Coconut Flapjack Oaty Bars - gluten, dairy and refined sugar free

I simply love the smell of dessicated coconut.

Opening the packet instinctively reminds my of my late Nan who used to bake at least four dozen cakes every Sunday in anticipation of the family arriving in their droves.

Nan had a shelf full of cake design books that we would pore over for weeks before our birthdays trying to decide which cake design we'd like that year. She always exceeded our expectations with her finished cake and it would be the making of a birthday. I think that's why I am so passionate about homemade birthday cakes now. It's such a vivid memory for me and I want to pass that down to my children.

Aside from special occasions, every Sunday Nan would treat us to the most amazing selection of sweet treats, sufficient to rival the local bakers. There would be pastry horns, Eccles cakes, fairy cakes, eclairs, puff pastry slices, mini Bakewell tarts and - my absolute favourite - coconut macaroons,  of course not to be confused with the current on-trend French macarons.

No, the coconut macaroon, also known as the coconut pyramid, was a mixture of dessicated coconut, caster sugar and egg mixed together before being formed into a mound on top of a sheet of rice paper and finished with the obligatory glace cherry which was then nonchalantly discarded prior to devouring the delicacy. It was crunchy on the outside, squidgy in the middle and full of flavour.

I've made them myself a few times and I when I do I always find myself back in Nan's kitchen, remembering the glorious smell of baking wafting through to the hall. Of course we weren't allowed to choose a cake until we'd eaten our beef or cucumber sandwiches, celery stick (which Nan used to dip into a mountain of salt before eating) and a half a plateful of plain crisps. It was an idylic Sunday afternoon tea and to this day is a vivid and warm memory.

This weekend I was trying to think of homemade snacks that would tick all of my dietary boxes. Obviously gluten and dairy free were top of the list, closely followed by its portability (we'd planned a picnic but the heavens opened at dawn and remained so all day!).

I am also trying to reduce all of our sugar intake. I want to restrict the children's consumption of sugar for various reasons - tooth health, regulation of blood-sugar levels, behavioural effect, etc. And I am trying to cut down as I think it's having a detrimental effect on my skin although with the childhood described above I don't think it's any surprise that I have a sweet tooth! My husband generally doesn't eat many sweet things but he has sugar in hot drinks and tends to raid the cupboard after I've gone to bed and will eat whatever is there. We have a 'silver sweetie bowl' and at least once a day babypuddleduck can be heard asking for "something out of the silver bowl" to which the response is a resounding 'no' - usually because Daddy has consumed its contents!

I scoured the cupboard for ingredients in stock and found gluten free oats, coconut, coconut oil,  eggs, raspberries, sugar substitute Sweet Freedom, cocoa and Doves gluten free flour. I ended up making a raspberry and almond cake (blog to follow soon) and spicy chocolate biscuits (no blog as they were disastrous) and following the banana flapjacks I made a few weeks ago which were a success in my view (a view not shared by babypuddleduck or the boy) I also tried a new oaty bar recipe. They're even better than the banana version and I attempted different toppings too for a bit of variation.

COCONUT FLAPJACK OAT BARS

Gluten free, dairy free, egg free, refined sugar free
Step by step coconut and oat flapjack recipe with images 

Ingredients:
3 cups (240g) of gluten free oats
1 cup (80g) of dessicated coconut
5 tablespoons coconut oil
100ml Sweet Freedom sugar alternative
3 tablespoons dairy free spread (I use Pure)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence




Method
Mix the oats and coconut together in a bowl.

Over a pan of water melt together the coconut oil, coconut butter, maple syrup and vanilla.

I found this handy steamer insert that is supposed to sit in the bottom of a pan but actually sits quite nicely on top of my smaller pan so that I can perch the pyrex jug on top and still be able to lift the jug off the pan once everything has melted. My jug isn't big enough to sit over the pan on its own and when I use the big bowls I find they're too
hot to handle after they've been over the pan for more than a few minutes. I think I got this one from Aldi - you know the aisle in the middle of the store that means you have to spend twice as long in the store as you anticipated and also means you leave with twice as much as you needed!

Once the ingredients have melted together nicely and you've stirred it well to make sure it's all incorporated, pour it over the oat and coconut mixture and again, mix well.



Doesn't my kitchen look colourful with an orange bowl, purple steamer, yellow spatula and red baking tray! I'll never be one of those people whose house is coordinated. Nothing matches here!

Either line a 9 inch square baking tin with baking paper / non-stick parchment or do as I did and use a silicone tray. It makes it much easier to remove them at the end.

