biscuits

These biscuits are the boys' current favourites and they make a perfect after school snack.

They contain a generous amount of ground ginger, as well as some finely chopped stem ginger, which adds to the spiciness and gives an extra bit of texture too.

If you haven't used stem ginger before, it is sold in jars. The balls of ginger are preserved in a sticky syrup. When you come to chopping them, be sure to rinse the balls of ginger well under a cold tap and this will stop them sticking to your knife as much.

The spicy kick of the ginger in these biscuits is just like that of a shop bought Ginger Nut.

I've decided to write up a printable version of my recipes now - as long as I get time, so perhaps not every recipe! - so that it is quicker and easier to transport into your kitchen, especially for those who may not have a tablet or who may not want to bring their tablet into the kitchen! I know I'm always a little nervous of something spilling on it whenever I try out a recipe using mine, no matter how safe the place I put it in is!

You can find the printable version of this recipe here - hopefully!

For these biscuits you will need:

100g dairy free margarine

75g golden syrup

350g Doves Farm Gluten Free Self Raising Flour

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

200g sugar

1 egg, beaten

2 pieces stem ginger, finely chopped

- Preheat the oven to 180C and lightly grease 3 baking trays.

- Melt the margarine and syrup together in a pan and then cool slightly.

- Meanwhile, mix the flour, ground ginger, bircarbonate of soda and sugar in a bowl.

- Add the egg and stem ginger, then mix everything together with a spoon.

- Once everything is well mixed, it should be in a ball of dough, use your hands to make little balls - about ping pong ball sized - flatten them slightly and then place on the baking trays. Make sure you leave enough space between the balls to allow them to spread while cooking.

- Bake for 15-20 minutes.

- Leave them to cool for about 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.