Allergy Free French Apple Cake
French Apple Cake is a rich tasting healthy cake that is wonderful for teatime, as a seasonal dessert, or perfect for celebratory brunches. I’ve whipped up a gluten-free, vegan, and top 8 allergen-free version that will knock your socks off. Allergy-Free French Apple Cake is one of my new favorites, and as apple season comes into full swing, I hope it will be one of yours’ too!
The key to this cake is precooking the apples for 3 minutes in the microwave. This ensures you’ll have tender apples without them releasing too much moisture into your cake.
Allergy-Free French Apple Cake
Serves 8 to 10
prep time: 20 minutes
bake time: 60 minutes
2 large granny smith or other large baking apples (1 lb), peeled, cored, cut into 8 wedges, and sliced 1/8th inch thick crosswise
2 teaspoons brandy (Calvados if you have it)
¾ teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 cups Authentic Foods GF Classical Blend or my Basic Gluten-Free Flour Mix
½ teaspoon xanthan or guar gum
1 Tablespoon double-acting baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
¾ cup dairy-free, soy-free vegetable shortening
¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
½ cup plus 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
4 ½ teaspoons Ener-G egg replacer mixed with 6 Tablespoons rice milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup rice milk
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Grease a 9-inch springform pan, sprinkle with a little gluten-free flour mix, tapping out any extra, and place prepared pan onto baking sheet.
2. Place apple slices in a microwave-safe pie plate, cover and microwave 3 minutes until apples are slightly tender and pliable, toss with brandy and lemon juice, and set aside on a wire cooling rack to cool.
3. Whisk together flour mix, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine shortening, light brown sugar, and ½ cup of the granulated sugar. Mix on medium-high speed for 1 minute, or until fluffy. Whisk egg replacer with 6 Tablespoons rice milk, till frothy.
5. Add egg replacer and vanilla extract, and mix for 20 seconds.
6. Reduce the speed to medium and beat in one-third of the flour, mixing for 15 seconds.
7. Add half the rice milk, mixing for 20 seconds.
8. Beat in half the remaining flour, then the remaining rice milk, and finally the remaining flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
9. Scoop out 1 1/3 cups of the batter and set aside.
10. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold cooled apple slices into the remaining batter. Transfer to the prepared springform pan, smoothing batter evenly to edges of pan.
11. Top with the reserved batter, using an offset spatula or rubber spatula to smooth batter evenly to edges of pan. Sprinkle top evenly with the remaining 1 Tablespoon of granulated sugar.
12. Bake in center of oven until top is golden and pulling away slightly from the sides of the pan, and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour. Transfer cake pan to a wire cooling rack. Let cool about 10 minutes, then run a butter or pairing knife around the sides of the pan, and let cool completely, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Cut into wedges and serve. Store covered with a cake dome at room temperature. May be reheated at 350°F for 10 to 15 minutes the following day to freshen and be served warm.
Allergy-Free French Apple Cake © 2012 by Cybele Pascal Photos by Stephen Scott Gross
(Please note that all my recipes are completely free of all top allergens (wheat, dairy, soy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, fish, shellfish, and gluten), so as many people as possible can enjoy them. Additionally, all the ingredients are available atWhole Foods, and online at Amazon.com. If you have trouble finding something, let me know and I’ll help you find it.)
SAFETY NOTE: Because each person’s food sensitivity and reaction is unique, ranging from mild intolerance to life-threatening and severe food allergies, it is up to the consumer to monitor ingredients and manufacturing conditions. If manufacturing conditions, potential cross contact between foods, and ingredient derivatives pose a risk for you, please re-read all food labels and call the manufacturer to confirm potential allergen concerns before consumption. Ingredients and manufacturing practices can change overnight and without warning.
How to make a Porcupine Watermelon
Dear Readers, are you looking for the perfect allergy-frirendly picnic or potluck dish? Look no further than the Porcupine Watermelon. This baby is as fun to make as it is to eat. Read on for step by step instructions to creating the cutest food art I’ve ever carved up. Enter, the Porcupine Watermelon!
1. Using an 8″ or 9″ chef’s knife, cut the watermelon into a baby rocker shape. Remove the top, and refrigerate to keep cool. Use the knife to cut around the edges of the watermelon flesh, and use a large spoon to scoop out the insides. Put in a large bowl, pour off extra watermelon juice and refrigerate.
