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baking
When it comes to sweet treats over Christmas, it can get sickly. So I set myself a little mission of putting together a recipe for the perfect light, moist, gingerbread cake. I wanted something that would pair perfectly with a hot cup of coffee or perhaps even some eggnog. It took me a few months, but by George Noel, I think she's got it!
This sponge is very light, making the exterior prone to sticking. To avoid the travesty of a broken sponge, make sure to thoroughly grease your tin and lining. I still had a whoopsie with the parchment paper folding awkwardly and creating a rather questionably shaped cake (as pictured), but.. it's special!
I N G R E D I E N T S
- 1+1/2 cups plain flour
- 1+1/2 brown sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup hot water
- 1 egg
- 1+1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tablespoons cane sugar syrup
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- Powdered sugar to decorate.
1. Preheat oven to 375°/Gas Mark 5.
2. Sift the flour in a large bowl, then mix in the sugar, ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
3. Work the butter in with your hands until the texture resembles a crumble.
4. Add in the egg, water, and syrup. Mix until completely combined.
3. Work the butter in with your hands until the texture resembles a crumble.
4. Add in the egg, water, and syrup. Mix until completely combined.
5. Grease your tin, line with parchment paper, and grease once more. There will be sticking in this household! (You could very easily use a regular baking tin, just remember to still line and grease.)
6. Pour in your mix and bake at 375 for 25 mins (or until a toothpick comes out clean).
7. Allow to partly cool in the tin before transferring the cake to a rack. Dust with powdered sugar and serve!
What's your favourite Christmas spice? Do you have a favourite festive baking show? Let me know!
Gluten Free Banana Bread | RECIPE
4/07/2019
Being a household who tend to purchase bananas with every big grocery shop, we often have a few over-ripped fellas hanging at the bottom of our fruit bowl. And when we aren't freezing them for future smoothies, I make a loaf of banana bread for either my husband or his mother and aunt. It goes down well, and it's really easy. But his father is gluten-free and is often left out of "please take this banana bread!" situations. When I looked online for gluten-free recipes, it was a black hole of different ingredients, things we'd never have in our food cupboard, and odd quantities with negative comments. So I sorta kinda winged it and after one failed attempt, I came up with this recipe which is the closest tasting to the non-gluten-free version I could make. The only difference being the smell as you mix, but who really stands around sniffing the mixing bowl? .. Well, besides me. Apparently.
I N G R E D I E N T S
2 CUPS GLUTEN FREE FLOUR (I use Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour)
3/4 CUP BROWN SUGAR
2 TSP BAKING SODA
1/2 CUP UNSALTED BUTTER
2 EGGS
2 + 1/2 LARGE BANANAS or 3 MEDIUM (the darker, the better)
1 TSP CINNAMON
1/2 TSP SALT
P R E P:
Preheat oven to 350F/177C/Gas Mark 4
M E T H O D
STEP ONE: Sift your flour into a large mixing bowl, add in your salt, cinnamon, and baking soda. Give it a mix.
STEP TWO: In a different bowl, cream together your brown sugar and butter.
STEP THREE: Into your butter/sugar mixture, stir in your eggs and pieces of banana. Personally, I add the banana with my (CLEAN!) fingertips so that I can squish it into small chunks as I do. It helps make the finished product moister than I think it does when, say, mashing the banana with a fork. But if it grosses you out, go ahead and roughly slice the bananas beforehand.
STEP FOUR: Combine the wet mixture with the dry, stir until you can no longer see lumps of flour.
STEP FIVE: Bake for 45 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the centre of the loaf, if it comes out entirely clean, remove from oven. If not, leave in for an additional 5 mins.
STEP SIX: Enjoy!
For serving I'd strongly recommend having it with a foamy cup of espresso, but if you tend to find loaf cakes dry, I'd say cover a slice with custard or some yummy chilled ice-cream. For a breakfast option, toast a slice and smoother with creamy peanut butter. If you have a diet (like me) of a 7-year-old cover a slice with a thin amount of cream cheese frosting and indulge.
What your go-to baking item? I'd love to know, and if you'd like a non-gluten-free version of this, just let me know!
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