Whichever tin you're using, spread the mixture evenly and press down firmly with your fingers or the back of a spoon or anything else that's flat and will compress the mixture. You want to  be really firm so that it bonds well and the flapjacks hold their shape when cut. I ended up with some leftover granola when two of the bars crumbled as I was taking them out of the tray. It still got eaten, but wouldn't have been suitable for our picnic. Don't hold back, be very firm.

Bake at 180 degrees C / 160 degrees C (fan) or gas mark 4 for 20 minutes. Leave in the tin to cool well before slicing.

I made a chocolate coating and dipped the flapjacks in so that half of each bar was covered. I then dipped half of the bars in more coconut to get a monochrome effect.

This recipe made 12 bars (or would have done if two hadn't crumbled into granola as I was lifting them out of the tray!). The boy has had them in his lunch box at nursery and I've taken one to work each day this week. I'd guess they still have a few days left in them too. I've stored them in a cake tin which seems to have kept them nice and fresh.

Do let me know if you try this recipe and take some better pictures than I did to show me!

Gluten and dairy free, one bowl, simple chocolate cupcakes

This weekend we were invited to a family get together. My mum is one of seven siblings so it can be quite a gathering when the whole family turns up. 

This time it was relatively quiet, but with culinary skills running in the genes there was the usual semi-competitive bake off. 

A homemade chicken pie, a beautiful pork pie and two home baked loaves made my humble cupcakes pale into insignificance. But at least my offering was gluten and dairy free. 

When we arrived one of my Aunties proclaimed "I've weighed our breads and Sylvia's is the heaviest!" I mis-heard and thought she said "weighed our breasts"!! Oops! 

The beauty of these gluten and dairy free cupcakes is that you would never know they aren't 'normal'. It's the simplest recipe and if you use Doves Farm Gluten Free flour you don't need to worry about finding gluten free baking powder or Xantham Gum. 

I was really pleased with how these baked. They were soft and spongy and I defy anyone to tell the difference from a traditional chocolate cupcake.

I have to hold my hands up and admit they don't quite live up to The Pink Whisk's chocolate cake recipe in which vinegar is added to milk to cause a chemical reaction that results in a really rich and gooey texture that's just divine. If you're not dairy-free I urge you to try this.

However for a gluten and dairy free treat, these will do just fine!

I had some leftover buttercream from last week's orders so I topped half of them with icing roses so anyone not following gluten and dairy free didn't feel too hard done by.  

The allergen-free ones were topped with icing sugar using a (cheap) heart shaped icing template hence the rough edges and different sizes! 

RECIPE

120g Dove's Farm self raising flour

120g margarine or dairy free spread (check the ingredients, I used Pure Dairy Free Spread) 

120g caster sugar

2 eggs

4 tablespoons cocoa powder (I used Green and Blacks organic, it's just divine) 

1-2 tablespoons of dairy alternative milk e.g. almond milk, oat milk, rice milk or soya milk. 

METHOD

There really is no detail to the method. Put everything apart from the milk substitute in the bowl of a mixer and go. Start slowly and work up to full speed. You'll literally need just a couple of minutes and it's done. If the mixture is on the thick side, add a small amount of milk substitute and remix. 

This will make 12 cupcakes. 

Pop in the oven for 20 minutes - 190 C (170 C for Dan oven) / 375 F / gas mark 5. 

When the timer goes off, pop a cocktail stick in one of the cupcakes and if it comes out clean they're done. Bob's your Uncle and Fanny's your Aunt as they say! Although they're not - despite such a huge family there isn't a Bob or a Fanny! 

Happy Baking!

Pinterest Gallery Update

This is a collection of images that used to be on the 'Cookies and Biscuits' page of this blog.

I am now using Pinterest as my gallery but don't want to lose these images off the blog so here they are in their own post.

If you're visiting from Pinterest, please leave a comment to say hello. You can visit the Pinterest gallery at www.pinterest.com/mummypuddleduck/mummypuddleduck-cakes.

National Cupcake Week

Despite being back at work after maternity leave and the house being a state, the ironing piling up and nothing in the fridge that's still in its sell by date, I couldn't let National Cupcake Week go by without my own bake off.

On Thursday it was my boss's birthday and what better way to suck up to the boss than a dozen cupcakes? I think the results show that yellow and grey even works for cakes. I love this colour combination.

I took over mum's kitchen again this morning to do a birthday batch, choosing a purple and lilac theme.

Both batches were inspired by my new baking bible, Ruth Clements' Busy Girls's Guide to Cake Decorating. Ruth was in the first series of Great British Bake Off and has her own blog www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk.

Yum, yum, happy National Cupcake Week.

 

 

How do you remove icing sugar dust from an iPad?

Last Christmas my mom was given a copy of the Primrose Bakery recipe book. I guiltily copied out a few, well OK a lot, of my favourite treats to attempt at home. (The marshmallow icing is lush, if a little bit of a faff).

