ALT CARROT CAKE

 

No-gluten, sugar-free carrot cake.

I baked a cake to celebrate other birthdays, but a cake of which I, too, with my various dietary restrictions, could partake. Call it “alternative” carrot cake. 

The carrots were real enough. But the batter was made with no-gluten flour and sugar substitutes. Instead of the original recipe’s bland “vegetable oil,” I used extra virgin olive oil. The sugar-free frosting should have been made with no-lactose cream cheese, but I was unable to find it. 

I’ve lived a sugar-free life for 20 years now, ever since I found I was pre-diabetic. No sugar, no honey, no maple syrup, but, yes to all fruits. I’m not pretending that fruit is  calorie-free, but it allows me a little wiggle room when it comes to dessert. 

Sugar is valued in baking for its hygroscopic properties, the ability to attract and hold moisture, as well as for sweetness. I have found that dried fruits such as raisins, prunes, and dates are superb substitutes for sugar. They add volume and keep the cake moist. 

I used dates for my carrot cake and I also added some King Arthur Baking Sugar Alternative, a 0-calorie product from the U.S. (erythritol, corn fiber, cane sugar fiber, monk fruit extract and stevia leaf extract). No-gluten flour is easy to find in supermercados in Spain.  Grated orange or lemon peel complements the fruity flavor of extra virgin olive oil. I also like spices such as ginger and cardamom with olive oil cakes. 

Dates give the cake sweetness. 

Extra virgin olive oil makes a moist, soft-crumbed cake.

Sugar-Free Carrot Cake

Bizcocho de Zanahoria sin Azucar

Serves 8. For a two-layered cake, double the recipe and bake in 2 pans.

1 cup no-gluten flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cardamon

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon salt

½- ¾ cup pitted and chopped dates

¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

Grated orange or lemon peel

2 eggs

¼ cup baking sugar substitute (optional)

1 cup peeled and grated carrots

½ cup chopped walnuts

Frosting, optional (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly oil an 8-inch cake pan and line it with baking parchment.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and salt.

Combine the dates, olive oil, and grated peel in a blender and blend until smooth.

In a mixing bowl beat the eggs with sugar substitute if using. Beat in the oil-date mixture until smooth. Fold in the carrots. Add the dry ingredients gradually and mix until well combined. Add the nuts. Pour into the baking pan. Bake the cake until a skewer comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan 10 minutes. Turn out onto a rack. Remove parchment and let the cake cool completely. Place it on a cake platter. Spread frosting, if desired.

For the frosting:

Use lactose-free cream cheese, if available.

Cream cheese (approx. ½ cup)

Grated orange or lemon peel

Liquid stevia sweetener, to taste

Beat the cream cheese with grated peel until smooth. Add sweetener to taste. Spread on cake. 

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Note: When I am testing recipes for traditional pastries and puddings, such as those that appear in my new cookbook, Flavors of al-Andalus, I use real sugar and honey, not substitutes. Yes, I taste, but I give away the rest. Interestingly, many Spanish "sweets" don't require sugar. An example is the dough for buñuelos, or fritters, that are customarily rolled in sugar after frying. 

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More sugar-free cakes:

Applesauce-Prune Spice Cake.

Apple Cake with Sweet Wine

More gluten-free cakes:

Chocolate-Almond Torte.

Gluten-Free Tea Cakes (Magdalenas)

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Did you know? The Arabs introduced sugar cane and the making of sugar to al-Andalus, the Muslim kingdoms of medieval Spain. Read more about sugar in my new cookbook, Flavors of al-Andalus.

FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS 

The Culinary Legacy of Spain

This new cookbook has lots of recipes for cakes, cookies, and pastries, perfect for upcoming holidays.  Ask for Flavors of al-Andalus from your favorite bookseller or click below to order. 

This cookbook explores the fascinating story of the deep and lasting influences that Islamic culture has left on modern Spanish cooking. 

Author and Spanish cooking expert Janet Mendel tells the story of the Moorish influence on Spanish cooking through 120 recipes and photographs for modern-day dishes, from salads and vegetables to fish, poultry and meat to sweets and pastries, that trace their heritage to foods served in medieval times. Dishes from this era include exotic spices such as saffron, the use of fruits and almonds with savory dishes, and honeyed sweets and pastries. The flavors of al-Andalus live on in modern Spanish cooking and are what makes Spain’s cuisine distinctive from the rest of Europe. (Hippocrene Books)    

 Order on IndiePubs

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***   ***   *** 

BAKING WITH OLIVE OIL, cont.

Non-traditional pineapple upside-down cake--with olive oil and pomegranate.

This week I cooked for a dear friend’s birthday. Her only request was “those spring rolls with mint,” rice paper rolls filled with shrimp, bean sprouts, rice vermicelli and fresh mint with a gingery dipping sauce. I cooked a mild chicken-coconut curry with mango and cashews to follow. And birthday cake, with lots of whipped cream!

A can of pineapple in the cupboard, offloaded from a sailing voyage, inspired me to make an old-fashioned pineapple upside-down cake, such as my mom used to make when I was a kid. Only I customized the original recipe, substituting olive oil for the butter in the cake batter. Olive oil seems to go especially well with fruity flavors, such as pineapple.

