Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Gluten free rice flour cake or Torta di riso




Before I start my customary monologue about unimportant things that may or may not entertain you, I just wanted to inform you of my new slight obsession, after Twitter, with Instagram these days. I also just created a Facebook page (after several attempts - I may not be that tech savvy but starting a page whilst trying to keep your personal profile... well, personal, is not so easy) that I am still sort of wondering what to do with... My point being, you can find me and hang out with me on all three searching for Nuts about food (or nutsaboutfood).

Anyhow...back to what I was going to say...



We all have some big retail mistake hiding in our closets/apartments/garages/attics/basements. That pair of shoes you love and spent a fortune for but that hurt just looking at them. That sweater that looked original and quirky in a good way at the store but that just makes you look plain ridiculous whenever you try it on at home. That thing-a-ma-jig that tells you how far you have run, how many calories you have burned and files you nails at the same time that is sitting at the back of your drawer, still wrapped in plastic. The rowing machine. The collection of 16th century poetry the New York Times wrote up six years ago that you wouldn’t have read even if you didn’t have the excuse of being a new mom.





My latest mistake was a 500gr pack of rice flour. Sure, I am aware there is a big difference between a $300,00 pair of shoes and a $3,00 pack of flour. But I don’t like wasting food and I don’t have another inch of room in my cupboards.

I was dreaming of stacks of rice cookies and goodies, not just because they are a healthy and gluten-free option, but because I love baked goods with rice in them. However, once I started searching on the Internet I realized that: a) most baked goods that contain rice flour only have a couple of tablespoons in them; 2) you need glutinous or sweet rice to make those yummy sounding Asian rice-based desserts.




I looked and looked and could not find a single recipe that had a large quantity of rice flour in it (that wasn’t for noodles or some sort of pancake/wrap).
Until I came across this little gem. It is definitely what I would call breakfast cake. It is simple, it has an interesting crumb (and I don’t mean interesting as in bad or weird, just more crumbly than moist) and is perfect to dunk into a glass of cold milk, to spread with some jam or honey or just on its own. It has just a handful of ingredients, it is the kind of cake you feel good serving your kids. And yes, it is gluten free.




What are your retail disasters? And do you have any interesting recipes with rice flour to suggest? I still have 275gr of it lying around...

Ingredients
 4 eggs
200gr sugar
225gr rice flour
225gr potato starch/flour
140gr butter, melted and cooled
1 sachet (16gr) baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract (the Italian recipe suggested 1 sachet vanilla sugar)

Preheat oven to 170°C/350°F. Grease a Turk’s head mold.
Start melting the butter and let cool.
Beat the sugar and eggs in a bowl until well combined.
Mix together the two kinds of flour and baking powder and then start adding to the egg mix a little at a time. Finally, add in the butter and vanilla extract.
Pour the batter into the mold and bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry. Let cool a little and unmold.
Dust with icing sugar if you are so inclined.





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55 comments:

  1. That cake looks amazing! It really looks like the perfect breakfast cake.

    I have shoes and dresses I have never used. On the food department chickpea flour and semolina are lying unused in my cupboard....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I made both the chickpea flour and the semolina mistakes myself... and the shoes of course...

      Delete
    2. you can make steamed savoury cakes with chickpea flour. look for 'dhokla' on the web

      Delete
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  2. Awesome recipe..I would love to try it..

    Aarthi
    http://yummytummy-aarthi.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Grazie per il link e grazie per avermi scritto in italiano.
    La tua torta è molto bella. Sto usando il traduttore adesso.
    In Italia le bustine di lievito sono di 16 grammi e nella ricetta originale era messa la parte gialla, la buccia del limone grattugiata non l'estratto di vaniglia. Noi usiamo molto la scorza del limone. Un abbraccio

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  4. Grazie a te x la ricetta. L'ho adattata al mio gusto perche' non sono un'amante della scorza di limone nei dolci... Nel salato invece mi piace! Hai proprio ragione...la bustina che ho a casa e' di 16gr...quando ho scritto la ricetta non ce l'avevo a portata di mano e i 7gr li ho trovati su internet. Grazie, vado a correggere subito!

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  5. That looks like a work of art!!! So pretty. I would shamelessly eat it in a bowl, covered in milk. I just did that with my coffee cake. Yes, shameless!!
    Retail disasters? I have way fewer now that I basically never shop....but I still have a few armani suits I will probably never wear again, and that makes me sad, along with the pair of Manolo Blahniks...but you know what? It's all good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, one day those will be vintage and you won't be running around with a toddler anymore...who knows?

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  6. Parli troppo bene l'italiano. Sei italiana? Approfitterò di te per qualche traduzione. Intanto mi segno fra i tuoi followers. Ciao

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  7. Aaaand I'm adding you on e twitters and e Instagramz.

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  8. Da provare ... sorry I can't help you ... I too fall back on pasta recipes when I think of rice flour ...

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    Replies
    1. Hi J! Am curious to hear about them anyway (even thought I was looking for a dessert at the time): what do you make? Noodles?

