Garden of England Loaf Cake

It's been a busy few weeks (aren't they all?) and I have neglected the blog as a result.  I'm ok, but all the activity in my life has left me exhausted.  I have to remember that I'm not even 6 months on from major surgery and that tiredness is to be expected.  The problem is, I'm just too impatient, I want all the energy I need, now!

I love recipe development.  I could spend all day experimenting in the kitchen (and often do) and I can only think of two drawbacks; washing up and wasting food when experiments fail.  Fortunately, the Husband is a bit of a human waste disposal unit and, assuming it's still edible, he'll often eat my failures anyway.  As for the washing up, I am growing to accept it as a necessary evil (and when I just can't face it, I throw everything in the dishwasher!).  From today, I am officially emerging from a work induced blog-hibernation.  If you count all the writing and recipe development I've been doing over the past few weeks, on top of my day job, I must be working about 100 hours a week!  Fortunately, I've found the time to have a wee break and, to celebrate this time off, I have baked a cake...

Spiced Apple and Pear Cake
I called this 'Garden of England Loaf Cake' in the title, because that's what this is, a celebration of the abundant produce that I am fortunate enough to find on my doorstep in Kent.  I realise that these fruits aren't quite in season yet, but there are some fanastic juice producers here whose juices are available year round.  I used Clearly Juice, but Moor Organic and Owl House Fruit Farm are also made in Kent, while many orchards make and sell their own juices in farm shops around the county.


125ml pressed apple juice
125ml pressed pear juice
1/2 cup golden caster sugar
1 tbsp molasses sugar, or molasses syrup
1 star anise
1/2 cinnamon stick
120g margarine
2 large eggs
115g natural yoghurt
240g gluten free plain flour mix
1 tsp baking powder

• Pour the juices, caster sugar, molasses, star anise and cinnamon stick into a saucepan and bring to the boil, do not stir.  Allow to bubble gently until the sugar has dissolved, then boil rapidly for 5 minutes to reduce by about half.  Take off the heat and leave to cool.
• Remove the star anise and cinnamon stick (or strain, if the spices have broken up) and measure 125ml of the cooled syrup and  pour into a large bowl.  
• Add the margarine, eggs, yoghurt, gf flour mix and baking powder and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth.
• Pour into a greased and lined 2lb/900g loaf tin, and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C, for 40 minutes, until a skewer come out of the middle cleanly.
• Turn out and cool on a cake rack.

If you have any leftover syrup, it will keep for about 5 days in the fridge (or pour into an ice cube tray and freeze) and is great added to a hot toddy or ginger tea!

Cardamon Banana Bread

I have three friends who have a phobia of bananas.  Apparently (according to one of those friends), it is the most common food-based phobia you can have...  This recipe is not for them.  One of these banana-phobic friends was a flat-mate for a while and I had to hide my bananas in the cupboard because I refused to give up eating them - I would eat them in private, then hide the skins at the bottom of the bin!  Thanks to Crohn's Disease and a colostomy I get dehydrated very easily and the potassium-rich lovelies are a brilliant way to get some of the mineral back into my system.  They are are the ultimate convenience food, too, ready packed and easy to eat.  The Husband isn't a big fan of bananas either, so I tend to end up with at least one over-ripe specimen from every bunch.  I have made banana bread many times before, usually in the bread maker, following the recipe that came in the user manual.  This time, it's different.

I am delighted to be taking part in the Gluten-Free Ratio Rally, this month hosted by Silvana at Silvana's Kitchen.

My Mum always taught me that baking is an exact science.  Before I was born she worked in a laboratory and when she later went to catering college she was asked how her previous occupation could lead her to want to train as a chef: she explained, cooking is chemistry - if you understand the latter, then all you need are technique and creativity to do the former.  As a child, I loved to perch at the kitchen counter and watch as she made scones and explained how all the various elements in the recipe combined and the chemical reactions that took place.  Knowing all of this gave me the confidence to bake any recipe.  After I was diagnosed with Coeliac Disease I lost that confidence - without gluten, I couldn't be sure that what I knew was still applicable - then I was further dispirited by some major flops in the kitchen (sausage flavour chocolate cookies, anyone?!).

It was time to go back to basics.  I learned to accept that, with the right ratios, you can substitute regular flour for gluten free alternatives, Michael Ruhlman's book, Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking was a great starting point.  Understanding the ratios of flours to fat to eggs to liquids, etc is the basis of successful baking; if you know the ratio, you don't even need a recipe - you are free to improvise and invent.  Then I read about the Gluten-Free Ratio Rally on Gluten Free Girl's blog and I knew that I wanted to sign up.

Each month a growing group of bloggers will be focusing on one gluten-free baked good and coming up with recipes to inspire you.  This month it's quick breads and muffins, the ratio for this is: 2 parts flour:2 parts liquid:1 part egg:1 part fat.  Check out Silvana's Kitchen for the other recipes

Cardamon Banana Bread

It might sound like an odd combination of flavours (I could actually hear my Dad wince over the phone when I told him what I was baking!) but trust me... Not just for curries, cardamon is a hugely underrated spice, it is warming and soothing, and works equally well in sweet or savoury dishes.  

I have found that using a combination of cream of tartar and baking soda gives me a lighter texture than baking powder, but you can substitute these for 1 level teaspoon of baking powder (check it's gluten free) if you wish.


106g brown rice flour
50g buckwheat flour
68g tapioca flour
2 level tsp (8g) cream of tartar
1 level tsp (6g) bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
2 large eggs
112g butter, softened
110g banana, pureed 
114g natural yoghurt
100g golden caster sugar
10 green cardamon pods
1/2 tsp coarse sea salt

• Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius/325 degrees Fahrenheit/Gas mark 3.
• Squash your cardamon pods and remove the little seeds from inside.  Using a mortar and pestle, finely crush the cardamon seeds and salt together.
• In a large bowl, combine the flours, cream of tartar, bicarbonate of soda, sugar and crushed cardamon seeds/salt mixture.
• Beat together the eggs, pureed banana, yoghurt and softened butter.  Add to the dry ingredients and combine using an electric whisk. The mixture will be a bit lumpy, don't worry about that.
• Pour the mixture into a greased, 2lb loaf tin.  Bake for 1 hour, you'll know it's ready when a metal skewer comes out clean.

My Husband insists that the best way to eat this is warm, with custard, I like it with a dollop of yoghurt and a drizzle of honey. Or as is, with a cup of tea!


(The joy of the ratio is that if you don't do dairy, for example, you can use margarine and all banana instead of yoghurt, or, if you don't have one, or any, of the flours, you can swap it for whatever you have got!)

Enjoy!
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