This weekend however, my guilt was eased when I discovered the Primrose Bakery app. It's got a good variety of recipes including some of the ones I took a shine to from the book.

 
The first recipe I tried was the bourbon biscuits for our kiddie play date and mummies meeting today.

The steps were very easy to follow and when the screen timed out and went into standby, the orientation changed to landscape and offered a page for each step of the recipe including the measurements and ingredients needed for that step. This was a good format to follow and made it very simple to carry out each step. However I couldn't work out how to get from that screen back to the main menu without fully closing down the app. A bit too long winded when you're covered in icing sugar and cocoa and have sticky chocolate fingers from rolling the dough.

The recipe itself was simple but I'd question the quantities for the water and cocoa mixture for the filling. Mine seemed far too dry.

The verdict from the mummies was that they were yummy! They're perfect with a cup of afternoon tea as they're ridiculously rich and you do need something to wash them down with.

All in all, a successful bake, even if I do have icing sugar in my iPad now!

New house, new oven

We have decided to put our flat on the market.

No messing, just get the sale board out on the front lawn and welcome in potential buyers.

The boy's arrival eight and a half weeks ago has highlighted that a two bedroom flat is simply not big enough for a family of four whose hobbies include baking (me, obviously), playing the guitar (or rather three guitars - the other half) and making as much mess as possible using every toy possible (baby puddle duck is the guilty party here).

Combine this with the paraphernalia required for a newborn and it becomes difficult to navigate through the one living space we have to eat, work and play in.

So, decision made. A few decorating projects are underway, and we're taking the plunge into the murky world of estate agents and solicitors.

I have mixed feelings about selling. I'm pessimistic that we will find anything to move in to; I'm dreading trawling hundreds of properties we don't really want or like but can afford; expecting 'heated discussions' with the other half over location; but most of all I am excited that I might finally have a generously sized kitchen to bake in.

The kitchen in the flat at the moment could be described as "compact", "neat", "well planned" or "proportionate to the size of the property", and I look forward to seeing how the estate agent describes it on the details when they are drawn up, but if pushed, I would have to describe it as '"tiny".

Not only does the size drive me to distraction - and my husband too when I am baking in there and he can't get anywhere near the kettle for his caffeine fix - but the oven is about as useful as a chocolate fire guard.

In the glorious heat that has graced the country this week, I reckon I could cook a cake quicker outside using solar power. It's worse than useless. It's pathetic. It's temperamental. It's disastrous, or rather the results of anything that has the pleasure of being perched upon its sorry oven racks are.

I once cooked, or rather attempted to cook, a Sunday roast for my parents and brother. Four hours after the pork should have been ready we were still waiting as the oven had decided to terminate its own gas supply and go out on several occasions.

So top of the priority list when looking for our new home will be a family kitchen with enough cupboards that I can have a whole one to myself to house the many decorations, icings, cupcake wrappers, cutters, rolling pins, etc and one that has enough work surface that baby puddleduck and I can both decorate cakes and hubby can still get to the kettle!

Giant cupcake part II

I am going to attempt my second giant cupcake. It's not my favourite shape cake but it was requested so I'll give it another go.

This time I am going to bake the top and bottom separately as the top was far too dry last time and the bottom undercooked. Despite following the instructions that said to bake the bottom for half an hour before adding in the top mixture, they did not bake evenly. Mom suggested baking in two separate batches instead which I hadn't thought of so hopefully that will result in a much nicer tasting cake.

I haven't decided yet whether to make a chocolate 'case case' for the bottom of the cake or use rolled out fondant icing. I've seen a few methods for doing this, including the inspirational Victorious Cupcakes who is on Facebook and also at http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/Victoria-Threader.

I just don't want it to look amateur and the heat is incredible so I am not holding out much hope that the icing is going to handle all that well.

Results will be posted tomorrow when the cake is iced and finished.

Giant cupcake first attempt

Mom has bought me a new cake mould in the shape of a giant cupcake so I decided to give it a go for my sister in law's birthday.

The cakes baked unevenly, despite starting the bottom of the cake before adding the mixture into the top tier so will have to remedy that somehow next time.

The cake released from the tin OK, which was worrying me the whole time it was cooking. I lined the tin with melted butter but I've since seen a video where they use ground nut oil so I will try that next time.

It was iced quickly and simply as it needed to be ready quickly so I spread buttercream on the top and covered with hearts that I cut out of rolled out modelling icing.

The result is a bit 'valentine's day' but overall I think it looks OK.

Another modification next time will be to add another layer of filling, the cake was a bit dry so I will be more generous with the buttercream in the middle.