Gluten Free Pain D'Épices (Spice Cake)

Gluten Free Pain D’Épices

(Gluten Free Spice Cake)

Adapted by My Little Blue Heron from Les cakes de Laurent sans gluten & sans lait by Laurent Dran

Pain D’Épices is one of my favorites cakes, and since I eliminated gluten from my diet, it’s another It’s traditionally made with rye flour. Now you can enjoy the flavors and texture of this earthy and satisfying cake without gluten. Pain D’Épices is traditionally eaten at New Year’s.

Laurent Dran is a French blogger whose book, referenced above, is available only in French. 

The French home cook doesn’t prepare super-sized cakes. This loaf is smaller than what you’re probably used to baking. The loaf pan you’ll need is 16 x 9 cm (6.3 x 3.5 in inches .. or 6 x 4 should work). You can double the recipe and make one large loaf and a small loaf or some cupcakes. Or go buy some German dark loaf pans that are about this size. Jobber stores like Home Goods often sell great loaf pans from Germany and France. Dark pans bake gluten free stuff much better. I don’t know why, but they do.

I prepped this by hand, but you can do it with an electric mixer. You’ll need the whip attachment.

And you must have a kitchen scale that weighs in grams. If you don’t, they’re so easy to get on Amazon. Here’s a link.

Recipes generally use Xanthan Gum for binding. Dran’s recipes call for Guar Gum (also a binder, but is usually used in products like salad dressings and cold stuff.) Maybe  Xanthan Gum is hard to find in France. I’ve read that they’re interchangeable.  

Oven temperature is 356º F. If you don’t have a digital oven, that’s fine. Set it to 350º F. and the bake may take a little longer.

A truc that Dran recommends it to slit the cake down the middle. He says that a small, quick slit will help to develop a “big bump”, like a madeleine. The batter was a little too thin to do this when I put the cake in to bake, so I made my “petite incision” about 15 minutes into the bake.

MLBH Trucs: Use organic expeller pressed refined coconut oil (Spectrum brand is excellent). Your baked good will taste authentic and won’t taste at all like coconut. Always use SUPERFINE brown rice flour. You won’t get that gritty texture in your baked goods. Vitacost.com is a great source for this (and much more). You can buy the “Tesla” brand of superfine rice flours, which is made by “Authentic Foods”, or try Vitacost’s own brand.

The first go-round, I followed Dran’s spice profile. Julia Child’s recipe calls for equal amounts of cinnamon, cloves and mace. Try earthy honey, like buckwheat (it’ll greet the buckwheat flour with joy!), or try a flowery honey.

During these short days that are cold and fill your apartment or home with warm and fragrant spices.

peace, love and ease,

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jane

Gluten Free Pain D’Épices

Preparation:

Using spray release or a neutral oil, coat the baking pans well.

Preheat the oven to 356º F. (see note above.)  

Ingredients:

50 g. superfine brown rice flour (Authentic Foods brand or Vitacost brand (find it at vitacost.com)

25 g. potato starch

35 g. buckwheat flour

4 g. baking powder (aluminum free is best)

1 gram Guar gum

60 g. brown sugar 

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. ground ginger

½ tsp. ground cardamom (freshly ground is ideal) ...see directly below for another spice combination that I like*
1/4 tsp. Kosher salt 

1 egg, size large (about 50 grams)

110 g. water, room temperature (approx.. ½ c.)

85 g. honey (I used a miscellaneous and buckwheat honey and preferred the buckwheat honey)

55 g. coconut oil (refined is preferred because it won't taste coconuttish) .. and I suggest bringing it to liquid state. You can do this in the microwave at half power (5) for about 15 seconds.

*(for a different spice profile try: 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. ginger, 1/4 tsp. ground cloves, 1/2 tsp. ground mace - closer to Child's cake.)

Procedure:

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients and set aside.

In another bowl (or if using an electric stand mixer, in that bowl), measure out ingredients, and whisk together for a minute.

Add dry ingredients to wet until combined.

Pour into prepared pan(s) and bake for 30-45 minutes, depending on your pan and your oven. (If you’re making cupcakes, baking time may be less than 30 minutes.)

Remove from oven and cool 10-15 minutes on baking rack before releasing from pans to then cool completely.

Wrapped well, this will keep for a couple of days at room temperature. You can refrigerate it and bring it to room temperature before serving. You can toast it and serve it with butter or jam or both.

The loaf will freeze well for several months.

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Fudge

photo by Jonah Rosenberg

FUDGE 

gluten-free, with dairy-free and nut-free variations

adapted from Sunbutter by My Little Blue Heron

Easy to make, chocolatey, rich, satisfying and scrumptious, this creamy confection keeps well, is great for kids and adults .. in time for Passover (not macaroons!), Easter and will be a satisfying nosh for the upcoming impeachment hearings!

