Black Forest cake for Mother's Day

My husband, Michael made a wonderful Black Forest Cake for me for Mother's Day this year.  My absolute favorite is chocolate, tart cherries, and whipped cream.  So how can you go wrong with that combination?!  Instead of making the chocolate cake from scratch though, Michael made the cake from a box mix from King Arthur Gluten-free Flour Mix. 

We were all so surprised at incredibly easy it was to make.  All he had to do was add 4 eggs, water, vanilla, and oil and combine these ingredients with the mix.  We were shocked at how wonderfully moist, and smooth textured this cake was.  No gritty texture and no funky after taste of beans.  It had an amazing deep chocolate flavor to it.
 

If my husband can make a cake from this mix, so can anyone.  The chocolate cake rose quite nicely and was easy to frost.  Michael filled the cake with a tart cherry preserves, and our daughter Autumn helped him to decorate the cake with freshly whipped cream.

This is one of the gluten-free mixes that was sent to me from King Arthur Flour Mix for a review.  I usually make my chocolate cakes from scratch, and I am very picky about how my chocolate cake turns out.  It has to be moist, smooth, not dense, not gritty, extremely chocolately, and unable for folks to tell it is gluten-free cake. 

I will say that King Arthur's Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake Mix is a very close second. Aside from having to melt my own chocolate, and add warm butter and milk you can barely tell the difference. From now on, in pinch I would gladly resort to King Arthur's Gluten- Free Chocolate Cake Mix. That's not easy for me to say since I pride myself on making all of my cakes from scratch.

I was greatly surprised and pleased to have such an delectable gluten-free Black Forest Cake Mother's Day, that I did not have to make myself.  I was very happy to have the break, and very proud of my husband and daughter.

 

Shredded beef tacos, guacamole and margarita recipes that are simple and gluten-free

If you do not know where to go out to eat gluten-free Mexican Cuisine, or you just want to economize, try making it homemade. It is relatively easy and you can be in control of the ingredients.  Not to mention, that what you would spend out at a restaurant on one meal may be what you would spend for a dinner, and some really great left-over's. 


Shredded Beef Tacos


1 organic beef roast (ask your butcher for the best cut)
1 onion, sliced
1 head of garlic, finely minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 to 2 teaspoon oregano
1 to 2 teaspoon cumin
1 to 2 teaspoon chili pepper
1 teaspoon chilies
4 cups of beef broth
1 12 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
olive oil, enough to coat bottom of Dutch oven

Season roast. Heat Dutch oven, and add oil. Brown roast on all sides in Dutch oven. About 5 minutes on each side. Remove roast from Dutch oven and add onions and cook until translucent. Add garlic and cook for about 3 minutes more. Return roast to Dutch oven and add broth and tomatoes. Cover and cook at 300 degrees for 4 to 6 hours. Remove roast from Dutch oven and allow to cool. When cooled shred the roast with two forks. Return to liquid.

Serve with warmed corn tortillas, shredded cheese, chopped lettuce, chopped tomatoes, chopped onions, pico de gallo, chopped avocadoes, salsa, and sour cream.

Pico de Gallo

 2 to 4 tomatoes, chopped

½ red onion, chopped

¼ cilantro bunch, chopped

1 jalapeño, chopped

Combine all ingredients.

Guacamole
4 ripe avocadoes

½ small red onion, finely chopped

1 small tomato, finely chopped
¼ cilantro bunch, chopped
1 small lime, squeezed
1 clove garlic, finely grated (micro plane)
*optional: 2 tbsp. salsa, or hot sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Halve the avocadoes, and using a knife score the avocado into bite sized pieces. Squeeze lime juice on the avocado so that it does not turn black. Add other ingredients and gently combine. To store place one avocado pit in the center; this will prevent the guacamole from blackening. Place a sprig of cilantro on the top of the guacamole. Serve with warm corn tortilla chips.

Margaritas Basic

Limeade concentrate 2 oz. (shots)

Triple sec ½ oz. (shot)

Tequila 1 oz. (shot)

Lime, fresh squeezed, and a thin slice for garnish
*optional: Margarita salt to garnish margarita glass

Note: 1 oz. equals 1 shot. For flavored margarita 2 oz. of juice or fresh fruit, and ½ oz. Rose’s limeade.

