True to my word I took a more relaxed approach to Friday baking club this week. I didn't end up in the kitchen until 1:30pm after going to the gym, shopping and a long walk down to the beach to check out the large surf! Wow big swell and a strong SE winds made for a very dramatic ocean! Anyway after lunch I was in the kitchen cutting up fresh pumpkin for steaming and mashing ready for the pumpkin fruit cake. The mash was rich in colour and texture and gives the fruit cake a lovely golden colour with flecks of orange. And like the beetroot brownies the pumpkin helps to keep the cake moist.
To adapt Mum's recipe to be gluten free I've just swapped the 2 cups of SR flour with my version of gluten-free flour using a mix of rice, potato and tapioca flour with additions of baking powder and xanthan gum. I also chose to pre-soak my own mix of dried fruit and walnuts for a couple of nights in brandy to help plump up the fruit. I also used brown sugar rather white sugar as I like the flavour brown sugar adds which complements the golden syrup! Mum's recipe also recommended cooking for 1 1/2hrs but my mix didn't look overly runny so I checked the cake after an hour and it was well and truly done, so it might be worth checking it earlier. I have a feeling that GF flour and xanthan gum might soak up more moisture than normal flour. Anyway the cake is still moist a couple of days later, especially in the middle and tasty enough that Neil snuck a piece with morning coffee before breakfast! Be warned, this makes a rather large cake so make sure you've got a few friends to share it with or like me take some to work to share with others! Hopefully it'll get the thumbs up from these critics as well. It should keep for a week stored in an airtight container.
Pumpkin fruit cake (adapted from Jan Ewings's recipe)
500g mixed fruit (eg.diced dates, prunes, apricots, cranberries mixed peel; whole raisins, sultanas)
splash of brandy
125g unsalted butter
1c brown sugar
2 eggs
1c hot mashed pumpkin
1Tbs golden syrup
2c SR flour (1 1/4c rice flour, 1/2c potato flour, 1/4c tapioca flour, 4tsp baking powder, 2 tsp xanthan gum)
1tsp mixed spice
1. If soaking mixed fruit and nuts: mix diced fruit and nuts in a bowl with a splash of brandy and cover overnight or a couple of days.
2. Preheat oven 180C. Line and grease a large square or round cake tin
3. Cream butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time. Add golden syrup then hot mashed pumpkin.
4. Sift in flour and mixed spice and mix. Then lightly fold in soaked mixed fruit. Pour into a greased and lined tin and bake in a moderate oven for 50mins-1hr.
5. Cool for 5 mins in tin before turning out onto a rack to cool fully.
It was nice to be able to have a bit of a rest after finishing the cake before having to tidy up before friends came round for a casual catch-up over pizza and wine. I was excited to trial out the Springhill Farm Real Bread Mix to make pizza dough. The packaging even included directions on how to make the dough, basically the same with just 200ml less of warm water which was all easy enough. The reduction in water made the dough much drier and easier to handle which was good. After a 30 min rise I punched down the dough and split it into three and rolled it onto trays, forking it ready for topping. Meanwhile Neil and our guests were busy chopping up toppings of tomato, capsicum, chorizo, speck, mushroom, olives and basil to go on either a pesto or tomato paste base and then all topped with mozzarella, cheddar and parmesan. The pizzas were then baked in a preheated oven at 220C for 20-25 minutes and two out of three came out with a thin and crusty base.Unfortunately we forgot to take pictures until we were on our last piece but at least you get the general idea. And if I do say so myself, I thought they were better than our two local pizza joints that offer gluten free pizza. Not to mention they got rave reviews for our guests, bless their little cotton socks! With complements like that they can come round again!
The pizzas were truly delicious! As were the pumpkin fruitcake slices you sent us off with- brilliant with a takeaway coffee by the harbour! Who knows, you might yet convert us to gluten-free diets, too!
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