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Zucchini Pineapple Cake with Walnut Cream Cheese Frosting*

*Recipe is for 1 13”x9” sheet cake, double it for 8” layer cake.

Cake

  • 1 1/2 cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Baking Flour
  • 1-¼ cup Granulated Sugar
  • 1/2 Cup Flaked Coconut
  • 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
  • 1 teaspoon Salt
  • 1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
  • 2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
  • Freshly Grated Nutmeg, To Taste
  • 1 Pinch Ginger
  • 3 Tablespoons Apple Sauce
  • 2 whole Large Eggs
  • 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
  • 2 Cups Grated (unpeeled) Zucchini (pat dry between paper towels)
  • 1 (20 Oz.) Can Crushed Pineapple In Juice, Drained (reserve for frosting)

Frosting

  • 4 Tablespoons Butter, Softened
  • 8 Ounces Low-fat Cream Cheese, Softened (can Use Full-fat Cream Cheese)
  • 3 Cups Powdered Sugar, Approx.
  • ½ teaspoon Xanthan Gum
  • 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
  • 1/2 tsp Powdered Ginger
  • Splash of Pineapple Juice
  • ¾ cup Chopped Walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare cake, combine flour, sugar, coconut, baking soda, salt, xanthan gum and spices in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Combine apple sauce, eggs, and vanilla; stir well. Stir egg mixture, grated zucchini, and pineapple into flour mixture.  Add in a little splash of the pineapple juice for good measure. Spoon batter into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Bake at 350° for about 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs and cake is pulling away from sides of pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. To prepare frosting, combine butter and cream cheese in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Beat in powdered sugar, xanthan gum, ginger and vanilla just until smooth. Add a splash of pineapple juice and stir in chopped walnuts. Spread frosting over top of cake. You can garnish with chopped walnuts, cranberries, or ginger etc.


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lauraemily:

Another Saturday at the Greenpoint Food Market! I went with a mini-theme this time: mini chocolate cupcakes with mocha liqueur frosting (I’m seriously digging this whole alcohol in frosting thing), mini lemon raspberry muffins, and black ‘n white cookies..for which I of course made mini samples.

After two days of baking, and a whole day of sampling, I needed a serious departure from sugar, Five Leaves blue points were the perfect way to end the day.

In memoriam.

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lauraemily:

peach cupcakes with brown sugar frosting

it was at least 95 degrees in my kitchen while I baked these, but it was well worth it!

recipe via smitten kitchen

Gluten-free Adaptation with Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting

3 cups Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-free flour
1 ½  teaspoons baking powder

1 ½  teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon Xanthan gum
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated Nutmeg

1 teaspoon grated Ginger
½ cup (1 sticks or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
½  cup granulated sugar
½  cup dark or light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups (12 ounces) buttermilk, sour cream or full-fat yogurt
3 large peaches, peeled, cored, and chopped smallish (~1/3-inch dice)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 28 muffin cups with paper liners.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, Xanthan gum, salt, nutmeg, and ginger and set aside. Cream the butter, applesauce, and sugars together, beating until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl between each addition, and then the vanilla. Gently mix in the buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt. Stir in the dry ingredients and fold in the peach chunks.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes for five minutes in the tin, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting

1 ½ cup powdered sugar
2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
½  cup (4 ounces or 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4  tablespoons bourbon

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon ginger

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the sugar, ginger, bourbon, and vanilla, beat until frosting is smooth and light. Chill the bowl in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, or until it thickens, then spread on cupcakes.  Return cupcakes to refrigerator, covered will last 4-5 days.

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lauraemily:

My 2004 public health graduate thesis topic was the “Association Between Low Socioeconomic Status, Race, and the Increasing Incidence of Childhood Obesity.”  I was admonished by many for pin-pointing race as a predictor of obesity.  At the time no one wanted to admit that there was a disparity between racial cohorts because they were more worried about being politically correct than recognizing that Hispanic and African-American children bore a greater risk of disease burden.

Now, 5 years later, 20% of 4-year-olds are obese.  Not teenagers, not elementary school age children, toddlers.  A diagnosis of obesity under the age of 5 is highly correlated with obesity as a teen and then as an adult.  By turning a blind eye instead of admitting to the problem at hand, minority children have been effectively doomed to a life of co-morbidities and early mortality.

