I have been baking for a local fair and as I wanted to include a few gluten free options I decided to buy some pre-blended flour. I will say right now I can’t eat these, but I wanted to share what can be done with this specific flour blend, your millage may vary as blends vary greatly. I’m still not a fan of these flours or their texture, but I understand how useful they can be. These recipes are in no way sponsored or endorsed by Doves Farm, considering I may run them down they might pay me to stop, and they aren’t regular recipes so please understand that I can’t offer much outside of the recipe here, but I wanted to put them up as an example usage of the flour that may be of benefit to a few of my Dear Readers.
This was so impromptu I nearly forgot what went into it.
I don’t know about you, Dear Reader, but this was the standard way cakes and sponges were made when I was growing up, it’s a pretty lazy way to make a cake, but extremely useful as a fast alternative to making it all step by step. It’s not the greatest sponge, but it’s hardly the greatest flour, it’s hard to say what the sponge is, it’s nostalgic, I grew up on these kinds of “cakes” you used what you had and the idea of getting a better recipe or better ingredients was never mentioned. It’s great as a quick cake for an event where they’re being given away or for children that will be so hyper from the icing they won’t care what they’re eating, I didn’t say I disliked them growing up, now, did I, Dear Reader?
I just winged the entire cake.
The chocolate I used is a very sweet salted caramel, now ubiquitous, Dear Reader, unsalted is unheard of, chocolate drink, but the cocoa powder is rather good quality, so there’s no need to add melted chocolate and since I was using up when making this it’d be silly to go too far. As I say you can add whatever you like, this is a leftover ingredient cake, even the icing was made for another sponge, I just added the Cocoa at the end. This one baked faster than the other as it was smaller and because of he extras it has a different texture, it’s a firm sponge, I can’t say anything about the taste, but it’ll be sweet. This is pretty much the standard of blended flour baking, I’ve always been apart from that sphere, Dear Reader, I had to be better to eat, never mind anything else. If you need a quickie cake, this is useful, there are better recipes here, but this will be the fastest. I’m not running the recipe down, I’m just laying it out here without any pretense. I’m not a fan of he flour, but hat doesn’t make it bad. The cake will become more dense as it cools and will be easier to cut, let it cool completely, overnight even, if you need to slice it, Dear Reader, it may crack otherwise. Okay, I’ll be back again soon, these are delayed posts so any discontinuity with he flow of the blog is due to that.
Ingredients
For The Sponge
260g Doves Farm Gluten Free Plain White Flour
180g Caster Sugar
180g Margarine, Softened
2 Eggs
50g Blanched Almonds, Smashed
50g Desiccated Coconut
2 Tbsps Sweetened Cocoa Powder or Drinking Chocolate Mix
1 and 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
For The Icing
200g Icing Sugar
2 Tbsps Sweetened Cocoa Powder or Drinking Chocolate Mix
30g Egg Whites, About 1 Egg
Dash Lemon Juice
Milk Chocolate for Grating
Method
Sponge
1. Pre-heat oven to 200c (Fan) and grease and line a Square Tin.
2. Add everything to a bowl and beat all the ingredients together with an electric mixer until smooth.
3. Scoop mixture into prepared tin, about 3/4 full, and bake for about 20-30 minutes until firm to the touch. Cool in tin for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire-rack to cool completely.
Icing
1. In a clean bowl beat Egg Whites on a slow speed until soft peaks form.
2. Slowly add in the icing sugar 100g at a time and when the Icing starts to thicken increase the speed.
3. When the Sugar has been incorporated completely add in the lemon and beat until a stiff, slightly duller icing has formed. Finally add in the Sweetened Cocoa Powder and mix until completely combined.
4. Spread the Icing onto the cooled sponge and finally grate some Milk Chocolate a top.
Pep's Free From Kitchen 
I can eat baking products with commercial pre-blended mixes, but I stay away from them as their nutritional value is much lower compared to any individual gluten free flour. However I do understand that they are an easy option in busy households and they are particularly handy during the introduction of gluten free way of life. They provide an immediate relief and assure newly diagnosed families that there is life after diagnosis. I personally use them only when there is no other option and the taste and texture will be compromised in pastry or dough without them, at least as a part of the dry ingredients mix. In short I use Well and Good flour mixes, the best in Australian market, Plain flour mix for crepes, paired with buckwheat flour, and Pastry flour mix for ravioli and pasta dough in combination with quinoa, buckwheat and flaxseed flour. It is very generous of you to make recipes and bake with ingredients you can’t consume yourself. Do you take any precautions when using these ingredients in your kitchen to prevent cross contamination?
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I admit I have something of a grudge against these products, I never had the option to use them and because of it I had a much harder and prolonged start on my journey to begin healing. There were some I thought I could use, but they had been setting me back, this was before I realised it was more than gluten that was causing my issues. Still, I wouldn’t like to take the time making these and not share them. I always wash up and I had separate bowls and utensils for these, I even use rubber gloves at times when I’m unsure about the flour. I don’t say it’s guaranteed 100% safe, but at times you have to do all you can and take the slight risk. I ended up making much more than expected, but it turns out the person who was helping had a family emergency so I made all I could and have left the rest of the fair to those involved. I’m happiest in the background, away from the crowds.
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I agree with you, I enjoy baking and giving away, but in my case when I cook for our friend I have to be extra careful for her, as her dietary limitations list is much more severe compared to mine: no grains, even pseudo-grains, starches, no dairy, no sugars. I also have separate utensils set and try to cook and bake in separate goes. Fortunately, after 4 years of healing I can use now buckwheat both in cooking and baking. It is a huge relief for me, as I can venture in wider dry ingredients range. Working just with seeds and nuts as dry ingredients is a serious challenge. But without this challenge many of my good recipes would not have been born. Once again shows that the silver lining, want we that or not, is waiting for us around any dark corner.
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It’s very kind of you to do it for her, she’s very lucky to have someone so considerate in her life. Buckwheat has always been a lifesaver for me, I eat it in pasta, boiled groats, as my main flour and I couldn’t be without it. You’re right about that, if I hadn’t had to work so harder i would never have pushed myself, I’d have never had to worry about creating emergency recipes and would never have learned all that I have.
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