Dairy free Quiche or Gingerbread?

Question of the day, Dairy free Quiche or Gingerbread cake?

Not what most people would think of first thing in the morning, then again I always joke that my brain is wired differently.  Which is why this was my first thought when I got out of bed this morning.

Wednesday is supposed to be a relaxation day for me, as I do work experience on Tues and Thurs at the Pantry.  I love being there, but the travelling is hard going.  I'm not great on buses at the best of times and having to take 2 for a single journey is stressful. Having a day's off between really helps.  

So when i want to relax, I bake.......

I didn't want to go to the shops, so it had to be something I could make from things i could find in my cupboards and fridge.  The Gingerbread cake won. 

I'd helped make a normal one at the Pantry yesterday.  With many cakes they are best eaten on the day there baked or soon after.  Fully iced cakes will last longer.  However gingerbread cake is one of those rare recipes.   The longer you leave it in( an air tight container),  the more the flavours will develop.   It also  becomes more sticky and moist. 

I spent last night on the Internet doing some research to find a dairy & egg free version. I found one on Fuss Free Flavours   being me I did tinker with the recipe a little bit.  I didn't have treacle, so used golden syrup instead.  I also had 1/2 pint of my dad's Craft ale Just Jade left in the fridge.  The recipe calls for boiling water, so why not use beer instead? 

I placed the spice, sugar and Syrup in a pan with the Dark real Ale, on a low heat allowing the sugar and syrup to dissolve.  This is a very thin runny batter, so is easy to mix by hand with out using any kitchen toys. 

Mix the oil with the Dark ale, then pour into a bowl over your flour, baking powder and salt.

Mix till the batters smooth and pour into a cake tin.  Instead of making a sheet cake, i divided the batter between 2 round cake tins.  Iv made this type of cake batter before and it's best cooked at a low temperature.  I checked one of my Mary Berry cook books and she agreed.  If It its good enough for Mary......

I cooked both cakes in the oven at 160 Celsius for 50 minutes. 

Allow them to cool for 10 minutes in there tin, before moving to a wire rack to cool.

Making 2 cakes means I can sandwich them together with dairy free butter cream. 

If your baking for a fund raising bake sale, make a sheet cake instead and spread the dairy free butter cream on top once totally cooled. 

TOP TIP:

When weighting out cooking oil and syrup for a recipe use the same container.  Weighting out the oil first and then the syrup, makes it easier to pour out of the container and in too your batter.

Thin batters don't rise that much, it may even shrink back once it cools.  Don't worry this is normal. 

Unusual kitchen tools. 

- I always have a ruler and pencil around when I'm baking.  A ruler can help you get the right thickness of cookie or help roll out the correct thickness of pastry. 

- I use a pencil when writing an adjustment to a recipe, in case I don't remember what Iv done.

 -Today I used it to draw round my cake tins onto greaseproof paper, so they would fit perfectly.  Oil or greasing the bottom of the tin before placing the paper in will stop it from slipping when you pour your batter in.  Remember which side you drew  on and make sure it's face down in your cake tin, so it doesn't touch your cake batter.

- Tooth picks or cocktail sticks become a handy tools for checking to see if cakes are ready.   For Dairy and egg free cakes it's best to carefully test while there still in the oven. As these type of cakes are more prone to sink if removed too soon. 

Taking this one along to the book club next wednesday so here's hoping the girls like it xxx