Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Gluten Free Coconut Lime Tea Loaf


I bring you this delicious summery tea loaf today. I adapted the recipe from one of my favorite baking books Cakes: River Cottage Handbook No.8. I made a few changes to the already lovely recipe.

It's gluten free because I have a bunch of rice flour in my freezer that Scott keeps complaining about. Must use it up. It's coconut lime because I had both coconut milk and limes that also needed using up. Serendipitously for me, all of these "clean-out-the-fridge" items made a fantastic treat. It is also very low in fat since I didn't use any oil or butter. Just light coconut milk. Another bonus! I can't be expected to eat an entire tea loaf and still put on my bikini this weekend, can I? Well, yes, now I can. I have been enjoying slices of this bread with jam in the morning, toasted along with milky tea in the morning, and even as a base for another favorite of mine, Trader Joe's Frozen Yogurt, in the evening.

I'm sure this recipe would work with regular flour and would equally be good with orange or lemon juice also. And if you happen to have pineapple juice, I would definitely try that combo and then bring me a slice. Let me know if you make it!

Gluten Free Coconut Lime Tea Loaf
(adapted from Cakes: River Cottage Handbook No.8)
For the cake:

Serves 10-12
1 cup rice flour
2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
1 tsp xanthan gum (To prevent sinking. I recommend it for gluten free baking.)
3/4 cup light coconut milk (You can also use full fat if you have it.)
Finely grated zest of 3–4 small limes
1/2 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
For the drizzle
1/2 cup coconut milk
the juice of about  3-4 freshly squeezed limes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
Sift together the rice flour, baking powder and xanthan gum, if using, into a bowl. 
In a mixing bowl, combine the coconut milk and lime zest. Add the sugar until the mixture is light and creamy.
Add the eggs, one at a time.
Carefully fold in the remaining flour, then fold in the desiccated coconut. 
Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, lightly smoothing over the surface with the back of a spoon.
Bake in the oven for 40–45 minutes or until the surface is nicely golden and the cake feels springy to the touch. 
Shortly before the cake will be ready, prepare the drizzle by combining the coconut milk and lime juice. 
When the cake comes out of the oven, prick the surface deeply, but not to the bottom, all over with a skewer.
Spoon half the syrup over the surface and leave to cool for 10 minutes before spooning the remainder over the top and down the sides. Leave until cool before turning out. 
This cake will keep for 5 days in an airtight tin.



Friday, August 14, 2009

Summer lovin'


As summer is slowly passing us by, I realize I haven't had the time to cook even half the things I wanted to. With that said, these next few weeks will be filled with chopping, baking, eating, and full bellies for family and friends. Stay tuned for lovely summer recipes and stories of my tiny New York City kitchen. Hoping to plan a lovely rooftop end of summer soiree! What are some of your favorite summer recipes?

Hope you're having a happy weekend!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Wedding dessert idea or summer treat!

From the beginning of our planning S and I decided we didn't want a standard wedding. We don't do many things standard so why should that be any different for our wedding? Since our wedding was a bit unconventional anyway, it wasn't difficult to change or omit certain things. The first thing to go was the wedding cake. I'm not a big fan of cake and S isn't too keen on towers of dessert so we agreed! We had decided on a summer bbq theme so it was easy to choose fun desserts that our guests would love just as much (or more!) than wedding cake. Anyway, who wants to worry about melting frosting in mid June?! Not me. If you are someone who also prefers something delicious over a mouthful of buttercream frosting, here's an easy and tasty dessert idea for your wedding or for right now!

Grilled Peaches with Goat Cheese & Honey Drizzle

1. Wash peach, cut in half, and remove pit.
2. Drizzle with lemon juice and a bit of honey (depending on your sweetness preference).
3. At this point you could either grill the peaches (delicious!) or pop them in the toaster oven/oven.
4. After about 10 minutes the peaches should be soft and just releasing their juices.
5. Put a scoop of your favorite goat cheese in the center and return to the grill/oven for 1 minute.
6. Plate peach and drizzle with honey.
7. Garnish with a mint leave serve.
8. Enjoy!

Another delicious way to prepare this is with fresh summer herbs like lavender, rosemary, and thyme. Herbs work beautifully with stone fruits like peaches. Just sprinkle some in step two before grilling/toasting. Yum!