Reece's Cupcakes

Tom and Jess today!

Okay so for various reasons (not least because of our ongoing and undying love affair with peanut butter AND the recent discovery that Sainsbury's basics peanut butter is both amazing and cheap) we decided that a drizzly saturday REQUIRED cupcakes - and what better way to adapt our newly formed muffin recipe than into the greatest sweet on the planet - reece's pieces. The icing alone was good enough, but combined with chocolate cupcakes - unbeatable.

This recipe has quite a few specialist ingredients BUT it is vegan, gluten free, protein-filled and overall not incredibly unhealthy (except for the icing, but trust us, it's worth every calorie).

You're going to need the ingredients for the garbanzo muffins but with a few extra tweaks: makes around 10 (fairly large) cupcakes


1/2 cup Gram Flour (or chickpea or garbanzo beans - these things have too many names)
1/2 cup Gluten Free Self Raising Flour (I use Doves Farm)
1/2 cup Oats
1/2 cup of Soft Brown Sugar
3 tsp Soya Protein Powder (or substitute for 1 tbsp Cornflour)
3 tbsp Carob Powder (or you can use cocoa powder if you prefer)
3 tbsp Soya Butter
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 ripe Bananas
1 tsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Distilled Vinegar
1/4 cup Peanuts
1/2 cup Almond Milk (or any other dairy free alternative)
10 1/2 tsp Black Cherry Jam
10 1/2 tsp Peanut butter

Make these in the same way as the garbanzo muffin recipe (http://twocooksoneblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/garbanzo-banana-muffins-with-cherry-jam.html), substituting the spices for the carob powder, the raisins for the peanuts and adding the peanut butter and jam to the centres.

Next you want to make up a batch of Jess' peanut butter frosting (the very definition of icing on the cake!) using:


1/3 cup Peanut Butter (use whatever type you prefer, other nut butters would work too if you wish!)
1/3 cup Dairy-free Butter
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste (this is an absolute necessity. And once again, worth every penny)
A few splashes of non-dairy milk (we used almond)
1 1/2 cups Icing Sugar
Optional - 2 tsp Maple Syrup (we used agave here)


For instructions see the second part of the recipe here (http://twocooksoneblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/vegan-gluten-free-chocolate-peanut.html).

Spread this on top in around a centimetre thick later, eat the rest of the bowl using you spoon/fingers/hands/face/tongue, and then enjoy!

Raw Food Truffles

Tom here,

These truffles are a recipe from my mum, which make a regular appearance each christmas. Despite being really delicious they are about as close to healthy as truffles get and have no added sugar at all. Quite a simply recipe to make as well, and would be even simpler if you had a nut grinder (instead of a pestle and mortar that I used to hand grind all the cashews!) Raw foods recipes are becoming more and more popular and these are a tasty and simple way to introduce people to raw food cooking styles.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup ground Cashews
1 tbsp Cashew Butter (I made mine by accident whilst breaking my coffee grinder - oops, worked well though!)
1/2 cup of Dates
1 tbsp Coconut Oil
1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
1 tbsp Cocoa Powder
1-2 tbsp Apple Juice (optional)
Icing Sugar to coat

The extra cashew butter is entirely optional but give a nice richness to the truffles.

Method:

Soak the dates in boiling water until the water is cooled
While this happens, mix together the cashews, oil, paste and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl
Once the dates are soaked (should take around 15 minutes) pour away the excess water as you don't want this and then blend the dates down using a hand blender or food processor
Mix everything together into a dough-like paste (you could equally do this simply by throwing everything into a food processor, if you're lucky enough to own one!)
If the mixture seems a bit dry add tablespoons of apple juice until the dough comes together
I then like to pinch off walnut-sized lumps and roll them in icing sugar to give a nice coating
Make sure your hands a damp as you roll them in your palms so the dough doesn't stick too badly (it will somewhat anyway)
Refrigerate for an hour or two and serve

These should last for around a week in an airtight container in the fridge. This recipe can be easily added too or adapted to other flavours. Originally the recipe used ground almonds which work well. Most other nuts could be used as well.

I really didn't think these would go down very well at the wine and cheese night, so only made a few as well as the dark chocolate and orange truffles (the definitely less healthy version!) but actually everyone seemed to love these and prefer them to the others. They're really sweet without being overly rich (which after an evening of cheese and crackers was just right I think).

