Coffee, cardamon and walnut cake - gluten free

For the latest meeting of South Lancashire Clandestine Cake Club I once again was inspired to bake from a Fiona Cairns recipe book, this bake is from her latest "Seasonal Baking" which is a stunning book and contains some wonderful looking cakes and bakes.

Feeling distinctly autumnal I plumped for a Coffee, cardamon and walnut cake which is a beautiful twist on the classic combination of coffee and walnut, as the recipe contains ground almonds and a relatively low amount of flour, it converted beautifully to gluten free using a standard gluten free flour.

Fiona's recipe is available on the Waitrose website here 

What you need

• 175g softened butter
• 50g walnuts, roughly chopped
• 15 cardamon pods
• 175g golden caster sugar
• 1tbsp of instant coffee powder dissolved in 1tbsp of hot water
• 3 eggs free range - lightly beaten
• 50g ground almonds
• 125g self raising flour (gluten free works fine)

For the caramelised walnuts

• 50g walnut halves
• 100g caster sugar

For the buttercream

• 5 cardamon pods
• 150g softened butter
• 250g icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 1 tbsp of instant coffee powder dissolved in 1 tbsp of hot water
• 1 tsp milk

You also need 2 sandwich tins - about 22cm diameter oil sprayed and base lined

What you do 

• Preheat the oven to 160c
• Firstly we are going to roast the walnut pieces and halves for about 6 minutes until lightly toasted, don't let them burn. Allow to cool
• Now lets make the caramelised walnut halves, place the walnut halves on a baking tray lined with a silicone sheet or baking parchment.
• In a saucepan bring 100g of caster sugar and 100ml water to the boil, swirl the pan to ensure all the sugar has dissolved, then bring to a vigour rolling boil. The caramel will eventually turn a lovely golden brown and be reduced. 
• Remove from the heat and drizzle over the walnut halves to create a sheet of nutty caramel, leave to one side to set. Be careful as the caramel with be very hot.
• Next we will make the cake
• De seed the cardamon pods, placing the seeds in a pestle and mortar and grind to a fine ground, sieve into a small bowl, take a 1/4 for the buttercream. The rest is for your cake mixture.
• In a mixer (I used my trusty kitchenaid) cream the butter,sugar and coffee until light and fluffy
• Add the eggs, almonds and cardamon, fold in the flour and the chopped walnuts
• Once fully mixed divide the mixture into the prepared sandwich tins.
• Bake in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes, tested with a cocktail stick to check baked through.
• Remove and cool on a wire rack.
• Whilst the cake is cooling, mix up the buttercream using the remaining cardamon and the above listed ingredients, ensure you beat it for a least 6 or so minutes to ensure a light fluffy buttercream.
• To assemble the cake - spread the base layer with buttercream and then top with the other cake. Then spread the rest of the buttercream on the top and sides.
• Crush the walnut caramel and arrange decoratively on top.

Chickpea and almond biscuits - naturally gluten free

I have come to the conclusion that gluten free biscuits and cookies are pretty easy and I really can't see any reason to buy the overpriced ones you see in stores. This recipe uses besan flour or chickpea flour (garbanzo to our American friends) as its base combined with ground almonds, the resultant biscuit is deliciously crunchy with a slight nutty flavour, you can add spice or flavourings to your delicious biscuit.

Besan flour is available in the ethnic area of the supermarket or at specialist stores, just watch out for added ingredients if you need it gluten free. Chickpea flour is one of the cheaper naturally gluten free flours and is used frequently in Asian cuisine.

What you need

• 1 cup of ground almonds
• 1 cup of chickpea flour (besan)
• 3/4 cup soft light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (or if diary free coconut oil)
• 1 egg yolk (large egg)
• 1 1/2 tsp of your chosen spice ( cinnamon is nice)

What you do 

• Preheat the oven to 180c
• Line 2 baking trays with a silicone sheet or baking parchment.
• Mix all the ingredients except the egg in a mixing bowl until the fat is rubbed in.
• Add the egg yolk and combine.
• Form ball of the mixture using your hands and press down on the prepared baking sheet
• Bake for approx 15 minutes until golden and starting to firm
• Cool initially on the baking sheet and then fully cool on a wire rack, the biscuits will firm up on cooling.

Pear, cardamon and sultana cake

My lovely friend Jo, delivered a huge carrier bag of pears from her garden this week so I have been scouting about for recipes to use my bounty. Pear chutney is planned but in the meantime I came across a recipe for this cake. Well you know me and cakes, so hear goes.

Ingredients

• 125g butter, soft
• 125g light brown sugar
• 2 eggs free range, lightly beaten
• 250g Self raising flour, sifted
• 1 tsp ground cardamon
• 4 tbsp milk
• 500g pears, peeled, cored and finely chopped
• 125g sultanas

Method

Beat the butter and sugar together in a food mixer until pale and fluffy, Continue beating in slowly the eggs, add a little of the flour if it looks like it will curdle. Stop the mixer and add the rest of the flour, cardamon and milk, quickly blend and then add the pears and sultanas to give a chunky cake mix. 

Spoon the mixture in a greased and lined 2lb loaf tin, bake in a preheated oven @ 160c for approximately 1 1/2 hours until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool initially in the tin and then turn out to cool fully on wire rack.

Store in an airtight tin if it lasts that long. The result is a deliciously moist softly fruity cake.