Blood Orange Torte

There's a gluten-free company that sells its sweets at my Whole Foods, and it's all I can do to not give in to the temptation every time I pass by their cakes, tortes, and brownies. And at six bucks for a single serving, they sure don't come cheap.

So I made my own. Using this recipe, but instead of mixing blackberry coulis into the frosting, I took the juice of a blood orange, a tablespoon of sugar, reduced it down to a syrup, and folded it into the frosting. It's darn good, super rich, and has a light orange taste - not unlike the chocolate oranges we used to gobble up as kids.

Mike's only complaint? "You make too many yummy treats and I only get to eat one a day." And this one will last quite a while, since a little sliver is all you need.

More Bloody Cake

Remember how you have to ask? Well, some of my questions got me absolutely wrong answers. One guy just washes his dishes, and he was sort of rude about my questions. Scratch him right off the list. Even though his cakes are gorgeous, I need a cake that won't get me sick, preferable without an attitude.

The second cake baker was absolutely sweet and wonderful. She gets food allergies, and explained the exact layout of her kitchen and why she couldn't guarantee gluten-free, even if she bought all new equipment. Basically, even if she bought new equipment, she wouldn't have anywhere to keep it safe from all that gluten-y flour dust. I absolutely appreciated her candor, but I was still no closer to a wedding cake.

Cue the emotional breakdown. Over cake. Yes, I know. So trivial, so ridiculous.

To make a long story short, the groom has now assumed all cake responsibilities - at least until we find a baker to meet my needs, that is. Then little miss design nut over here will jump right in. But finding a baker from across the country is not easy at all. Luckily, Mike is really good at asking all the right questions, and he's not one to get emotional over a friggin cake.

He's found at least one dedicated bakery that can do it, and we're ordering some cupcakes to test it out.  Until those arrive, we'll have to make do with this:

This cake with a blood-orange buttercream frosting and a blood orange sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and nutmeg, then broiled and cut up to top the cake. Not too shabby.

You Gotta Ask

When asked, "What is jazz?" Louis Armstrong reportedly answered, "If you gotta ask, you'll never know."

Now, there is something to be said for intuition, for just knowing something at the core of your being. And those sorts of things are often so difficult to put into words because they're based on pure emotion. You know it or you don't. That's what art, music, and dance are for - expressing things were words are just inadequate.

Unfortunately, I seem to have let this quote influence me a little too much. I just don't ask. I'm afraid to ask. And when you (and I) don't ask, you (and I) often miss out.

Recently, I've been stressing out about my wedding cake being gluten-free. So I decided to suck it up and ask. I researched gluten-free bakeries in the area where the wedding will be, and came up with this list of possibilities some of which aren't dedicated gluten-free, and some of which are, but I'm not sure if they do wedding cakes because I haven't asked:

• AnnaB's Gluten-Free
• Apple Tree Cake Company
• Carolina Cupcakery
• Flour Child
• Three Fellers Bakery

There's just one thing. None of them are on the "approved vendors" list for my venue. I haven't asked the venue yet...but I thought I'd check with the approved vendors and see whether they can do gluten-free.

Out of five, one plainly stated on its website that it could not do gluten-free. Another I knocked out simply because I know what their kitchen is like, and didn't feel comfortable with a gluten-free cake coming out of it. A third emailed me back saying she couldn't do it safely because of cross-contamination issues. She was really nice about it, and I can totally appreciate her honesty.

To my surprise, the last two emailed me back to say they can do gluten-free! I'm still getting information from them (how they prevent cross-contamination being the big one), but if I hadn't asked, I would never have known.

Sometimes you just gotta ask.

Let Me Eat Cake

Cake has been something of an obsession for me lately. There's birthday cake, there's wedding cake, and just-because-it's-Monday cake. All those things have been on my mind, but truthfully, the wedding cake weighs the most heavily on my mind.

I want a "traditional" wedding cake - you know, the kind with great big tiers. The kind that is on display for its own sake. I do not want cupcakes. And I'm really not interested in having lots of different cakes. The only thing is, since I'm planning this wedding from the other side of the country, it's really difficult when you add in the most important part - the cake has to be gluten-free.

One caterer suggested to my mother that the top tier could be gluten free. What?! No matter how careful they are to prevent cross-contamination, no matter how much icing and cardboard and who-knows-what else is between a regular cake and a gluten-free cake, there's no way I would be comfortable with that.

Similarly, there aren't many dedicated gluten-free bakeries in the area where we're getting married. (Did you know that flour can stay in the air for 24 hours?) The closest dedicated gf bakery that I know of is about 50 miles away from where we're tying the knot. And I don't even know if they would make a wedding cake. I know I'm just getting this whole planning thing really started, and I'm sure we'll work this thing out, but it's really getting to me.

So of course, I've launched into baking cakes at every opportunity. Right now, there's no way I can think of to safely bake my wedding cake...besides the stress and construction issues, my gf kitchen is in Utah and the wedding will be in Virginia. But still.

I've made this recipe twice now, and am quite growing to love it. (Mike likes it too.) Of course, I can't help having my own twist - a tablespoon of psyllium husk instead of gums, and no Cointreau because I don't have any on hand. The first time, it worked like a dream. I made cake donuts, cupcakes, and an eight-inch cake.

Using the cake donuts, I also made some divine raspberry shortcake with the last of the raspberries in the freezer from last year's farmer's market and homemade whipped cream:

Then the cake became tiramisu:

The second time around, I made cake donuts and one nine-inch cake. I also made the lemon cream called for in the recipe. For some reason, the donuts didn't do so well...I'm suspecting that I overfilled the tins and maybe didn't bake them long enough. Anyways, those became cake pops (crumbs mixed with icing and dipped in melted chocolate):

And the cake became what we're affectionately calling "Ugly Cake." It has the lemon cream, and a layer of the chocolate. I find the lemon cream too tart on its own, but the chocolate balances it out nicely.  It's ugly because it's not exactly the most picturesque cake I've ever made: 

Am I any closer to a wedding cake? Not really. All I know is that if a caterer or baker doesn't have something that wows me, I want to request they use this recipe. Oh, and if I really am going to bake my own wedding cake, it better not look like that ugly cake. I guess I'll go back in the kitchen and keep practicing.

Habit-Forming (Coffeecake)

Ah, New Year's Resolutions. How are yours going?

....they're made to be broken, aren't they? Mine involve "lose the last 10 pounds," "exercise more," and "eat less sugar."

I know. I know. I know! Sugar rots my teeth, and brain, and everything else, but there's nothing like cinnamon sugar to throw that all out the window. The secret is in moderation: muffins and mini-muffins. Plus, my desserts tend to get rationed out these days. But when it's time for one of these, time slows down. I go back to the days when I used to sit in Starbucks and "people watch" while I read a book, ate an insane amount of coffeecake, and sipped iced coffee. Those days are long gone, but this coffeecake is really what I was going for in the first place.

Coffeecake Minis

Makes about 12 muffins

Filling:

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Batter:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon psyllium husks
• 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
• 1/2 cup potato starch
• 1/4 cup teff
• 1/4 cup sorghum
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream

Crumble topping:

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons rice flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cold butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease or line a muffin tin and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the filling and set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the psyllium husks, flaxseed meal, potato starch, teff, sorghum, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Beat in the dry ingredients, alternating with the cream and sour cream until all ingredients are combined.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tins so the batter covers the bottom of the pan, but does not fill it. Spoon in the filling, then spoon in the remaining batter. 

Combine the ingredients for the crumble topping, cutting the butter in with a pastry cutter or two knives. Press on top of the muffin batter.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.