Gluten Free Sour Cream Coffee Cake

I keep trying to create gluten free recipes for my daughter, Spunky. It’s not always easy though. Especially with baked goods. You usually have to use 2 or 3 different non-wheat flours, and add specialty ingredients like xanthan gum, guar gum, gelatin, or agar-agar. And some things just don’t turn out right when you try to convert them using commercial gluten free flours.

That’s why I was so happy to discover Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour at my local grocery store. My sour cream coffee cake turned out great with it! It really took the guesswork out of converting an old family favorite into a gluten free recipe. I decided to research and learned that there are other brands of cup-for-cup flour replacements out there like King Arthur Flour’s Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour, or Cup4Cup Gluten Free Multipurpose Flour, but since Bob’s Red Mill is what my local grocery store carries, that’s what I used for this recipe. I’ll have to experiment and test the other brands someday. If you have a favorite cup-for-cup gluten free replacement flour, feel free to try it out with this recipe and then let me know how it turned out.

GLUTEN FREE SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE

• 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill gluten free 1-to-1 baking flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cups butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sour cream

Streusel

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 10-inch tube pan or angel food cake pan.
2. Mix streusel ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.
3. In another bowl, stir flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.
4. With an electric mixer, cream together butter, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy.
5. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6. Beat in flour mixture alternately with sour cream.
7. Spread half the batter in the pan, then sprinkle half the streusel over it. Top with the rest of the batter, and finish with the remaining streusel.
8. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
9. Cool cake in pan for 10-15 minutes, then loosen from sides of pan with a knife.
10. Remove cake from pan and place topping side up on a serving plate.

NOTES:

• You can substitute buttermilk or yogurt in place of the sour cream in this recipe.
• This cake can be made in a 9×13-inch rectangular baking pan. If you prefer to use a 9×13-inch pan, I would just pour all the batter into the pan and then sprinkle all the streusel on top. It’s a pain to make the layers, though it can certainly be done. Just bear in mind that you’ll have to spread the batter really thinly if you want layers.

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Tiramisu

Tiramisu is a very popular Italian dessert. It’s not a very old recipe. In fact, it’s said to have been created in the 1960s. These days, you can find it offered in practically every Italian restaurant all over the world. Tiramisu is typically made with mascarpone cheese, eggs, sugar, and ladyfingers that have been dipped in espresso. It’s rich and creamy and so delicious that you’ll be tempted to have a second and a third piece!

Mascarpone cheese is pretty easy to find nowadays, but if you can’t get it in your local grocery store, you can substitute 1 box (8 ozs.) of cream cheese, blended with ¼ cup whipping cream and 2 tablespoons butter. (You would have to double that for this recipe.)

TIRAMISU

• 2 cups boiling-hot water
• 3 Tbsp. instant espresso powder
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 3 Tbsp. coffee liqueur, like Tia Maria or Kahlua
• 6 large egg yolks
• ¾ cup sugar
• 16 ozs. mascarpone cheese
• 1 cup chilled heavy cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 24 to 46 ladyfingers or savoiardi cookies (depending on how big your cookies are)
• unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting

1. Stir together water, espresso powder, 2 tablespoons sugar, and coffee liqueur in a  shallow bowl or pie plate until sugar has dissolved, then set aside to cool.
2. Using a wire whisk or hand mixer, beat egg yolks and ¾ cup sugar together in a double boiler set over gently simmering water until tripled in volume, about 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat.
4. Add the mascarpone and beat until well incorporated, 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Cover and place in refrigerator while you prepare the vanilla cream.
6. In another bowl, beat cream until stiff peaks form, then beat in vanilla.
7. Gently fold one-third vanilla cream into mascarpone mixture to lighten it.
8. Then gently fold in remaining cream until thoroughly combined, taking care not to deflate the cream. Mixture will look lumpy. I have no idea why it does that. Don’t worry about it. It’ll still taste good.
9. Quickly dunk each ladyfinger in the cooled coffee until the coffee soaks about halfway through, leaving the center of the cookie dry (you can break one in half to check). Don’t get the ladyfingers completely saturated or you’ll end up with a layer of unrecognizable, soggy mush. Gently shake off excess coffee and lay soaked ladyfingers in 9×13 pyrex glass baking dish, lining them up to completely cover the bottom. If you need to, you can break some of the ladyfingers to create a snug fit.
10. Spread half of mascarpone filling on top of the ladyfinger layer.
11. Dip remaining ladyfingers one by one in coffee and arrange in second layer over mascarpone cream.
12. Spread remaining mascarpone cream evenly on top of second layer of ladyfingers.
13. Cover and chill in refrigerator until set, at least 4-6 hours.
14. Before serving, dust top generously with cocoa powder using a fine-mesh sieve.