My mother’s recipe—I think from The Good Housekeeping Cookbook—called for maraschino cherries to fill the centers of the pineapple rings. There are no maraschino cherries in my pantry, nor even any cranberries, a colorful alternative. I used ruby-red pomegranates, in season now, embedded in the gooey glaze for the punch of color. 

Happy birthday, Charlotte!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake with Olive Oil

Tarta al Revés con Piña

1 (20-ounce) can sliced pineapple

¼ cup butter

½ cup brown sugar

6 walnuts

1 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

Pinch of ground cloves

½ cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 eggs

½ cup pineapple juice

Grated lemon zest

Pomegranate seeds (optional)

Whipped cream to serve

Drain the pineapple, saving the juice.

Lightly grease a 9-inch cake pan.

In a heavy skillet, melt the butter with the brown sugar. Let it cook 2 minutes. Carefully pour the butter-sugar into the cake pan and spread it evenly. Place rings of pineapple in the pan, cutting additional slices to fill in the spaces between rings. (Save any remaining pineapple for another use.) Break the walnuts into pieces and push them in between the pineapple. 

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cloves. 

Combine the sugar and oil in a mixing bowl. Using a mixer, beat the sugar and oil together until light. Add the eggs and beat 2 minutes. Add the dry ingredients alternating with ½ cup of the reserved pineapple juice. Stir in the lemon zest.

Pour the batter over the pineapple in the pan. Bake the cake until a tester comes out clean, about 40 minutes. 

Let the cake set 5 minutes. Have ready a cake platter. While cake is still hot, very carefully (use oven mitts) place the platter on top of the pan and invert the pan, releasing the cake onto the platter. Let it set a minute so all the butter and sugar drains onto the cake. Remove pan. 

If using pomegranate, scatter the seeds over the cake and push them gently into the still-warm topping. 

More recipes for baking with olive oil:

Crispy Olive Oil Cookies (Tortas de Aceite).

Crumbly Olive Oil Cookies (Mantecadas).

Olive Oil Carrot Cake.

Orange-Saffron-Sherry Olive Oil Cake.

Fig Blondies.

Date Bars.

Apple Crumble with Olive Oil.

A COOKIE CONVERSION

I was after a crisp cookie, not overly sweet, sort of like galleta María, the Spanish breakfast cookie. But I wanted to make it vegan, omitting the egg and swapping olive oil for butter. Something was lost in conversion! I wound up with a crumbly cookie, tasty, but no good for dunking in a cup of hot chocolate, coffee or chai.

The results of my galleta experiment remind me of mantecados, typical Christmas cookies, that are usually made with lard. But some variations are made exclusively of olive oil, which probably makes them closer to their origin, Moorish or Sephardic, as, in those cultures, pig fat would have been taboo. 

Not for dunking, my olive oil cookies are soft and crumbly, not crisp. 

 

Chunks of crumbled cookies folded into whipped cream with strawberries--a lovely dessert.

Or, combine the crumbles with heavy cream whipped with chocolate. 

Serve the cookies alongside coffee or tea, with a medium-sweet Sherry or with snifters of brandy or anisette. Save any crumbled ones to crush as a base for custard tarts or cheesecake. Or, fold the crumbs into whipped cream with sliced strawberries. 

Grated lemon zest and cinnamon complement the subtle flavor of olive oil in these cookies. You could also try aniseed, typical in Spanish cookies of this type. Here’s my recipe.

Crumbly Olive Oil Cookies

Mantecados de Aceite de Oliva

Oat flour.

Makes about 40 (2X2 ½ -inch) cookies.

2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

½ cup packed brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

2 ½ cups oat flour

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour + additional to roll out the cookies

¼ cup almond flour (unsweetened)

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Powdered sugar to finish (optional)

In a bowl beat the oil with the two kinds of sugar and the lemon zest. In a mixing bowl, combine the oat flour, all-purpose flour and almond flour with baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir to mix.

Soft cookie dough.

Make a well in the center of the flour ingredients. Pour in the oil and sugar. Mix into the flour to make a soft, smooth dough. Knead briefly to mix completely. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Have ready 2 baking sheets and 2 sheets of baking parchment.

Roll and cut the cookies on baking parchment, then slide the sheet of parchment onto the baking sheet.

Divide the dough in half. Place one sheet of parchment on work surface. Place one half of the dough on it. Sprinkle rolling pin with flour. Roll the dough into a rectangle about ¼ inch thick. Use a pastry wheel or knife to cut into rectangles. Slide the sheet of parchment with the cut dough onto one of the baking sheets. Repeat with the second sheet of parchment.

Place the sheets in the oven and bake 10 minutes. Reverse the position of the baking sheets. Bake 10 minutes longer. Remove the sheets from the oven and place them on racks. Let the cookies cool completely before removing them from the sheets.

Cool cookies before removing them from baking sheet.

Sprinkle the cookies with powdered sugar, if desired. Carefully lift them off the baking sheet and place on a platter. 

