For my GF DF friends

I keep trying recipes and experimenting with Gluten Free Dairy Free recipes and had a winner today, my first great DF GF cake.

Frankly I haven't had much to cheer about this week but by gummy this cake was really worth cheering about!  Maybe I'll get brave and try making bread again!

One Bowl Food Processor Carrot Cake! {gluten free, dairy free}

This recipe makes two cakes, or a cake and 12 cupcakes.

Or 1 fluted  bundt cake or about 24 cupcakes. :-)

 Now this was a British recipe so here's a grams to ounce conversion chart:

Grams to Ounces Conversion Chart

Grams	Ounces
1	0.0353
10	0.353
50	1.8
100	3.53
150	5.3
200	7.1
250	8.8
300	10.6
350	12.4
400	14.2
450	15.9
500	17.7

If you cannot find the number you want in the chart above simply multiply your grams by 0.0353 to get the weight in ounces.

If you don't have a scale a good rule of thumb is 1/4 cup is 4 oz.

400g carrots, quartered

4 large eggs

80g macadamia oil (or other light flavoured oil)

1 tsp vanilla

180g honey* This was about 1/4 cup and I could not taste any sweetness at all so added 1 cup of Brown sugar -I use to use 2cups brown sugar in reg. recipe

Blend well in food processor.

300g chunks of fresh pineapple  Or 15 1/4 oz can drained pineapple chunks 

380g plain gluten free flour I used Red Bob but you can use your own blend- see below

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp sea salt

150g walnuts (unchopped)

Note: for a nut free cake, leave walnuts out and add a couple of handfuls of shredded coconut with the sultanas instead.

Optional: stir in raisins/sultanas.  80g raisins or sultanas

 Ok I baked this at 325 degrees for 60 minutes in the bundt cake pan.

Cook for approximately 30-40 minutes for cupcakes, and an hour and a half for cakes, depending on your oven. Check by poking a skewer into the centre - it should come out nearly clean when the cakes are done. If the cake is getting too brown on top, just cover it with foil and keep baking til done. Don't cut it straight away while hot - it will be very moist inside. Let them cool, even in the fridge, before icing and eating, and the texture will be better.

I just made up a simple Butter cream Icing using coconut oil for the butter.   I am allergic to eggs also but have discovered I can get away with eggs occasionaly.  Eggs made a world of difference in bake goods.  I was very pleased that this cake raised up like a regular cake would and the texture was the same.  My husband who can't stand gluten free stuff said this was a keeper!  

Now for gluten free flour mixes.  I have experimented a lot.  A good friend told me to use equal parts brown rice flour, corn starch and white rice flour.  I discovered very quickly that I don't like rice flours because they are very grainy in texture.  I very much like Sorghum flour and Garbonzo Bean flour as they feel most like regular flour but you can't use them alone.  I usually use half of one of those with a mix of other flours like buckwheat(not related to wheat at all) and tapioca flour/starch and maybe a little rice flour.  Using a little of the gum's helps baked goods a lot.  The most popular is xantham gum.  I get it at my local Amish stores but you can find it online also. 

Knowing your allergies and how allergic you are is helpful.  I found out that gluten was my #1 allergy much worse than all the rag weed and pollen allergies that have given me so many problems all my life.  But the dairy and eggs was a very mild allergy.  I have also learned that milk is much worse for me than cheese.  Cheese doesn't have the live lactose but it does have casein. So if I'm going to cheat in dairy I would use a little real cheese but I stick with using my coconut milk.  I do still use rice cheese most of the time.  Eggs I can use sparingly as long as my other allergies aren't going crazy.  I am taking allergy shots to get rid of the problems I have with pollen, molds etc.  making it easier for me with my food allergies. 

Hope this helps anyone who is having to go dairy and gluten free!

Cherlynn

brchbell@yahoo.com