Gluten-Free sour cream coffee cake for "National Coffee Cake Day"

As a writer for the Examiner.com we get these monthly updates with up and coming news and all of the National celbrations for the month.  That being said, I thought I would acquire new inspiration for cooking, baking and recipes in general.  So far this week I have been able to complete three out of the seven days.  Not sure if it is me, my computer, my camera, or my lack of computer skills, not to mention, my lack of enthusiasm this week.  So bare with me as I struggle through this time.

"National Coffee Cake Day" is normally celebrated on April 7th.  I actually baked the coffee cake on Wednesday, the 7th of April, but was unable to get to my blog until today. the 9th.  There just does not seem to be enough time in a day.

The gluten-free sour cream coffee cake I made was a recipe handed down to me by my dear friend Amy Radbill at the Davis Food Co-op.  It is pfairly easy to bake and it tastes absolutely delicious.  The nice thing about this recipe is that you can take this flour recipe or Amy's cake flour recipe and use it on ANY coffee cake recipe that you have.  All you do is trade out the regualr flour for this mix, and add a little xanthan gum and WA-LA!  You have wonderful coffee cake to go along with your delciously fragrant pot of coffee!!  Now one of the things that amy and I always laugh about is the fact that so many folks want to make cakes super healthy, and let's be honest, a cake is cake.  It is not meant to be super healthy, and on the same token you should not be eating cake all of the time.  But cake should not be heavy or dense, nor crumbly, it should be light and fluffy.  The nice thing about this recipe is that the lightness and fluffiness can be accomplished with either of the following flour mix recipes.  

Bette Hagman’s Featherlight Rice Flour Mix:



1 part white or brown rice flour
1 part tapioca flour
1 part cornstarch
Potato flour (not starch), 1 tsp. for each cup the other flours

*For exchange purposes 1 cup of wheat flour = 1 cup of featherlight mix.
*If you would like to purchase baking flour pre-mixed, Authentic Foods sells Bette Hagman’s Featherlight Rice Flour Mix, but it is much less expensive to mix your own.

Add all ingredients and mix thoroughly with a whisk.

Amy's Cake Flour

For 3 cups:

1 cup white or brown rice flour
1 cup cornstarch or arrowroot
2/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca starch
1 tablespoon potato flour
For 9 cups:
3 cups rice flour
3 cups cornstarch or arrowroot
2 cups potato starch
1 cup tapioca starch
3 tablespoons potato flour

Add all ingredients and mix thoroughly with a whisk.
*For exchange purposes 1 cup of wheat flour = 1 cup of Amy's cake flour in ANY cake recipe.



Sour Cream Crumb Cake

Crumb cake is a great morning sweet with coffee or tea.  This recipe was adapted from the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion; a book filled with recipes just waiting for gluten-free adaptations.  Nothing in the ingredient list has been changed except for the flour and the xanthan gum. 


For the Crumb
Dry Ingredients only:
2 1/2 cups featherlight rice flour mix
1 1/4 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

 Wet Ingredients only:
2 sticks butter (or butter subsitute), melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon almond extract

Thoroughly combine the dry ingredients.  Add the extracts to the melted butter.  Stir the butter into the dry ingredients until all of the dry ingredients are moist, and the mixture breaks into large clumps.  Set this crumb mixture aside.

For the cake
Dry Ingredients only:
2 cups featherlight rice flour mix
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon baking powder

Wet Ingredients only:1 stick of butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs (room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream (or yogurt or substitute for sour cream or yogurt)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour a 9" X 13" pan.

Thoroughly combine the dry ingredients, and set them aside.  In a seperate bowl, cream together butter and sugar for about 3 to 5 minutes until it is fluffy.  Add the room temperature eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla and the sour cream.  Stir in dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until the mixtures are well combined.

The batter will be thick; scoop it into the prepared pan, then wet your hands thoroughly, and pat the batter out to the edges of the pan.  When the batter is evenly spread, sprinkle the entire surface thickly with the crumb mixture.  Be sure NOT to break the crumbs up too small!!

Bake the cake for about 30 to 35 minutes.  it may still seem a little soft, but the cake tester should come out clean when the center is poked.