As always let us know any versions you come up with at twocooksoneblog@gmail.com!

(Attempt at) Gluten Free Yule Log

Hey, Jess today with what can only be called a work in progress post!

I've been gluten free for about four years now, which is four christmasses without all the nice christmassy things - mince pies, christmas cake, christmas pudding, cheese & crackers, ferrero rocher, gingerbread biscuits...the list goes on. But one thing I've really missed is yule log. Everybody loves that over indulgent, far too rich slice of chocolate cake and chocolate cream and chocolate topping when you've already eaten a week's worth of calories in one sitting and really can't manage any more. How could anyone enjoy a christmas without that sickly addition? So, despite having never made a gluten free swiss roll before, I decided I'd give it a shot this year so that I wouldn't miss out. It came out kind of 'rustic' as we shall call it, but it tasted nice all the same.

A lot of the gluten free recipes I found for chocolate yule log involved just eggs, chocolate and sugar. In my head, this was chocolate meringue, so I found a recipe that contained flour. But having made this recipe, I think I will be brave and try a eggs-and-sugar one next time (although I am spending my next christmas in New Zealand, so I may have to find another excuse to make a chocolate log cake before that..shame...). So anyway, by all means try this recipe, it may just be that I'm really bad at rolling swiss rolls. And I do think it would benefit from some xantham gum, I was just too lazy to buy any as per usual.

Cake
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup gluten free flour blend
4 large eggs
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
(Your desired quantity of your favourite) Liqueur

The original recipe suggested to use a 9 1/4" x 14" x 1 pan to bake the cake in. I just used what was in my Mum's cupboard. It may well be that size, but I don't know for certain and I'm not getting a ruler out to check. But it needs to be square/rectangle shaped and be suitable for cooking a thin layer of cake, obviously. Anyway, line the pan with foil and preheat the oven to gas mark 6. 
Sift the caster sugar, flour, baking powder and cocoa together. This is probably where the xantham gum should be added too.
Beat the eggs, salt and vanilla in a food processor (or by hand if you're not lazy) for about 5 minutes. Gradually add the granulated sugar, then the flour-cocoa mix, folding and beating it all together until the dry ingredients are wet. Don't over mix it.
Pour the cake batter into the tin and bake. Now, the original recipe suggested 13 minutes, but mine was done in 10. So check it after 10, but leave for longer if it needs it. All ovens are different.

I'm not really sure why it looks kinda wrinkly, but it tastes nice anyway

Once baked, leave the cake to cool for about an hour or so. Once cool, dust the top with caster sugar and turn out onto a clean piece of foil, removing the original foil. Brush the cake with your chosen liqueur with a pastry brush. I used Cointreau, as christmas is a time for chocolate orange flavoured things (and my mum didn't have Baileys in - I know, christmas without Baileys hurt me too, but the Cointreau was actually amazing. Particularly when added to everything, ever). Let this soak in for a little while, i left it to soak whilst I made the filling for the cake...

Chocolate Fudge Buttercream
200g icing sugar
50g butter
2-3 tbsp cocoa powder
Some milk (or Baileys/Cointreau/both)

Melt butter in pan. Add cocoa powder and cook for a couple of minutes. Leave to cool. Slowly add icing sugar until everything is added together. Add a little bit of milk (or your desired liquid) slowly, and keep mixing until you eventually have a glossy, chocolate fudge cream.

Use a whisk to remove any icing sugar lumps if you have the patience...

 I haven't specified the amount of milk needed because these things just need to be added until they are ready, and despite following the other quantities to the gram you will still probably end up needing a different amount of liquid here. I added too much, then had to add more icing sugar, and then I ended up with waaaaaay too much Cointreau chocolate fudge buttercream (again, such a shame). So anyway, once you have a thick chocolate fudge, spread it over the cake, leaving a little gap at one end. 

And then roll it up like a swiss roll. I used cling film. But the cake broke. And it ended up with a big mush of chocolatey fudgey Cointreauey cakey goodness. Which tasted beautiful with a little icing sugar dusted on top. But didn't really look brilliant. As you can see. But my family enjoyed it, including my extremely picky brother, so I'm happy with the overall outcome. 

Now, no more chocolate cake recipes. Everyone is on a diet for the first month (or week, or day, or hour) of the year, so in the new year there will be some more healthy recipes to try!

