GF Pumpkin Spice Birthday Cake… with Teff flour!

Pumpkin Spice Cake for the GF Birthday Kid!

All I can say about this last weekend is… “where there is a will, there is a way”.  Let me explain…  I know I have not been posting much, life has just been really hectic.  In the midst of all the chaos, our youngest earned another birthday today.  Most of the hectic life issues are centered around this little life and I am always trying to find a way to create food that is just as fun as it is balanced, healthy and free from the long list of “cannot have’s” for this child.  So, the birthday cake you see above is a feat to say the least.  It is not only gluten free, but also grain free and dairy free.  I believe you could even make it egg free if need be.

Over the last month I have introduced Teff to see if our little one can tolerate it now.  We have been following the Specific Carbohydrate Diet very strictly for almost a year and a half now.  Things have been going well with the soaked whole Teff seed porridge I make for our mornings.  So, I decided to try some recipes using Teff flour that I found at The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen.  First, we tried the Teff pancakes.  These were such a hit and our little one’s tummy has been tolerating it so well, I decided to try adapting my recipe for Pumpkin Spice Bread into a cake for our birthday party.  It worked beautifully!  Just having the tips that Ali wrote about in her blog gave me the confidence to give this a try.  Sure, I could have made cake with coconut flour or hazelnut meal, but I was really hoping for more of what we call “cake” this year.

This article is for all of you out there who are trying so hard to create dishes that will be memorable for a loved one (or maybe even yourself).  Please, keep trying.  If we can make something like this for our little one who is grain free, dairy/casein free, refined sugar free, and restricted to foods lower in salicylates, I am here to say “you can do it”!  I cannot tell you how much of a struggle it has been to get to this point.  We only hope that the rest of what life has to offer for our little one will be joyful, remembering all the really great times we have shared with whatever foods are tolerated at the time!  I hope this encourages you to try that recipe you have been thinking of making changes to.  Here is my recipe for Gluten Free Pumpkin Spice Bread.  The variation for the Teff birthday cake is below it.  Enjoy!

GF Pumpkin Spice Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups GF Flour Mix
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 3/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp ground cloves)
• 1 egg + 1 flax gel (1 Tbls flax seed soaked in 3 Tbls hot water for 10 minutes).  Or, omit the egg and make 2 flax gel recipes.
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup oil (I use coconut oil)
• 1 cup pumpkin puree

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two loaf pans with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl.  Set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs, flax gel, water, oil and pumpkin on low speed until smooth.
4. Gradually add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.  Do not over mix.
5. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared loaf pans and bake for 40-45 minutes (20 minutes for muffins).
6. Remove from oven when toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and cool on wire racks.

Variation Ingredients for Teff birthday cake: Follow the recipe method above using this set of ingredients, substituting the appropriate wet and dry ingredients where necessary.

Get creative with decorations… Here we used hazelnuts and flaked, unsweetened coconut!

• 1 1/4 cup Teff flour
• 1/2 cup Tapioca flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 3/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 cup agave
• 1 egg + 1 recipe flax gel (see above)
• 2 oz coconut milk
• 1/3 cup semi melted coconut oil
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 tsp unsweetened vanilla

Note:  If making small shaped cakes like the train I made or cupcakes, bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.  I used a coconut oil frosting made with 1 cup palm oil shortening, 1/4 cup coconut oil, 1/3 cup agave, and 1/4 tsp unsweetened vanilla.  The only drawback to this frosting is that you have to keep it cold or it will melt.  So, I decorated the cakes and then put them in the refrigerator.  After the frosting set, I covered the cakes with plastic wrap to keep them from drying out.  You will have to take them out of the refrigerator about 15 minutes before serving so that the frosting softens just a bit.