Gluten-free, Dairy-free and Egg-free Pumpkin Cake

 

Pumpkin is very cheap here at the moment. Seeing as it is winter, it’s great for pumpkin soup but today on this very rainy and cool Saturday I felt like something a little sweet. We found that this cake was more like a muffin/date loaf in texture. I thought it a little sweet and would probably reduce the white sugar a bit next time, but others in the house were happy with it. I’d also probably cook it in a loaf tin too. Here is the recipe as I cooked it today. If you prefer less sugar then I’d suggest you reduce the white sugar component.

Ingredients

115 g dairy-free margarine (I used Nuttelex, but you can use butter if you are not dairy-free)

120 g brown sugar

120 g caster sugar

40 ml water  mixed with 1 teaspoon of Orgran No Egg egg replacer (or use EnerG or use 1 egg if you can eat them)

210 g cooked pumpkin

230 g gluten-free self-raising flour (check there is no soy flour for soy-free)

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

small handful chopped walnuts or other nuts (optional)

Method

1. Make sure that the pumpkin is cooked until just done. Drain in a colander and cool in the fridge. Puree with a blender or food processor.

2. Beat the margarine/butter, sugars and egg replacer/egg with electric beaters until well mixed.

3. Add the pumpkin puree and beat well.

4. Sift the flour and spices together and add to the mixture. Fold in well with the nuts (if using).

5. Place into your tin of choice (I used a small ring tin this time) and bake at 160 C fan-forced (180C/350 F conventional) oven until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Mine took 35 minutes. It will take longer if done in a loaf tin.

Gluten-free and Egg-free Strawberry Mousse

 

Strawberries are starting to be in season here and last Friday they were very cheap at my local shop, so it was time to pull out an old recipe. I made the mistake of doubling the recipe but forgetting to double some ingredients! It still worked out fine, but I used only 2 teaspoons of gelatine and I think it really needed 3. I know that some followers wouldn’t like to use gelatine, but you could perhaps try agar agar instead. I keep meaning to give agar agar a try one day to see how it compares with gelatine. Meanwhile, here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

500 g (2 punnets) strawberries

40 ml orange juice

40 g sugar

3 teaspoons gelatine

60 ml hot water

250 g Greek yogurt (or natural yoghurt) – check to make sure there are no gluten-containing thickeners

300 ml thickened (whipping) cream – again, check to make sure there are no gluten-containing thickeners

Method

1. Sprinkle the gelatine over the hot water and allow to sit to soften.

2. Hull and chop strawberries and puree in a blender.

3. Add the sugar and orange juice to the strawberry puree in a medium sized saucepan and heat over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in the gelatine. Allow to cool.

4. Whisk in the yoghurt.

5. Beat the cream until the soft peak stage then fold into the mixture.

6. Refrigerate until set. This will take at least a few hours.