Hope you had a lovely christmas and have a great new year :)

Black Bean Brownies

Hey guys, Jess and Tom here today again,

This is part two of our christmas meal. These are very simple, and if you own a food processor then it's even easier! Tom: The recipe is pretty much lifted from the Happy Herbivore website (all credit to her! -http://happyherbivore.com/recipe/vegan-blackbean-brownies/) but I'm experimenting with a Toffee Apple Fudge brownie so hopefully a different version will be to follow! We won't try to convince you further of pulse-based baking, we are fully converted but if you need more convincing, these brownies will do it by themselves. However, if this is the first pulse-baking recipe you've seen, have a look at the butterbean cookies made previously for more of an explanation of how this type of cooking works. This is vegan and gluten free (as long as you use certified oats).

Ingredients:

1 can of Black Beans (drained and washed thoroughly)
1 Banana
1/3 cup Cocoa
1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Oats
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste (you can use extract, but this has so much a richer and generally better flavour that it's worth investing in a pot, providing you can stop yourself from eating it by the spoonful -  we didn't manage this)
Handful of Cashews

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius
If you have a food processor, chuck everything in a food processor, pulse until mixed and then scrape into a dish and bake
If you don't; blend the beans using a hand blender, then add the rest of the ingredients except for the cashews and then blend until mixed (not smooth)
Scrape into a baking dish and then stud with cashews (if you can blend nuts using your hand blender feel free but we were pretty sure the cheap one we had would break so we left it)
Bake for roughly 20 minutes until a knife or toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean
Cut into six and eat warm or cold

We served ours with alpro soya caramel dessert - a definite winning combination!

Hope you enjoy this recipe, and we will hopefully have a different version up soon! Let us know how youg et on making them at twocooksoneblog@gmail.com

Gluten Free Chocolate Baileys Cake

That's right guys, the highly anticipated full fat chocolate cake post.

I made this to go with my flat christmas dinner. Nobody likes christmas cake, or christmas pudding. Or stollen. Or cheeseboards. Or anything other than chocolate cake, right? I have been waiting for an excuse to make a chocolate cake for ages, because I really can't justify making one for myself, so I figured christmas dinner was the perfect time. I jumped at the chance to make dessert and forced chocolate cake on my flatmates once we'd all already eaten a disgusting amount of food and drank our body weight's in wine. This cake is quite light, and stays fresh for a good few days afterwards. The original recipe contained a teaspoon of xantham gum, but I didn't have any. It would probably improve the texture but it can be made without. Don't ask me for nutritional information, I refuse to acknowledge the fat, sugar or calories in this. It will make me cry. But it's good, and calories don't count in December, so just don't think about it.


200g gluten free flour
2tsp baking powder
200g demerara sugar
175g unsalted butter
4 eggs, beaten
50g cocoa powder
75g ground almonds
1-2tsp vanilla extract
200ml milk
50ml Baileys

For the topping
Some butter
Some icing sugar
Some dark chocolate
Some baileys
Some milk

Heat oven to 180C and grease a cake tin (I used a 20cm one). Sieve the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into one bowl. In another, cream together the butter and sugar (I used an electric hand whisk). Beat the eggs, and gradually add the eggs and vanilla to the butter and sugar mixture. Alternating between a tablespoon of each, fold the flour mixture and milk into the mixture, until you have a smooth mixture. Add the Baileys. Then fold in the ground almonds. By this point, you should have a smooth, chocolately mixture that falls off the spoon. Spoon this into the cake tin, and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes. It may take longer, the original recipe said 50 minutes but mine was definitely ready in 40 so check then and judge by what yours looks like.

Baileys buttercream

Melt about 50g butter with 100g dark (at least 70% cocoa solids) chocolate in a saucepan. Keep the heat low, you don't want it to burn. Add some icing sugar, add some milk, add some Baileys, add some more icing sugar, add some more Baileys....keep going until you have buttercream. I didn't measure quantities, I was drinking wine at the time, sorry. But it doesn't have to be precise. Just keep adding and tasting until it seems right. Once the cake has cooled, pour the buttercream over the cake and leave to set. And there you have it, gluten free chocolate baileys cake. Beautiful.

Look how pretty it looks with cherries on top...

And yeah, I smudged the icing when I put more on top because I'm greedy.

PS - I apologise for the imprecise nature of some of these recipes. Wine takes over...