S'Mores Cupcakes || Adventures in Baking

My Dad's office recently held a 'Great British Bake Off' style competition, in which the employees all brought in a bake to be judged by each other, and of course I was called on (the night before, at 10pm) to create a bake for my dad to take in! And so, with a little inspiration from a quick google, my S'Mores cupcakes were born, out of my love for all things chocolate and marshmallow!

These are so easy to make, take under an hour, are perfect to make with kids, and taste absolutely divine. In fact, one person scored them a 10/10! And as with all my bakes, they could easily be turned gluten, dairy, and egg free, and I will make sure to include alternatives where necessary.

Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs (or a replacement such as Organ No Egg, made up according to packet instructions)
• 160g self raising flour (or 180g of brown rice flour)
• 180g caster sugar
• 180g unsalted butter (or dairy free butter such as Vitalite)
• 20g cocoa powder
• Half a packet of digestive biscuits (or gluten free digestives)
• 50g extra butter
• Marshmallows
• Cupcake cases
• Third of a bar of dark chocolate

If making gluten free cakes you will also need:

• 1tsp xanthan gum
• 1tsp baking powder

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line a cupcake tin with cupcake cases.
2. Melt the 50g of extra butter in a small saucepan over a low heat. While the butter is melting, crush the digestive biscuits into small crumbs in a medium sized bowl. When the butter has melted, pour it into the biscuit crumbs and combine together.
3. Spoon approximately a teaspoon of biscuit-and-butter mixture into the cupcake cases, and press to completely cover the bottom. This will form the 'graham cracker' level.
4. In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, combine the butter and the sugar using either a handheld electric mixer or ye olde wooden spoon, until the mixture is pale and creamy.
5. Combine the flour and cocoa powder (and baking powder and xathan gum if using) in a separate bowl.
6. Sieve in a third of the flour mixture into the main mixing bowl, and crack in an egg. Mix together well, and repeat two more times until all the eggs and all the flour have been thoroughly combined with the butter and sugar.
7. Fill up the cake cases about 2/3 with the chocolate cake mixture, and place into the oven for ten minutes.
8. After ten minutes, remove the cakes from the oven and top each cake with a marshmallow, and place back in the oven for around ten minutes, or until done.
9. When the cakes have completely cooled, melt the dark chocolate and drizzle over the top of the cakes. Top with some extra biscuitty crumbs, and present!

Red Velvet Cake || Gluten and Dairy Free

Two recipes in a week? Absolutely mental. Someone check outside, I'm sure I just saw a pig fly past the window. All jokes aside, I wanted to get this Red Velvet Cake recipe put up quickly because I know my Auntie wants to make it and in my head this was easier than sending her the link I used as my starting point, and adding on the adjustments and substitutions I made!  Yes, I'm well aware this doesn't make sense. But on to the cake, the real reason we're all here. 

This cake is potentially the best gluten and dairy free cake I've ever made, and that's quite the statement to make. It's moist, it rises like a dream, it's decadent, it's everything you could possibly want wrapped up into one cake. Honestly, feed this to anyone and they'd never know it was allergen free (alas, not vegan. Damn you eggs, there's just nothing like you).

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/4 cup rice flour (check the world food section for some bargains in this area)
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups dairy free butter eg Vitalite
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups lactofree milk, or dairy free milk of choice
• 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• 28ml of red food colouring (liquid or gel)

• 1/3 cup dairy free butter
• 1 cup icing sugar
• Squeeze of lemon juice
• Sprinkles to decorate

METHOD

1. Preheat your oven to 180C
2. Measure the eggs, butter, and sugar into the main bowl you will be using and mix until combined, the rice flour, xanthan gum, raising agents, and cocoa powder into a separate bowl and mix, and finally the milk and lemon juice into a jug and mix together (this is to make dairy free buttermilk. If you have no issues with lactose/dairy, feel free to substitute in 1 1/2 cups of real buttermilk)
3. Add the red food colouring into the egg mixture and stir until it becomes a pretty vivid red colour
4. Alternate adding in the flour mixture and milk, stirring each time until completely combined before adding any more.
5. Grease and line two cake tins, before pouring in half of the mixture into each tin.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a skewer poked in the middle comes out completely clean.
7. Once the cake is cooled, combine all the ingredients for the icing together, and ice to your preference. I like to put buttercream in the centre to sandwich the sponges together, and on the top.
8. Add sprinkles, and serve!

Bethany

Carrot Cake || Gluten and Dairy Free

It's been a while now since our household turned gluten and dairy free, and the thing that's been a definite struggle is being able to bake cakes and biscuits that both resemble and taste like cakes with no substitutions and don't cost the earth with the addition of medjool dates etc that most vegan bakers seem to adore. However lately, thank god, something seems to have switched in my brain and I've been able to bake a variety of delectable desserts that are gluten and dairy free! Praise the gods for they can be merciful. And with that short introduction, on to the recipe for this gorgeously moist carrot cake, stuffed with juicy sultanas and topped with a delicious cinnamon buttercream icing. I used this recipe from BBC Good Food as a starting point, and adapted it for my own use.

INGREDIENTS 

• 200g Rice Flour (I found a 1.5kg bag in the world food section of Sainsburys)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder (make sure it's gluten free)
• 1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 200g sugar
• 2 eggs (or substitute an egg replacement such as Organ No Egg)
• 120g sultanas
• 270g grated carrots
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 140g dairy free butter (I used Vitalite)
• 50g chopped mixed nuts (optional)

FOR THE ICING

• 50g dairy free butter
• 2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 150g icing sugar

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (fan oven), and measure out all your ingredients for the cake. I measured the butter and sugar into the main bowl I would be using, the sultanas and carrots into a separate bowl, the cinnamon, flour, raising agents, and xanthan gum into another bowl, and lightly beat the eggs in one more bowl.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar using a stand mixer, electric whisk, or just your basic wooden spoon and elbow grease until light and fluffy. (At this point I do like to sample some just to make sure, there's something about butter and sugar I just love!)
3. Add in to the fluffy butter and sugar mixture all of the sultanas and carrots and give the mixture a good old mix to coat the only healthy ingredients in delicious sticky buttery sugar. Your arteries may not thank you, but I promise your tastebuds and stomach will. 
4. Once the mixture is combined, add in the eggs, or egg replacer, and mix together once again. The mixture should start to become a lot smoother and less stuck together and doughy. If you use an egg replacer, check the instructions to make sure you're using the correct quantities to replace 2 eggs to ensure the mixture binds together correctly.
5. Now it is time to add in the dry ingredients, or the floury cinnamony mixture. Do this a little at a time and make sure everything is fully combined together so you don't end up with little flour pockets in your cake. And be careful when using an electric mixer! This is a delicate operation, and unless you operate with utmost care flour will end up everywhere. And I mean everywhere.
6. Combine the nuts into the mixture, and your cake is ready to bake. Lightly grease some form of bakable receptacle (I used a loaf tin), and line the bottom with parchment paper. Do NOT skip this step, it's vital in ensuring you get a cake you can instagram and be proud of. Then pour the cake mixture into the tin and bake for about an hour, or until you can stab a skewer into the middle and it comes out clean.
7. When your cake has baked and cooled, combine the ingredients for the icing in a bowl. Icing sugar will no doubt go everywhere at this point. It's what icing sugar does, accept that fact and move on. 
8. Spread the icing over the top of your cake, make it look pretty, add a sprinkle of chopped nuts if you wish, and serve! 

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and look out for more in the coming weeks!

Bethany