To make strawberry or chocolate whip: Crumbled some of the cookies. Chill heavy cream and whip it until stiff. Sweeten to taste with powdered sugar. For the strawberry whip, fold in sliced strawberries, a teaspoon of vanilla extract and a handful of crumbled cookies. For the chocolate whip, whip  the cream with a big spoonful of unsweetened cocoa powder and powdered sugar to taste. Fold crumbled olive oil cookies into the mixture. Spoon into dessert cups and chill.

More cookies with olive oil:

Crispy Olive Oil Cookies (Tortas de Aceite).

Cookies for crumb crust:

Cheese-Custard Tart with Mantecados Crust.

Recipe for Mantecados (with lard) here.  

HOLIDAY BAKING, WITH OLIVE OIL

 

Extra virgin olive oil, for baked goods.

        Did I mention that I came home from the mill with 22 liters of new extra virgin olive oil, the rewards from picking my own olives? I’m using olive oil in my continuing quest to convert old favorite recipes for baked goods from butter and “shortening” to olive oil. That seems especially appropriate this week as it is Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights (Dec. 10-18), when olive oil is part of the celebration. 

     Olive oil—and eating foods cooked with it—is part of the celebration to commemorate the lighting of the menorah in the re-dedicated Temple of Jerusalem in the 2nd Century BC.The olive oil for the menorah, enough for a single day, miraculously lasted for eight days and nights.

     This recipe is for Fig Brownies, a favorite of my friend Charlotte who used to make them for every special occasion. Back in the day (some 30 or 40 years ago), Charlotte had heaps of dried figs every autumn. Her gardener picked the figs from a couple of enormous fig trees near the house. He spread them on thatched mats placed in the sun and elevated to prevent bug infestation. Once they were dry, he packed the figs in seretes, baskets woven of strips of palm fronds, and took them to the press. Once tightly cinched and pressed, the figs kept very well for several months. 

Char used the recipe for Butterscotch Brownies (aka Blondies) in the Joy of Cooking, adding chopped figs to the batter. Adapting the recipe some more, I’ve taken the “butter” out of butterscotch, substituting extra virgin olive oil. These fig brownies with a Spanish accent would be a lovely addition to any holiday—Hanukkah, solstice, Christmas, New Year’s, Three Kings.

Olive oil instead of butter makes a moist and chewy brownie. Like "blondies," these fig "brownies" have no chocolate.

Olive oil lamp--a wick floats in olive oil with water below. 

Fig Brownies
Brownies de Higos Secos (Sin Chocolate)

You will need about 12 ounces dried figs. Remove stems and chop the figs coarsely to make 2 cups. Macerate them in a little sweet wine (I used Pedro Ximénez from Montilla-Moriles) or, if you like the flavor, aguardiente, anisette liqueur.

When baking with olive oil, I like to use spices that might not be used in traditional recipes with butter. Here, I’ve used cardamom and a tiny bit of aniseed. Aniseed, so typical of Spanish sweets, complements the figs beautifully. Cinnamon and nutmeg would be good too, or ginger and allspice. 

These brownies can be eaten out of hand (kids love them) or plated with a dollop of whipped cream, crême fraiche or vanilla ice cream. 

Makes 18 (2 ½-inch squares).

2 cups chopped dried figs

¼ cup dried cranberries (optional)

3 tablespoons sweet PX wine

1 ¼ cups flour

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

2-3 aniseeds, crushed

½ cup extra virgin olive oil + more to oil the baking pan

1 ½ cups light brown sugar

3 eggs

¾ cup chopped nuts

Combine the chopped figs and cranberries in a small bowl. Add the sweet wine and allow to macerate for at least 10 minutes or up to 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Oil a rectangular baking pan (approximately 8 X 13 inches) and line it with baking parchment.

Sift the flour with the baking powder, soda and salt. Add the cardamom and aniseed to the flour.

In a mixing bowl, beat the oil with the brown sugar until well combined. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the flour mixture until batter is completely smooth. Fold in the figs and cranberries. Fold in the nuts.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a tester comes out clean, 30-35 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Loosen the edges of the brownies and turn them out on a work surface. Peel off the parchment. Use a serrated knife to cut into (approx. 2 ½-inch) squares.  Brownies keep up to a week in an air-tight container.

More recipes for baking with olive oil:

Apple-Almond Olive Oil Crumble.

Orange-Saffron Olive Oil Cake.

Olive Oil Carrot Cake.

Pear Cake with Olive Oil.

Almond Torte.

Crispy Olive Oil Cookies.

Date-Nut Bars.

Fig Pudding.

Olive Oil Pie Crust.

3 versions olive oil pastry dough.

Banana bread with olive oil: 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 3 large ripe mashed bananas,  2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt,  1 cup chopped nuts. Beat oil and sugar. Beat in eggs, then mashed bananas. Stir in dry ingredients and nuts. Bake at 350ºF. 

Peanut butter cookies with olive oil: Beat 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil with 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Beat in 2 eggs. Add 3 cups flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Blend in peanut butter. Form balls, press onto baking sheet. Bake 400ºF. 5-10 minutes.