A year of cake - The new Clandestine cake club recipe book

Proud to say that we have a recipe in the new Clandestine Cake Club recipe book. A Year of Cake - features 100 new recipes from the club including my recipe for a scrummy gluten free treat of Buckwheat, carrot and sultana cake, with a fresh orange buttercream.

A delicious recipe if I do say so myself , I will be baking this cake for the celebration book launch we are holding at Ebb and Flo Books in Chorley on Saturday 12th September 2015, at 2pm.

The book is also currently on special offer on Amazon for the bargain price of £10 and apparently is already on reprint due to the volume of pre orders.

Caramel Buckwheat choc chip cookies - gluten free

My adventure in buckwheat continue and I have discovered a recipe that Mr LF likes ! see told you I would. It also features one of my favourite purchases from the recent Cake and Bake Show in Manchester. On the wonderful Bakery Bits stand, I disovered this fantastic range of Italian essences, there was a show offer on so I purchased 3 bottles, Caramel, Fiori di Sicila and Aroma Panettone. All smell amazing and contain only natural ingredients, so I am really pleased with my purchases, they are great in many different bakes.

                              

Buckwheat is a naturally gluten free flour and is married beautifully with the caramel essence in this bake to provide a caramelly slightly sea salty adult cookie studded with chunks of dark chocolate. A batch is so easy to whip up when that nothing but a cookie will do feeling strikes, my other tip for a succesful bake is to use a good quality silicone sheet to bake on, so you have no worries about cookies sticking to trays or paper.

The recipe is based on one I discovered on Glutenfreecooking but with a couple of tweaks the main one being the caramel essence, I used a 1tsp in the mix, I have also made a batch with the Aroma Panettone essence and that was fab too.

What you need

• 1 generous cup of buckwheat flour (Co-incidentally Bakery Bits sell buckwheat flour too )
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter (or you could use coconut oil) - need to be soft
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg large - free range
• 1 pack of dark chocolate chips (100g pack)
• 1 tsp caramel essence

What you do

• Preheat your oven to 180c (fan)
• Place your baking silicone sheet on baking tray (s)
• Mix the sugar and egg in the mixer until light and fluffy
• Now add the soft butter and the rest of the ingredients, mix until just mixed
• Add the chocolate chips last
• Spoon generous teaspoons of the mixture onto the trays and remember they will spread whilst baking
• Bake for 10 minutes or so until colouring nicely and only slightly soft to the touch
• Allow to cool on the tray
• Once cool, store in an airtight tin ( they won't last long !)

I have just spotted for this month's Biscuit Barrel Challenge that the theme is favourites so I am going to enter this delicious cookie as its currently my favourite.

                                               

The challenge is hosted by I'd much rather bake  , so pop across and see the other great enteries.

Banana and chocolate buckwheat cake, naturally gluten free.

I have a new love in my life ! Mr LF doesn't need to worry as its a flour. Yes a flour, buckwheat flour, naturally gluten free and with a beautiful light nutty wholesome flavour. It makes amazing cakes which are light and tasty. Unfortunately Mr LF isn't as keen as I am on the flavour of the wholesome little seed.

Closely related to sorrel and rhubarb this fast growing plant with white flowers is grown in China, Russia and across the world, but not much in the UK. Its seed is ground to produce flour which is used pancakes, cakes and breads and also in soba noodles and  buckwheat pasta. The achene is also make kasha, in the production of gluten free beer and whisky  and is eaten sprouted in some countries too.

Naturally gluten free is a great addition to the bakers store cupboard, its a finely ground flour which is light brown in appearance.

To make this cake is a pretty simple all in one method and the resultant cake is moist and flavourful, personally I like the buckwheat flavour, some may not. Its slightly earthy and nutty but definitely not unpleasant, reported to be rich in minerals and good for your cardiovascular system.

What you need

• 180g of buckwheat flour (if you are ceoliac then ensure its been processed in GF environment)
• 200g granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs - free range please
• 160ml sunflower oil (or other oil with no flavour)
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 3 small very ripe bananas - mashed (I freeze mine when going over ripe and they are perfect when defrosted)
• Handful of chocolate chips (I used buttons, ideally chopped up)

What you do

• Pre heat the oven to 180c
• Oil spray a 8" round loose bottom cake tin and base line
• Mix together the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and salt, until well mixed.
• Add the eggs, oil and vanilla to the bowl and mix until jut coming together, stir in the mashed bananas and chocolate chips. Like muffins don't overwork the mixture.
• Tip into your prepared cake tin and smooth level
• Bake for approximately 40 minutes until risen and tested cooked with a skewer, try not to over bake
• Cool in the tin on a wire rack, then remove from tin and enjoy !

The cake stores well wrapped in foil in a cool dry place for a few days, you could probably freeze it but I haven't tried this yet.

As for Mr LF's aversion to this flour, I am not beaten yet and am planning more bakes which might persuade him otherwise yet.