Rebel Bakery Cupcakes

'Contains cocktail stick'

I paid my first ever visit to Whole Foods Market last week. The lovely Alex (@HealthJourno) invited me to join him, Gluten Free Mrs D and Gluten Free B at a gluten free tour of the Kensington branch. It was a really interesting tour and Krystal, our guide, knew her stuff when it came to nutritional advice and gluten free diets. She showed us where the various gluten free products could be found in the store and even chatted about sources of extra dietary fibre and the best way to prepare grains and lentils.

An abundance of gluten free goodies!

After the tour left us all rather peckish, we headed upstairs for a vegan dinner at Saf Restaurant and to catch up on each other's news. Even after an enormous helping of massaman curry and being practically force-fed half of Alex's cheesecake (forced, I tell you! I would never steal someone's dessert), I was still thinking about all the exciting baked goods downstairs. With delicious treats from my favourites, Sugargrain and Perk!er, on offer I couldn't leave empty-handed. Thankfully, we all felt the same way and we spent a happy ten minutes picking up new finds and showing each other interesting cakes, all accompanied by a soundtrack of "ooh"s and "yum"s. I finally left the store with (among other items) a cupcake from gluten free Rebel Bakery, a new product for me. 

Decisions, decisions...

I opted for the Old Fashioned cake, in part because of the warning on the packaging, which read, "Contains cocktail stick," and it tickled me. Mostly, however, it was because the combination of whisky, orange and cherries was just too good to turn down. 

The very exciting inside of my cake!

When I tasted the cake, I knew I'd made the right decision, it was fantastic. The orange flavour was very clear and it was definitely enhanced by the whisky in the icing. Biting into the cake was a wonderful surprise, because the centre was filled with cherries! The cake was moist and not too sweet and there was just the right cake-to-icing ratio. I am really impressed by these cakes and I will be making another pilgrimage to Kensington to get my hands on some more! Unfortunately for all you nut-allergic people, these cakes aren't for you (but in my house that just guarantees that The Husband can't steal it before I get a chance to eat it!).

Rhubarb Upside-down Cake

It looks as though anaemia has lazily raised its head and decided, since it's too knackered to go anywhere else, to stay. I'm exhausted! While living on the border of two different health authorities has its benefits - two stoma nurses, for example - it causes problems with blood tests. I had my blood tests done through my GP surgery who send the samples to a hospital in one Trust for testing, but my consultant is based at a hospital in the other Trust!! Needless to say, I'm still waiting to find out if I'm anaemic enough to need more iron injections. In the meantime, I'm feeling rather sleepy!

I'm trying to keep up with everything that's been going on in my life, but (yet again) it is you, my patient readers, who are neglected. I'm sorry. To make up for it, I have baked you a cake, so good that I ate most of it before remembering that I needed to photograph it for you! (I've got to keep my energy levels up somehow...)

After cream tea at the Oad Street Craft Centre a couple of weeks ago, I bought some rhubarb from a local grower with the intention of making rhubarb and strawberry jam. Instead, I ate all the strawberries and made this upside-down cake.

Rhubarb and Almond Upside-down Cake

Almond is a great taste combination with rhubarb and it keeps the cake moist but if you can't eat them, replace them with the same weight of  gluten free flour, or polenta instead.

300g rhubarb, peeled and cut into 7.5cm pieces

4 tbsp light brown sugar

1 tbsp butter, for greasing the tin

100g margarine (I have also used that new Stork baking liquid, which works, too)

100g golden caster sugar

2 eggs

75g ground almonds

50g gluten free plain flour mix

1/2 rounded tsp baking powder

• Put the rhubarb in a sauce pan with 3 tbsp light brown sugar and about 3 tbsp water and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 20-30 minutes until just tender. Allow to cool.
• Grease a 20cm cake tin with the butter and sprinkle with the remaining light brown sugar. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
• Cream the margarine and caster sugar together until light and add the eggs, one at a time, whisking all the time.
• Fold in the ground almonds, gluten free flour and baking powder until smooth.
• Arrange the now cool pieces of rhubarb over the base of the cake tin and spoon cake batter over the top.
• Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden brown and spring to the touch.
• Allow to cool in the tin until the cake pulls away rom the edges of the tin, then turn out on to a cooling rack.

This is delicious served still warm with cream or custard.