Gluten-Free and Sugar-Free cake crammed with dates, figs, walnuts & pecans

I'm still experimenting with this sugar-free thing for my youngest. Gluten-Free is one thing, but this sugar-free baking is still a bit of a challenge. But this cake has turned out really well. I've found out I like baking with honey best. It gives a great result, so in this cake I've replaced the sugar with honey. Basically, I've changed everything of the original recipe, except the pecans. :-)
I do that a lot. I see a recipe (in this case a cake with cranberries, walnuts and raisins) and just change it all up with stuff that I like. Why I even bother to look up a recipe, I don't know. Maybe I just need some inspiration or a bit of a guideline. 

When baking gluten-free I believe that experimenting & testing is the only way to get better and better, so I would encourage anyone to just go ahead an try stuff when you've got the basics down. That's how I ended up with 70 recipes on this blog. 

Yes, this is my 70th blog and recipe already. Quite an amount, now I've come to think of it. And plenty more to follow, I'm sure. So thank you Jordan Knight for once asking on twitter what everyones new years resolution was and to say you just have to stick with it. This blog was my New Years resolution for 2013 and I guess after that tweet I decided to just start and see where it would take me. I had been talking of blogging my silly recipes for a long time, just never got my butt into gear to actually do it. One day.. you know... 
well, I'm glad I started and I hope my silly little blog is of help to others struggling with this difficult diet. Because no matter the amount of recipes, the challenges of a gluten-free life are difficult sometimes, if not frustrating. 

Healthy and delicious, what more can you ask for?

Anyway...This cake has lots of healthy stuff in it so you don't have to feel guilty when having a slice. 

Ingredients:

• 250 grams (9oz) of gluten-free rice flour
• 90 grams (3.25 oz) of chopped dates
• 90 grams (3.25 oz)  of chopped figs
• 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum
• 140 grams (5 oz) of soft butter
• 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons of mixed spice
• 175 grams (6 oz) of honey
• 80 grams (3 oz) of chopped walnuts
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of chopped pecans
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 125 ml (4 fl oz) of milk

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees centigrade (325 degrees fahrenheit).
2. Grease a cake tin.
3. Chop the walnuts and pecans together and then the dates and figs. I chopped them into oblivion with my kitchen aid, so the were really fine and melted into the cake. 
4. Take a large bowl and mix the rice flour with the dates, figs, cream of tartar, xanthan gum, cinnamon and mixed spice. 
5. Add the butter and honey and mix well with an electric mixer.
6. Add the chopped walnuts and pecans with the egg and beat into the mixture. Then add the milk slowly till all is combined and you have a soft fragrant batter.
7. Pour/transfer the batter to the cake tin and smooth the top. Decorate the cake with some sliced dates (or if you have some walnuts or pecans left over, use those). 
8. Put the cake in the oven for about 45 minutes, then lower the heat to 150 degrees centigrade (300 degrees fahrenheit) and bake for another 45 minutes. 
9. Take the cake out of the oven and let it cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Then take it out of the tin & let it cool completely on a wire rack. 

Enjoy!

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Sugar Free Raisin & Rooibos Tea Cake

It has been a while since I blogged a recipe. I've baked (I always bake, it's my second nature), but I just haven't had the time to write my recipes down in my blog, I've been so busy. I've jotted them on little pieces of paper, so eventually I hope they will end up here, in black & white. 

I'm glad the holidays are over and life is slowly returning to normal. Even though I like the time off, somehow the days toward the holidays are just insanely busy. So much to do, so little time. All the Christmas activities at school & daycare (bring this, bring that, don't forget this, don't forget that), the usual baking and then of course the inevitable school Christmas dinner, which means I need to bake or cook for the whole class (as do all parents) and I separately need to create a gluten free dinner for my boy, just so he can enjoy his dinner as well without worrying he might eat something wrong. I'm always exhausted when the Christmas vacation is actually here. 

In the mean time I (well... we as a family actually) have been putting a lot of time & energy into our youngest son as well, who is a cute little whirlwind with a brain that amazes me in many ways. He is so smart, funny and he has the most fantastic imagination, but his amazing, chaotic brain is very confusing to him and us sometimes. So, while we are looking into all that, the doctor suggested to limit the amount of sugar as well. In most things that isn't too difficult a except when I bake. I bake with sugar a lot. Oh and he loves his chocolate sprinkles... hmmm...  Anyway, I'm used to baking with sugar because it tastes great and is common in almost all recipes. So today, as a fresh start, we've baked our first gluten free, sugar free Raisin & Rooibos Tea Cake that so happens to be dairy free as well. 
I probably will still bake with sugar from time to time, but if limiting the amount of sugar will help my little whirlwind munchkin, I will do so. In this case, Gijs loved the batter and that is a good sign & a great motivation to adapt more recipes along the way. Let the gluten free and sugar free baking commence! ;-)

Here's the recipe for the cake that we made today. 

Not bad for a first time!!

Ingredients:

• 125 grams (4.5 oz) of raisins
• 200 ml (7 fl oz) of Rooibos tea
• 50 grams (1.75 oz) of buckwheat flour
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of chestnut flour
• 150 grams (5.5 oz)of almond flour
• 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar
• 1.5 teaspoon of fiber husk
• 90 grams (3.25 oz) of honey
• zest of a large tangerine
• The contents of one vanilla pod
• 4 eggs
• 100 ml (3.5 fl oz) of olive oil

Instructions:

1. Soak the raisins in the warm Rooibos tea for an hour or so.
2. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees centigrade / about 350 degrees fahrenheit.
3. Put all the flour, cream of tartar, and fiber husk into a bowl and mix.
4. Add the eggs, the zest of a tangerine (you can also use a lemon, but I like the combination of the raisins and the softer, sweeter taste of the tangerine) and scrape the inside of a vanilla pod and add it to the mixture. 
5. Mix it all well and then add the olive oil and the raisins. If your mixture is a bit tough, add a bit of the rooibos tea, but not to much. You want a soft dough with just enough moisture.
6. Put the cake in the oven and bake for about 45-50 minutes. 
7. take it out of the oven, poke in a skewer to see iff the cake has cooked properly 9it will come out clean when it is) and let it cool on a wire rack. 
8. Serve with a cup of (Rooibos) tea and... enjoy!