Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Healthy Wheat-free Pumpkin Cakes

These super-moist, healthy pumpkin cakes will be sure to please your kids! They are wheat-free, refined sugar-free, and yet they still manage to fill the kitchen with the delightful scent of autumn baking, and to satisfy tummies with the pleasant pumpkin taste that goes with the season. My kids enjoy turning their cakes into jack-o-lanterns by adding chocolate chips.



Healthy Wheat-free Pumpkin Cakes

4 eggs
1/3 c. agave nectar
1/4 tsp. stevia powder

1 c. extra virgin coconut oil
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree
2 cups barley flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
** grain-sweetened chocolate chips (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, mix the eggs, agave, stevia, oil and pumpkin with a mixer until well-blended. Slowly add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, stirring until thoroughly combined.

Spread the batter evenly into a large ungreased baking pan (I use a
15-inch x 10-inch x 2-inch Pyrex baking dish, but two smaller dishes could also be used).

Bake for 25 minutes. Cool, then use pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter to cut pumpkin cakes. Add grain-sweetened chocolate chips for jack-o-lantern faces.

Note: These can also be cut into bars and/or topped with a cream cheese frosting (try tinting yours with some natural orange food coloring).


3 comments:

Unknown said...

I know gluten free can taste good if you do it the right way. But I want to talk about barley. Everytime I bought a bag of Quaker Oats, 10 Minute Barley for soup I placed the left overs in a nice Zip Lock bag along with the back of the box for directions. So I go back in the cupboard for the barley to make soup with again, say 6 months later. and what do i find? But thousands/millions? of minute tiny bugs crawling amongst the barley. half the bag is full of tiny tan colored bug poop and millions of moving bugs! Ewww!(Frass) This has happened to me numerous times and I decided that since I don't have any other buggy flours, or Bisquick, it must be the bug eggs come from the Quaker Oats Manufacturing Co.. I refuse to buy barley anymore.. I'm just afraid of the bugs.

Unknown said...

Thanks to my mother (The Baking Powder Hater) I too hate the bitter taste of baking powder in my cakes and cookies. Instead I use only baking soda in my cookies and cakes, plus buttermilk or some other acidic reactor for the b. soda to leaven the cakes.

Kid Feed Mommy said...

Oh, Lorraine, your experience with bugs in your barley flour made me shudder! I don't blame you for not wanting to use it anymore! Did you ever complain to the company?

I buy my barley flour through Azure Standard and have been pleased with the quality and flavor of the product. I've also occasionally used Arrowhead Mills brand without incident.

Thanks for the tip about baking soda and buttermilk for baked goods!

Merry Christmas!