I wanted to make a carrot cake inspired by Indian carrot halva for Easter this year. I wanted it to have coconut instead of walnuts and feature cardamom and rosewater. We are spending Easter with my mum on Maui, where I grew up and she still lives. I knew that my mother likes cardamom and…
Tag: baking
Sinister Black Forest Trifle (Gluten-Free)- A birthday treat for the last cruel gasp of winter
I am lucky that I had the help of an award-winning cake decorator and artist (Tony) and also the help of a future surgeon (Bethany) with the decoration of our wedding cake, because if it had been left to me, we would have ended up with wedding trifle. Making pretty cakes is not my forte. I…
Brown Butter, Hazelnut, Buckwheat Financier (Gluten-free)
I eat a lot of egg yolks. Luckily, egg whites freeze well. That said, the collection of egg whites that I have collected in the freezer recently reached a critical mass. I considered making pavlova or macaroons, but these delicious treats are as delicate as clouds and what I really needed was a treat that…
Lemon Mochiko Cake
Mochi flour, also known as mochiko flour, sweet white rice flour or glutinous rice flour is used to make delicious sweet treats in Japan. In Hawaii, where spent the second half of my childhood, American style cakes made with mochiko flour are a very popular treat. It has a springy texture that I love. When…
Chocolate Pear Pudding Cake (gluten-free or not)
Happy Boxing day! This pudding cake is similar to the Friday Afternoon Pear and Hazelnut Pudding Cake I posted…hmmm…almost exactly one year ago! Appearently I crave pear pudding cake of one sort or another at this time of year. In the winter, it is very important to me to come home from school and have warm…
Aunt Claire’s Tourtière (with a gluten-free crust)
Last Christmas, my cousin Tanya gave me her mother’s recipe for tourtière. This recipe is neck and neck with my gluten-free butter tarts for the title of most Canadian post on this blog. It is a simple, delicious and it would work well with whatever meat is good in your region. I used…
Black Sesame Shortbread with Candied Ginger (Gluten-Free)/ Travels in Taiwan
In October, my husband and I went to Taiwan to teach some puppetry workshops. We ended up getting stuck there for four extra days because the big storm hit NYC the day we were supposed to get home. I haven’t mentioned the trip, because we have been pretty distracted by storm aftermath since returning. It…
Carrot Ginger Cupcakes (Gluten-Free or Not/ Dairy-Free or Not)
This gluten free carrot cake recipe was inspired by the classic carrot cake recipe that I grew up eating in the late 70’s and early 80’s. My family favoured the super moist carrot cake topped with a not very sweet creme cheese icing (or no icing at all) from Susan Mendelson’s excellent cookbook Mama Never…
Gluten-Free Dark Sour Bread (Inspired by Estonian Leib)
My sister and I went to Estonia to last June to learn about the country where our grandparents grew up. Estonia has very delicious dark sourdough rye bread called Leib. Our grandmother used to make it, and although I have had other dark sourdough breads (Russian mostly) none of them ever tasted quite as…
The Saga of my Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter
I decided to make a gluten-free starter this summer. I was compelled to do this because I was determined to make a gluten-free version of my the dark sourdough rye bread that my grandmother used to make (Leib in Estonian). More on that later. It took a couple of months and a bunch of trial…
Big Sis Little Dish 