Specific interventions need to be made that target minority communities.  Lack of available grocery stores, unsafe neighborhoods, and drastic cuts in physical education funding in urban schools all contribute to the dismal statistics sited in the linked article.  It’s time that we stop ignoring the numbers and facing facts.

P&H Soda Co. on Martha Stewart!

Congratulations to my friend Anton Nocito of P&H Soda Co. for not only appearing on Martha Stewart, but teaching her how to make cream soda!

If you haven’t already tried Anton’s artisanal soda syrups they are available at Brooklyn Farmacy, Kill Devil Hill,  Brooklyn Kitchen (he’s teaching a soda syrup class on January 11th), and the list goes on and on.

I would like to give my utmost thank you to Joann Kim of the Greenpoint Food Market for introducing me to all of the wonderfully talented people of the GFM, I’m so proud of everyone!

Brooklyn Based

The Greenpoint Food Market got a shout-out in this week’s Brooklyn Based Tip Sheet:

Park Picnic
This weekend’s Greenpoint Food Market boasts a whopping 47 local food vendors. We’re especially excited to try Masala Loca’s Indian-Mexican tacos. Grab your nibblies and head across the street to McGolrick Park for an afternoon picnic! Noon-5pm at the Church of the Messiah, 129 Russell Street.

Which clearly means that everyone, who’s anyone is going to be there! 😉

King Arthur Gluten-Free Flour

King Arthur has just introduced their gluten-free flour line, along with an entire section of their website devoted to recipes gluten-free Q&A’s etc.

Though I’m a devoted fan of Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free flour, it’s exciting to see another flour producer venture into the gluten-free world, and I’m always game to try a new blend!

Thank you to thekitchn for posting this exciting find.

Vendor Blender

Guess what readers?  You Can’t Eat Bread!?  is featured in this week’s Vendor Blender !

Read about my inspiration behind baking and stop by Saturday’s Greenpoint Food Market to sample (and buy!) my gluten-free treats.

Gluten-free market goers get excited!!!  This Saturday I will be featuring herbed crackers and bread so now we can sample the wares of the other vendors that we’d previously been unable to.  Stop by my table to stock up and then go scoop up the delicious wares of DP Chutney Collective and Anarchy in a Jar on my gluten-free crackers!

I will also be selling banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, they are to. die. for.

See you Saturday!

Easter Cupcakes

Inspired by early spring flowers (21 days early this year!), and 2 pints of blackberries I had in my fridge; I whipped up a batch chocolate cupcakes with blackberry cream cheese frosting for an impromptu Easter BBQ.

Using a tried and true chocolate cupcake recipe, I experimented a bit with the frosting, crushing and straining 2 quarts of blackberries and adding raspberry extract for an extra flavor burst.

I’m pretty sure the product didn’t disappoint!

Recipe:

Chocolate Cupcakes (adapted from the Cupcake Project):

  • 1/2 C water
  • 1/4 t salt
  • 3/4 C white sugar
  • 1/2 C Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Baking Flour
  • 1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
  • 18 oz semi-sweet chocolate chopped into small pieces
  • 1 C unsalted butter (room temperature)
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 egg whites
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Combine the water, salt, and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until completely dissolved and set aside.
  3. In the top half of a double boiler, (I use a do-it-yourself method with a small bowl of chocolate placed in a larger bowl of boiled water, it works exactly the same way.)  melt the semi-sweet chocolate.
  4. Pour the melted chocolate into the bowl of an electric mixer.
  5. Cut the butter into pieces and gradually beat the butter into the chocolate.
  6. Beat in the hot sugar-water.
  7. Slowly beat in the eggs and the egg whites one at a time.
  8. Add in the flour and xanthan gum, beat until the mixture is fully combined.
  9. Pour the batter 3/4 to the top of lined cupcake tins.
  10. Bake cupcakes for 20 minutes, or until the middle sets.
  11. Allow cupcakes to cool entirely before frosting.

Blackberry Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 1 8 oz package Neufchatel cream cheese
  • 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 4 cups of sifted confectioner’s sugar
  • 1.5 teaspoons of raspberry extract
  • 1 pint of fresh blackberries, washed and drained
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine cream cheese and butter in an electric mixer, whip until creamy.  Add confectioner’s sugar to butter & cream cheese mixture 1 cup at a time until fully combined.  Crush, and strain blackberries, add to mixture.  Add extracts, mix until combined.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or overnight.

Decorate and serve with a smile!