This is another recipe I’m putting online because friends ask me for it so often. 🙂
Here’s an easy, delicious way to use extra fruits and veggies you have on hand and create a fabulous gluten free treat at the same time. Every time we make it, it has a different flavor since we use different combinations of fruits, veggies and spices. You can make blueberry snack cake with some added lemon zest, use some chopped rhubarb from the garden along with a cup of mashed banana that needs to be used up, use fresh foraged fruits like mulberries or pawpaws, the sky is the limit!My kids have loved this recipe since before we went gluten free, so I adapted it to work with gluten free flours. I have shared the recipe with many friends over the years who say that it’s become a well-loved recipe in their families, too. If you’re not gluten free, it works wonderfully with regular wheat flour.
Mix and Match Snack Cake (gluten free)
Ingredients
- 3 cups gluten free flour with xanthan gum see notes below for my easy homemade mix
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 TBS cinnamon, heaping can substitute combinations of other spices like ginger, nutmeg, cloves and pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup oil or half oil, half applesauce
- 2 cups sugar can be reduced, especially if using sweet add-ins
- 2 cups mix and match add-ins see list below
- 1 cup chopped nuts or seeds optional
Instructions
- Sift together dry ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, beat eggs, oil and sugar, then stir in your mix and match options.
- Add dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in nuts, if using.
- Spoon into well-greased 9x13 pan.
- Bake at 325 for 45 minutes to 1 hour (wetter items will take more time), or until the top springs back when lightly pressed or a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Notes
Mix and match options
(one or more of the following to equal 2 cups) Apples (grated or chopped),
Applesauce,
Apricots (chopped),
Bananas (mashed),
Berries,
Carrots (cooked and mashed, or grated),
Cherries,
Cranberries (raw, chopped),
Dates or figs (pitted and finely chopped),
Marmalade (omit one cup of sugar),
Mincemeat,
Oranges (chopped), Pawpaws (pulp), Peaches (chopped),
Pears (chopped or sauce),
Pineapple (finely chopped), Plums (chopped),
Prunes (chopped),
Pumpkin, (canned puree or cooked and mashed),
Raisins,
Rhubarb (finely chopped),
Squash (cooked and mashed),
Strawberries (chopped),
Sweet potato or yams (cooked and mashed, or grated),
Zucchini (grated and well drained)
(one or more of the following to equal 2 cups) Apples (grated or chopped),
Applesauce,
Apricots (chopped),
Bananas (mashed),
Berries,
Carrots (cooked and mashed, or grated),
Cherries,
Cranberries (raw, chopped),
Dates or figs (pitted and finely chopped),
Marmalade (omit one cup of sugar),
Mincemeat,
Oranges (chopped), Pawpaws (pulp), Peaches (chopped),
Pears (chopped or sauce),
Pineapple (finely chopped), Plums (chopped),
Prunes (chopped),
Pumpkin, (canned puree or cooked and mashed),
Raisins,
Rhubarb (finely chopped),
Squash (cooked and mashed),
Strawberries (chopped),
Sweet potato or yams (cooked and mashed, or grated),
Zucchini (grated and well drained)
Mix and match options
(one or more of the following to equal 2 cups)
- Apples, grated or chopped
- Applesauce
- Apricots (chopped)
- Bananas (mashed)
- Berries
- Carrots (cooked and mashed, or grated)
- Cherries
- Cranberries (raw, chopped)
- Dates or figs (pitted and finely chopped)
- Marmalade (omit one cup sugar)
- Mincemeat
- Oranges (chopped)
- Pawpaws (pulp)
- Peaches (chopped)
- Pears (chopped, or as sauce)
- Pineapple (finely chopped)
- Plums (chopped)
- Prunes (chopped)
- Pumpkin, (canned puree or cooked and mashed)
- Raisins
- Rhubarb, finely chopped
- Squash (cooked and mashed)
- Strawberries (chopped and well drained if frozen)
- Sweet potato or yams (cooked and mashed, or grated)
- Zucchini (grated and well drained)
To make your own mix and match gluten free flour mix:
I have several recipes that I use in our kitchen, depending on what flours I have on hand and what recipes I’m making. One all-purpose substitute is this one from livingwithout.com:
Here’s a working formula for a healthy all-purpose flour blend: 1½ cups power flour (amaranth, buckwheat, chickpea, millet, quinoa, sorghum) 1 cup neutral flour (white rice, brown rice flour, corn flour) 1 cup starch (tapioca, corn, potato) ½ cup alternate starch (one not used above)
I tend to simply use the formula of 60% protein flours (such as sorghum, brown or white rice, millet, teff and amaranth flours) with 40% starches (such as potato, tapioca or corn starch). Bean flours and nut flours count as proteins, but use them sparingly so as not to overwhelm your recipe, texture or flavors. I try to use several types of flours and starches each time, with all-purpose flours like sorghum and rice flour for a good chunk of the proteins when I’m doing cakes and muffins. Sorghum gives excellent results in baking, making it wonderful for quick breads, while grains like millet and amaranth are heavier but perform better in recipes like cinnamon rolls where sorghum tends to fall apart.
When making your own mix for quick breads and snack cakes, no matter which combination you use, add 3/4 tsp of xanthan gum or guar gum per one cup of flour.
For this recipe, that means approximately 2 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum. I have also used guar gum in this recipe, at the same amount.
Favorite flavors and combinations here include:
- pumpkin (with pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon)
- strawberry-rhubarb (you can play with spices like lemon zest and ginger with this one)
- carrot cake or carrot-pineapple (pumpkin pie spice is nice here, too)
- tropical (pineapple with other add-ins like coconut, banana and mango, with spices like ginger)
- zucchini-apple
- cranberry-banana
Encourage the kids to help you come up with funcombinations and match the best spices to each batch, too.
This makes a wonderful breakfast cake, snack or dessert. It never lasts long here.
