Occasionally Cake

During a visit into Old Town, a friend and I were on a mission to find Gluten Free cupcakes at one of the (seemingly) many cupcakaries in the area.  After all, we'd had a wonderful dinner and it was time to finish the night off with a little dessert.

As we strolled down King Street, we happen about a cute shop called Occasionally Cake (http://occasionallycake.com/Site/Occasionally_Cake/Home.html).  Very quaint and the lady running the shop was super nice as well as helpful.

They had one Gluten Free option: Chocolate with Strawberry Buttercream icing.  It was so moist and delicious!

The Upside:

• Cupcake was really moist
• Frosting actually bits of strawberries in it (yum!)
• They use rice flour to make their cupcakes.

The Downside:

• The gluten free cupcakes are 'petite' in comparison to normal cupcakes.  Which isn't necessarily bad,since sometimes you just want a *little* treat, however..
• These petite goodies go for $3.25/piece. 
• Was told the daily flavors were provide on their Facebook page, which is partially true.  The regular flavors are listed both on Facebook page and on their website, but Gluten Free not listed anywhere. Bummer..even if only one or two options are offered, it is still nice to know they exist.

Final:  Would definitely visit them again, but at $3.25 for a petite cupcake, it won't happen often.

Pamela's Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Not sure about everyone else, but I like to know what I am buying (Is it any good? Does it work?) So since becoming Gluten Free, I have relied on reviews and recommendations of others for products I know nothing about.

But it's been hard to find reviews and GF is expensive.  I hate spending money on something that is just going to be thrown away.  Hence, one of the reasons I started this blog.. not only in case others happen upon it and can find it useful, but also for me to keep track of what I have tried and liked.

During a recent grocery store run, I found Pamela's Chocolate Chunk Cookie mix (http://www.pamelasproducts.com/product/Pamelas_Chocolate_Chunk_Cookies_Mix/13196.aspx) and since I was needing a dessert for an upcoming movie night, I figured they were worth a shot (as a side note, I had tried other products by Pamela's and really liked so I knew chances of it being awful were fairly slim).

The mix was easy to make and the end result was just as I expected - delicious!  No offense to Pamela's, but the deliciousness doesn't quite make up being able to whip up something from scratch.. but it comes close. And even my non-GF friends really enjoyed them. :)

Strawberry Cupcakes

One of the things I have missed the most since transitioning over to GF is the baking.. it was my "therapy". Any time I needed some stress relief, I would bake (which always made my co-workers and neighbors very happy).


But now baking entails googling GF baked goods and scouring magazines, books and blogs for ideas instead of the good ol' days when I could just choose any recipe and make it.  Nope, gluten free means having to weigh flours and add other things I have never heard of  before like arrowroot and agave syrup.


So my to get back into the groove of baking my first post will be:

Strawberry Cupcakes

(from Delight, Fall 2011)

Yields: 8

1/2 C. coconut flour

1 Tbsp. arrowroot powder* 

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

4 large eggs

1/4 C. agave nectar

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

1/2 C. finely chopped strawberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line 8 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, arrowroot powder, salt, and baking soda.  In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, agave nectar, and vanilla.
3. Blend wet ingredients into flour mixture with handheld mixture until thoroughly combined, then fold in strawberries.
4. Scoop 1/4 cup of batter into each muffin cup and bake for 20-25 minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean). Let the cupcakes cool for one hour, then frost and serve.

*Tip: While searching for arrowroot powder, I kept finding it in huge quantities, which I certainly didn't need. So after a final stop to my local health food store, I found they had jars of specific powders, etc and she scooped out 1/4 cup of it, weighed it and sold to me that way.  Cost me less than $1 for that 1/4 cup instead of  over $10 for huge bag.