2. Use a small paring knife (I know it looks big in this pic, but it’s just the angle!), to cut the top of the head into a jagged edge by cutting out little wedges.
3. Use toothpicks to adhere two blueberries for eyes, by skewering them through from the inside of the melon. Remove the top half of the melon that you cut off in step one, with rind still in tact, from the fridge. Use the small paring knife to cut out a triangle for a nose. Leave some pink along the bottom, but trim it down. Cut the tip off so it’s flat so you can adhere the blueberry for the tip of the nose. Break a toothpick in half, and skewer the flat tip of the nose. Attach the blueberry. Then attach the nose, by sticking at least three toothpicks through the rind from the inside through the nose. Line it up on the little brown spot in the center of the melon.
4. Nose and eyes attached. Next onto the ears.
5. To attach the ears use three toothpicks, skewering through from the back of the rind. Push the top one out farthest, so the ear is perky at the top.
6. Here’s a profile shot.
7. Fill with cubes of watermelon, and then insert a couple of toothpicks into each cube. I added a lot more after this pic was taken as I realized it didn’t look spiky enough.
8. Add the feet. be sure the bottoms have been trimmed flat so the lay flat.
9. Porcupine Watermelon! Serve with extra toothpicks on the side and keep adding them to the cubes as your guests eat down through the layers. Keep back-up watermelon cubes in the fridge to refill. Be sure to pour off watermelon juices of backup cubes or they’ll get boggy and soggy. Enjoy! And share!
Allergy Friendly Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting
Allergy-Friendly Strawberry Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes
Free From gluten and all top 8 allergens
With strawberry season in full swing, local farmer’s markets are overflowing with these sweet little beauties. Take advantage of their cheaper price tag, and bake strawberries into all your favorite treats. Brimming with vitamin C and fiber, strawberries make these lovely cupcakes almost a health food! So pretty in pink, these gems are great for birthdays, class parties, or an afternoon tea. And don’t forget your summer barbecues, they are perfect for those too. Don’t they look like they must be bad for you? Nope, 100% natural, gluten-free, vegan, and free of all top food allergens. Now, that’s a berry special treat.
1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced
1/4 cup rice milk
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups my Basic Gluten-Free Flour Mix or Authentic Foods GF Classical Blend
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
3/4 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons dairy-free soy-free vegetable shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons Ener-G egg replacer mixed with 3 Tablespoons rice milk
1 recipe Allergy-Friendly Strawberry Frosting (recipe follows)
12 small strawberries
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake pan with 12 liners.
2. Puree strawberries in blender, until reduced to 1/2 cup liquid. Add a few more strawberries if necessary.
3. Combine 1/2 cup strawberry puree with 1/4 cup rice milk, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Set aside.
4. Measure out flour mix by spooning flour into a dry measuring cup, then leveling it off with a straightedge, or the back of a knife. (Do not scoop the flour directly with the measuring cup or you’ll wind up with too much flour for the recipe). Combine flour mix with xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk well. Set aside.
5. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine vegetable shortening and granulated sugar. Mix on medium speed 2 minutes.
6 Add egg replacer to bowl of stand mixer. Mix on medium speed 1 minute more.
7. Using a sifter, sift in the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with strawberry mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture, and mixing until combined, about 30 seconds. Once batter is smooth, spoon about 1/4 cup batter into each liner, filling the liners about three-quarters full. Do not overfill the liners, or they will rise too high.
8. Bake in the center of the oven 20 minutes until a skewer or toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, and cupcakes are a lovely berry color. The cupcakes won’t be pink, they bake up more berry blue. (The frosting is pink!)
9. Remove from oven and transfer cupcakes to a cooling rack to let cool completely before frosting. Either pipe frosting or use a frosting spatula to spread it. Top each cupcake with a strawberry.
Allergy-Friendly Strawberry Frosting
Makes enough for 12 Cupcakes
1/2 cup fresh strawberries, sliced
1 cup dairy-free soy-free vegetable shortening
pinch of salt
3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1. Puree strawberries in blender. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream shortening and pinch of salt on medium speed, about 2 minutes.
3. Add confectioners sugar in three batches, beating after each addition. Add 3 Tablespoons of the strawberry puree, and vanilla extract and beat until smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Allergy-Friendly Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting © 2011 by Cybele Pascal