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  9. The crumb looks really nice. I did the same mistake with rice flour: I ended up throwing most of it away when I moved. You should explore the pancake option: that's the way I used most of it. It is also very good for dusting before frying and for thickening liquids .. but you use a tablespoon or two at most.

    I love buying posters and pictures, but I never get around hanging them. I really should.. And yes, really high heeled shoes are a weakness of mine, as well as nail enamel - I never can commit to those five minutes drying time!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was fixated on making a dessert that day, but I think pnacakes are a good option too. I know it is good for thickening but I didn't think about coating for frying. Thanks!
      I do the same with make up: I like buying pretty, sparkly stuff but never use it in the end.

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  10. I know the feeling! I have so many weird and wonderful ingredients in my baking cupboard (which is pretty much exploding it's so full) - some of which I've only used a couple of times. Am intrigued as to what else you can make with rice flour now...going to google recipes!

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  11. I think rice flour is used in tempura batter so you have that option! It's also used a lot in Indian/Bangladeshi/Pakistani cooking so you might want to look up some of those recipes as well.

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  12. If this cakes tastes half as good as it looks, it's a winner. Lovely blog.

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  13. ...mmhhhh devo provare a chiedere alle mie cugine che sono celiache e probabilmente hanno un'idea di come usare la farina di riso....Baci

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  14. Haha so many retail disasters I cannot tell you! :P I wish it were just a packet of rice flour. I had a terrible habit of buying things in every colour available. And then I'd only wear the colour I liked most. There's no sense in that! :P

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    Replies
    1. I do that, but only when I really like something so I end up using most colours. Although there is a definite preference towards the usual two or three!

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  15. That looks and sounds AMAZING. I really, really love baking with rice flour, though most desserts I eat with rice flour is Asian steamed kind. I love the tight-crumbed texture of rice flour.

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  16. This cake looks wonderful! In Lebanon (and the Levant in general) the use of rice flour is common to thicken puddings; I have used it for the puddings as well as a cookie recipe.
    http://www.tasteofbeirut.com/2011/02/rice-flour-cookies/

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  17. Questa torta ha un aspetto magnifico... mi piacciono le ricette semplici, spesso sono le migliori!

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  18. Love it. My husband can't eat wheat, and I'm trying to get my littlest son off gluten too, so will give it a go. Think I'm going to try it with half the sugar. I'll let you know how it goes!

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  19. Wow. This cake looks gorgeous! I've been looking for a good gluten free cake recipe. I will definitely have to give this one a try.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Russel, thank you. It is simple but good, the perfect breakfast cake.

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    2. Nuts about food:
      I have been absent for some time due to work needs.
      I missed your blog, your recipes and your stories.
      now I am back and reading all that I have missed.
      I have been on a gluten free diet for a while now, slowly going back to a moderate and occasional use of wheat, this is going to be great to break the horrible acidic rye breads and stoney and ugly store bought gluten free breads... Thank you!!!!
      Rosequist

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    3. Hi Rosequist, glad you are back and so happy you enjoy reading this little blog of mine. Also, so nice you can move back to using some wheat, it is no nice to be able to eat a little of everything.

      Delete
  20. Thank you for this recipe! I bought 2 kg of rice flour and have had exactly the same problem! I'm going to be giving this a go for sure. I've also found semolina difficult to use up but then discovered basboosa. Delicious!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Lauren, thanks for the basboosa tip. Can I find the recipe on your blog?

      Delete
  21. I tried your recipe today, but to me it seems like the amount of 500gr starch and rice flour (in total) is too much for that little bit of liquid ingredients (4 eggs+ 140gr melted butter). When I tried your recipe, the dough was so dry that I had to add a few tablespoons of milk to get a somewhat chewy dough. As well, because there was so little moisture in it, the cake was ready after 15 Minutes already. Are you sure your recipe states the corrects amounts?!

    Best,
    Johannes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Johannes, I am sorry the recipe didn't work for you. I would be lying if I told you I have made this recipe recently , because I only ever looked for it to use up a bag of rice flour I had lying around. So honestly, I cannot promise the amounts are correct and I don't remember what the batter was like, although I probably would have mentioned it in my post if I had found it hard to work with. I did however go and check the original recipe before answering you and the amounts are the same as the ones I posted, so I imagine they are correct. The original author of the recipe made a note that the batter tends to dry out quickly, so perhaps you let it stand for a while? I am sorry I can't be of much help. I will try making it again sometime to see how it turns out. I do remember however, and mentioned above, that the crumb was quite crumbly as opposed to moist. But in a good, dunk-in-a-glass-of-milk kinda way. Sorry again that it didn't work out for you and that I can't help you more as so much time has passed.

      Delete
  22. I was searching for a cake that used rice flour (not sweet rice flour). I too had a hard time finding anything. This is an awesome cake. I had to convert to US measurement and it worked wonderfully! Lightly sweet and delicately dense. A little dry, so maybe pour a little liqueur over it next time. But it was great. Thank you for posting it. My husband and I enjoyed it very much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Claire, glad you liked the cake (and that it worked for you - see comment above). I agree, the crumb is on the dry side, which is why I suggest eating it with a big glass of milk or as a breakfast cake to spread with something. I love your liquer idea for a more sophisticated, dessert like version.

      Delete
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