Peanut butter cake

This is a peanut butter cake I made by frosting a yellow cake with peanut butter cream cheese. I've written about the yellow cake, adapted from a wonderful recipe I found in Dr William Davis's 'Wheat Belly Cookbook'. 

Peanut butter cake

Spiced apple streusel muffins

After making the spiced apple galette, I had three Granny Smith apples leftover. Not wanting to make another galette so soon, I used the leftover apples to make applesauce.

The applesauce had been sitting in the fridge for a few days. I was worried that it would turn, so I flipped through the Wheat Belly 30-Minute Cookbook to see what I could do with it. I came across a recipe for apple streusel muffins. After checking I had everything (yay!) in the pantry, I got to working.

Spiced apple streusel muffin with cappuccino

All-purpose baking mix (wheat free, grain free )

A useful baking mix recipe from Dr William Davis's 'Wheat Belly 30-Minute (Or Less!) Cookbook'. This mix is meant for creating a variety of different bread and baked goods: loaf breads, flatbreads, rolls, scones, muffins, and cookies. Keeping a supply of this mix on hand will help save time.

All-purpose baking mix

Spiced apple galette

It had been a while since I made a cake or pie, so when I got some sweet, tangy, juicy Granny Smith and Jazz apples, I immediately got to making a spiced apple galette. 

Slice of spiced apple galette

Chocolate-frosted yellow cake

While I wouldn't call myself a cake lover, I do occasionally find myself hankering for cake. And that was what happened two weeks ago. I desperately wanted a slice of moist, dense, and fluffy cake. Being swamped at work and not really having an idea of how to make a wheat-free version, I picked up a toffee cake from the shops. While it tasted alright (not amazing, mind you), I paid for it with several days of discomfort and then more. And still, my craving wasn't satisfied.

So I bit the bullet and bought myself a coffee grinder so I could grind up golden linseeds as they seem to be called in several wheat-free, grain-free recipes. And boy, was I glad I did! Not only did the grinder work a treat for the linseeds, I also managed to make icing sugar without cornstarch with it, which was needed to make the frosting for my cake.

The cake I chose to make was a chocolate-frosted yellow cake. I came across a recipe for it in Dr William Davis's 'Wheat Belly Cookbook'. The cookbook has a good variety of recipes and is easy to use once you have the basic ingredients at hand. The wheat-free cakes I'd made so far were mostly loaf cakes so I wanted to try something new and a yellow cake looked like a good choice as it was versatile. I also wanted to try another kind of frosting (using something other than coconut cream/milk).

Chocolate-frosted yellow cake

Pineapple coconut loaf (2)

After a full schedule for the first two weeks of May, I finally had the time and energy to try out the tweaked recipe for my pineapple coconut loaf with less liquid and sugar. I also used the ground walnuts left over from making the chocolate walnut torte.

Pineapple coconut loaf

Pineapple coconut loaf (1)

My mother baked for the two some years that we spent in the States. One of her best creations was a coconut cake. I was probably only 7 years old at the time when I first tasted it but even decades later, I remembered it as a scrumptious cake loaded with shredded coconut with a crunchy sugary topping. When I was older, I asked her for the recipe, but she couldn't remember it, claiming that she'd got the recipe off the papers or magazine and didn't keep it.

For years I'd been trying to find that recipe and even attempted a coconut loaf glazed with coconut milk syrup a couple of years ago but to no avail. A couple of weeks ago, when I was making a pork stir-fry with pineapples, it occurred to me that I could pair pineapple with coconut in a cake. Adapting my recipes for the madeira cake and lime & coconut cake, I made a pineapple coconut loaf. At the time I wasn't thinking about my mother's cake. But when I took the first bite of this pineapple coconut loaf, I nearly shrieked with excitement. Could I have possibly stumbled upon the right recipe?

Banana walnut mini muffins

I had two very ripe bananas, one in the freezer and one in the fruit bowl. I decided to make my trusty banana & walnut loaf, except this time, I'm making it into mini muffins. This recipe is adapted from my banana & walnut bread. 

Banana walnut mini muffins

Coconut custard tart

I found a recipe for tart shells using coconut flour and was intrigued. And having made so many cakes, I decided it was time to try making a tart. A coconut custard tart seemed like a good one to start with.

Strawberry coconut custard tart

Banana & walnut bread

After a few loaves, I'm fairly confident with my banana bread. I made a loaf to bring down to my in-laws over Christmas so I could have something to eat for breakfast while I was there for the holiday.

Banana & walnut bread

And here's the recipe that guarantees to satisfy. 

Madeira cake with coconut & lime frosting

One of the cakes I discovered after moving to Ireland was Madeira cake. I was told it was a sponge but I thought it felt slightly denser than the sponge I was used to back in the East (like the 'traditional' birthday cakes in Taiwan). Still, Madeira cake became my favourite tea cake.

Apple & berry coconut crumble 椰酥烤野莓蘋果

I'm not a fan of crumble but Husband is, so for the weekend, I made a flourless crumble for both of us to enjoy.

Cheesy herb biscuits

Following the success of my first batch of cheesy biscuits, I made more with a bit less salt, different and more cheeses, and additional herbs.

Dark chocolate chai cake (2)

My second attempt at this cake. Decided to reduce the amount of sugar slightly and use the Greek style yoghurt I had in the fridge.

Cheesy garlic biscuits

After trying to make my first savoury baked goods in the form of flatbreads for a venison burger and not being entirely convinced that it was a like-for-like substitute for buns, a friend posted on her Facebook pictures of low-carb cheddar biscuits she made and inspired me to attempt another savoury bake.

Coconut custard cake

Two dear friends came over from London for a visit last weekend, so in addition to spending a couple of days tidying up the apartment and making up the study/guest bedroom, I was baking like nobody's business.

Honey sesame cookies (coconut flour)

I adapted the chocolate chip cookies (coconut flour) and substituted the cocoa nibs with raw black sesame seeds to make these honey sesame cookies.

Chocolate chip cookies (coconut flour)

One of the things that I occasionally miss since going wheat-free is chocolate chip cookies. I'd never baked cookies from scratch before, even though I was told it was baking 101. Last week, the craving got the better of me and I decided to make some using coconut flour.

Banana pecan & walnut bread

A second go at a flourless banana bread with a few changes from the previous version: 1) use of butter rather than coconut oil; 2) use of fine sea salt rather than coarse sea salt and much less of it, too; and 3) 1 extra ripe banana.

Dark chocolate chai cake (1)

Wanting something chocolatey but not sweet, I made a dark chocolate chai tea cake. This cake was largely adapted from my earlier Green Earl Grey truffle cake.