Adjust this recipe .. to your taste and diet: make yours with cocoa or cacao, vegan and nut-free, vegan and nutty, buttery and nut-free or pull out those stops and make it chocolatey, buttery and nutty. 

If you're using cocoa, choose a good quality dark one. I like Valhrona from France. I buy it (in bulk) on Amazon. You can find this and other excellent brands at very good markets. If high end cocoa doesn't appeal to you, pick up some Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa – it’s easy to find, and it's good. Alternatively, use raw cacao. Cacao is what our neighbors and friends from Mexico use for molé sauce.

Navitas Naturals is a great choice:  

Cacao'll quell chocolate cravings whilst supplying you with important nutrients like magnesium and iron.

(oh) Fudge keeps "forever" in the fridge. You can freeze it, but it's not going to last that long.

Nut allergies?, use sunflower butter. Buy “Sunbutter”, or make it in your Vitamix. Buy roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds. (Trader Joe’s is a great resource.) It's so easy: throw them in your Vitamix and use that tamper thing. Make any nut butter for this recipe!: almond, hazelnut, cashew or peanut butter. Be sure to buy roasted and unsalted nuts. Make sure your nuts are fresh. Expired nuts are bitter and should be discarded. For obvious reasons, making your own is always your best choice. Of all the nut butters, peanut butter (a legume butter) will lend a strong flavor to your fudge (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.)

MLBH truc: Store opened nuts in the freezer, and use them as soon as possible because they begin to taste like the freezer pretty quickly. You can toast unused nuts in the oven at 350º F. until they're just slightly toasted (the oils will surface). Cool them completely and store them in a glass jar in a cool pantry. Use them for eating, baking, and for sprinkling on salads and veggies. 

Be creative: swirl some raspberry or strawberry jam thru the fudge before you put in in the fridge. If you're making this for kids, melt some marshmallows (or be lazy and use Fluff).  Mix in some cocoa nibs or chocolate bits, chopped nuts or dried fruit. Candy some orange rind and lay a piece on each square. Use liquor instead of extract…try Frangelico, Grand Marnier or coffee liquor. I infused my hazelnut fudge with Frangelico and decorated it with candied violets. (You can candy your own violet petals by brushing them with egg white and sprinkling them with sugar and letting them dry, or you can order them online.) I bought mine at Kalustyan's in NYC. You won't find them in their online catalogue, but if you call them, they may be available.

Are you leading a dairy-free life? Easy: use coconut oil, but use refined coconut oil. Refined coconut oil won’t dominate the confection, and you'll decide what layers of taste you want without coconut masking all other flavors. Refined coconut oil is pretty much odorless and doesn't readily taste of coconut. In the U.S., I like Spectrum brand.

Vitacost.com is a great online market. If you’re not already familiar with this resource, do check it out: great products, competitive pricing, and their house brand is terrific, and much less pricey (super fine rice flours – and yes, refined coconut oil!) Good to know: excellent customer service. Any issues? They're good eggs.

MLBH truc: Sift your 10X (powdered sugar) and cocoa twice: first separately, then together. Fudge umami guaranteed.

peace and love,

jane

photo courtesy of Jonah Rosenberg

Fudge

Prepare:

Lightly spray and line: a quarter sheet pan, or a small cake pan (8x8 or smaller), or a small loaf pan, with parchment or non-stick foil, leaving ends hanging over two ends of pan, enabling you to lift fudge from pan for cutting.

Vanilla powder is recommended for certified GF baking.  

Ingredients:

¼ c. unsalted butter or refined coconut oil

1/3 c./100 ml. milk or culinary coconut milk, “lite” or regular/nondairy milk

2 tsp vanilla extract or ½ tsp. vanilla powder or liquor/flavoring of choice

4 ½ c./196 g. 10X (powdered sugar), sifted

½ c./46g. cocoa powder or raw cacao powder, sifted

¼ to ½ tsp. salt

½ c. sunflower or nut butter of choice

optional additions: cocoa nibs, chopped chocolate, jam, coconut, marshmallow, chopped nuts, dried fruit...

Procedure: 

1. Sift together the 10X and cocoa/cacao, and salt. Set aside.

2. Measure sunflower/nut butter. Set aside.

3. Measure milk/coconut/nondairy milk. Set aside.

4. In a large saucepan, melt butter/coconut oil.

5. Stirring, with a wooden spoon, add sugar/cocoa mixture, a little bit at a time, until completely   
    blended.

6. Fold in sunflower or nut butter.

7. Fold in optional ingredients.

8. Using a spatula, transfer to prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula or knife.

9. Cover with a piece of parchment or waxed paper and refrigerate until firm.

10. Lift from pan and using a sharp knife, cut to desired shape and size. Cut all or leave some
      and cut "on demand".

11. Keep fudge well wrapped in a covered container in the fridge.