Monday, January 25, 2010

Clementine-Cranberry Baby Cakes


Here is a recipe that I created based on the Clementine Cake; I did use agave nectar this time as the sweetener and made them in muffin tins. These little cakes have a wonderful fresh fruit taste and fragrance, but are not overly sweet. They're moist, yet firm...not crumbly as many gluten-free, grain-free baked goods can be.

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Grain-Free Clementine-Cranberry Baby Cakes

Ingredients:

Approximately 1 pound of clementines (for me that was 10 tiny clementines)
1 heaping cup fresh or frozen cranberries
6 eggs
1 C minus 2 T agave syrup (1 scant cup agave nectar)
2 C almond flour
1/3 C coconut flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions:

Remove any stem remnant from each clementine if necessary; place whole clementines into a pot with cold water to cover and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low and cover pot, cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Drain the clementines and set aside to cool until you can handle them.

As the clementines cool, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Total bake time is approximately 18 - 22 minutes depending on your oven and how full the muffin cups are.

Grease approximately 20 - 22 muffin cups (if you plan to fill them about 2/3 full).

Coarsely chop the cranberries by hand or in a food processor. Set aside.

When the clementines are cool, cut each one in half and remove the seeds, if any. Squeeze excess water out of each clementine half by hand. Then process them in a food processor until pureed.

Beat the eggs then add the agave nectar. Mix almond flour, and baking powder together in a separate bowl, then add the egg-agave mixture. Mix well, adding the clementine puree after the eggs and agave, and the chopped cranberries last.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pans and bake for 18 - 22 minutes, depending on your oven. The top will yield but rebound when done. It's normal for the sides of the baby cakes to be dark golden brown, but the tops should only have a few brown spots.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan on a rack. These are wonderful right out of the oven, but are even better the next day!



1 comment:

JoAnn said...

Thanks Sophie!

You could try using fewer eggs, and there are egg substitutes out there that might work for some portion of them. I haven't experimented with fewer eggs. Cooking with coconut flour (and almond flour to a lesser degree) frequently requires a lot of eggs because the eggs are the "glue" that bind things together and allow the mixture to rise as it cooks. Nigella Lawson's recipe for clementine cake uses 6 eggs too.