NOTE:

• You can substitute 2 cups freshly brewed espresso or double-strength drip coffee for the water and instant espresso powder.
• Tiramisu can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days before serving.
• If you don’t have a double boiler, you can make one by setting a heatproof glass bowl on top of a pan of gently simmering water, as pictured below.
  

Mom’s Mocha Filling

This is the yummiest chocolate cake filling ever! It’s so good, you could eat it by the spoonful! And we do, believe me. Whenever I make this, I’m constantly swatting hands away while it’s cooling. The family can hardly wait for me to put it on the cake. I have to be vigilant and watch out for fingers sneaking into the pot to scoop out a little mouthful or I end up not having enough filling for my cake! It’s gotten so that now I always just make a double recipe so there’ll be some extra left over for the sneaky fingers to eat by the spoonful after I’ve filled the cake. Keeps everyone happy that way.

Mom always made this filling for her cookie monster chocolate cake, but I don’t see why you couldn’t use it to fill a yellow cake or white cake, or even sandwich it between two cookies! Ooh! The ideas are pouring in!

MOM’S MOCHA FILLING

• ½ cup sugar
• 3 tbsp. flour
• 1 tsp. instant coffee
• 1 can evaporated milk
• ¼ cup (½ stick) butter

1. In a small, heavy-bottom saucepan, whisk together the sugar, flour and instant coffee using a wire whisk.
2. Add the evaporated milk and butter, and cook over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly to keep it from burning. Don’t be tempted to raise the fire to speed up the process. This burns fast so just take your time and stir slowly so your arm won’t feel like it’s going to fall off.
3. Keep cooking until mixture begins to boil; then let boil for 3-5 minutes while stirring slowly and continuously with the wire whisk. This takes a little time so be patient.
4. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely before using. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the top of the filling or stir it constantly while it’s cooling to prevent a skin from forming on the top.

Coffee Panna Cotta

We’re having some old friends over for dinner tomorrow. We haven’t seen them in a while so I’m really looking forward to it. For the dinner, I thought I would keep it simple so I’m making a slow-roasted beef brisket with mushroom gravy, roasted potatoes, and steamed broccoli. But for dessert, I wanted to serve something that would be easy to prepare and yet be fancy enough to make a statement. I decided to make Panna Cotta but didn’t feel like doing the traditional vanilla flavor. Then I thought, ‘how about coffee flavored?’ It would jazz up the custard quite nicely and make it sophisticated enough to appeal to the grown-up palate. If I could come up with some kind of sauce to serve it with, that would be the icing on the cake!….. or the icing on the cotta….. LOL! I must say, I think it turned out pretty well! I hope my friends, Maureen and Bullet, like it too.

COFFEE PANNA COTTA

• 1 packet Knox unflavored gelatin
• ¼ cup cold water
• 3 cups whipping cream
• ½ cup sugar
• 1½ tsp. instant espresso or coffee granules
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract

1. In a small bowl, soften gelatin in cold water; set aside.
2. Place whipping cream, sugar, instant coffee and vanilla extract in a saucepan.
3. Stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a simmer.
4. Simmer gently for 5 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and add gelatin to hot cream mixture, stirring until gelatin dissolves.
6. Pour into 6 lightly oiled 1/2 cup ramekins or other small containers and refrigerate overnight or at least 8 hours.
7. Once panna cottas are firm, turn out onto dessert plates.
8. Decorate with chocolate covered espresso beans and mint leaves.
9. If desired, serve with Coffee Cream Sauce.

Coffee Cream Sauce

I created this sauce to serve with my Coffee Panna Cotta but it could be used as a sauce for ice cream, chocolate soufflé, pound cake, or anything else you might want to serve with a dessert sauce. The important thing to remember when making this is to keep stirring while it cooks so it doesn’t burn.

COFFEE CREAM SAUCE

• 2 cups whipping cream
• 7 ozs. (half a can) condensed milk (this is about 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp.)
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch dissolved in 2 Tbsp. water
• 1 Tbsp. instant espresso or coffee granules
• 2 Tbsp. butter or margarine

1. Place all ingredients except the butter into a small saucepan.
2. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring continuously with a wire whisk, until mixture thickens and begins to boil. Let it boil for a minute or two while stirring constantly.
3. Remove from heat, drop in the butter, and stir until butter is fully incorporated.
4. Cool completely before serving.

NOTE:

• You can store this sauce for up to a week in the refrigerator but it will thicken a little when it’s chilled. If you find it too thick, stir in a little cream or milk to thin it to the pourable consistency you want.
• Substitute half-and-half or whole milk for the whipping cream if you prefer a sauce that’s a little less rich.