A former Las Vegas restaurant manager
A wife that cooks gluten-free specifically for her husband (you can meet her here)
An oil worker, his wife and their 4 year old daughter - all three are novices to baking and completely unaware of the gluten free world. The picky 4 year old was just a bonus for me to taste the flavors. I mean...if a kiddo won't eat it, why bake it?And a plethora of ages, genders, so on and so forth of people.
I admit it, readers - I was incredibly nervous. With confidence in my two recipes - my pumpkin and my chocolate cupcakes, I also tested out two other recipes that I was very unsure of. I'm a perfectionist and sometimes a bit too hard on myself, but I figured I'd throw caution to the wind.
One of my dear friends managed to snap a picture of our spread since I had completely forgotten to do that. Fortunately, she let me steal the picture and put it up here:
From top to bottom are our new chocolate chip cookies (these had caramels), my chocolate cupcake turned brownie disaster (I'll get to THAT story momentarily), and our chocolate cupcakes. The pumpkin ones were not quite ready to put out yet. We sprinkled the cupcakes with blue sprinkles since we were also revealing our baby's gender to our friends that day. (Hint...it's not a girl....)
The results came back overwhelmingly positive. Sparkles' hubby later arrived and snarfed at least two or three of each cupcake and told me that it was so nice to be able to trust a baker when they say 'yes, these really are gluten-free'. One of the issues I run into when going to bakeries is that while they offer a gluten free cupcake, it is an 'option' and baked on the same machinery that the other items are baked on. This = cross-contamination...and that's not good for those of us that are super sensitive.
The critiques were mostly on our frosting flavorings - the pumpkin pie cupcake's whipped cream could have been slightly sweeter (I agreed) and the brownie's cream cheese frosting needed a touch more vanilla...or better yet - change it to buttercream. Unfortunately my marshmallow topping for my hot cocoa cupcakes didn't set well, but my photographer of the day found the batch in my fridge and ate it with a spoon. I hear it was still delicious. I promised her that next time we would serve it and that I would pay better attention when making it. There was also one comment on adding a bit more spice to our pumpkin cupcake.
The compliments - readers, I hope you're as excited as I am about this - none of our items contained any of that 'grit' that you feel when eating a gluten free sweet. You know what I'm talking about...the dry, chug a gallon of milk to swallow, sandy feeling in your teeth you get when eating something gluten free? Gone. We have officially mastered the texture of a regular cupcake, all without sacrificing taste, density, and moistness that is known in the cupcake. Even our cookies provided a bit of crunch and chew in them, so both sides of the cookie debate were satisfied. I am pleased as punch!
Our next tasting will be held in late January/early February. We are offering the hot cocoa cupcake with its marshmallow topping, and I'm currently testing a few other recipes in my kitchen. I promise there will be better pictures next time!
So...let's talk about the brownies before we close out this post.
A few weeks ago I found a gorgeous chocolate cake recipe that I knew I could easily convert and reproduce with my own spin on things. We don't believe in copying other baker's recipes and using them as our own here at The Gluteny Bakery, kids. We start with a base and off we go!
And off I went. And here's what I got:
I had a George Takei moment - "Oh my..." but pulled off the good parts and tasted my creation.
Heaven help me, these were the most amazing brownies ever! There was no way I could put this into a cupcake tin and serve it. This batter needed to be formed into a cakey, gooey brownie that you dunk in a glass of milk and stuff your face with.
But the same thing happened in the brownie attempt (I was too angry to take a picture at this point) when the brownies completely caved in on themselves, so I scrapped the whole project for the night.
The next morning I researched my issue with my falling brownies and had no luck. In gluten free baking, the rules change, so what might be a mixing issue to you could have been a flour issue for me. So...I asked around. I contacted a gluten free bakery up north with my recipe and told them my exact process. I also asked a popular gluten free blogger for her thoughts. The first bakery read my message but did not reply. The blogger? She told me she didn't bother 'with other people's recipes'. I was obviously on my own. Frustrated, I went head first back into the batter on Saturday morning, with lots of minor changes that I was unsure would make a difference. And guess what happened?
You guessed it....we had brownies. Chewy brownies with a light and sweet crust soon entered my kitchen from my oven. I experimented with different densities - a lighter, thinner brownie and a cakier (I have an English and Writing degree and today "cakier" is most definitely a word) brownie. Both were equally delicious, though I wasn't as stuffed after the thinner brownie.
So what did I do? Well....
- I purchased fresh baking soda and baking powder.
- I gently whisked my eggs before adding them to the batter.
- I reduced the amount of baking soda.
- I changed my flour brands.
- I hand mixed the entire way.
Plus I did a few other things, but you'll just have to taste them and guess what I did.
We are still working hard at our logo, new site, Facebook page, and a new recipe. However, Kevin and I are both a little 'cupcaked-out' this week and are instead enjoying this lovely Fall weather. Oh...and I have to plan my menu for Thanksgiving. Did I mention that I'm hosting 19 people in my house? Off to Costco for 15 pounds of potatoes!
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