Gluten-free Pink Cakes
These gluten-free pink cakes are inspired by roze koek, a pink fondant topped fairy cake, popular in the Netherlands.
Well, they’re really inspired by this recipe for pink cakes. When I actually read the introduction to the recipe (something I rarely do) I realised they’re made only to look like the popular cakes. So I’m not sure they taste like the real roze koek.
But I really liked the sound of that recipe for pink cakes. And I thought I could use ground almonds to tie it in with another popular Dutch treat rondos and make them gluten-free.
Look at me sounding as if I have a clue about these… I haven’t tasted either of them. Strongly suspect I’d like rondos though.
I also thought about making a vegetarian version of Frikandel, a spiced sausage. Mostly because I loved the thought of having a dish called Frikanvegetables. I found a great recipe for vegetarian sausages and a great one for vegan sausages as well. But in the end my sweet tooth won out.
I want cake!
Why didn’t I make a cocktail?
As I was looking up things to see and do there, I read that Amsterdam has a long-standing tradition of cocktail making. I did look up Dutch cocktails but the only two recipes I found were for the Dutch Courage cocktail and Dutch Count Negroni.
I actually was going to make the Dutch Courage cocktail but forgot to buy Avocaat.
But I’ve since discovered that I could have made the Avocaat myself. It’s apparently Eggnog. And that sounds delicious! I think I may well try recipe next Christmas.
But who needs drink when you’ve got cake?
Things to see and do in the Netherlands
Oh, before I look up some lovely stuff to do there … did you know that Holland and the Netherlands are not quite the same? I didn’t know this. Holland is the name for two provinces in the Netherlands; North and South Holland – Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland. So possibly the Netherlands is better name to use.
But what is there to do there? Quite a lot. A lot of cultural stuff too.
- Amsterdam city guide for art lovers This guide doesn’t just cover museums and galleries to visit. It also mentions good bars or restaurants nearby each one.
- The Top 6 Dutch Art Museums Outside of Amsterdam
- Must-See Sites for Nature-Lovers in the Netherlands
And I found this site which has information about spending Easter in Amsterdam – in 2019. Obviously with the way things are it wouldn’t have been applicable for this year. But hopefully next year.
- Easter in Amsterdam
- 57 Cool things to do in Amsterdam. The Amsterdam Oersoep looks great.
What is the Netherlands like for coeliacs and the gluten-intolerant?
I’ve never been but I think it might be easy enough. Also, reading through a page on what to eat there I was reminded that they have loads of liquorice there. The good stuff. I would probably just live on gluten-free liquorice there. But not everyone can do that. And I’m not sure anyone should even try.
Going by this excellent guide on thehappyceliac.com, yes, I think it’s probably fairly easy to manage. And apparently they’re trialing gluten-free burgers at McDonald’s in Zaandam. Damn Zaandam, I want to go there and try that out.
So about the Gluten-Free Pink Cakes
Yeah, I changed the quantities of the amount of butter, sugar and flour (ground almonds here) because almonds are much sweeter and fattier than wheaten flour. I was really pleased with the way they worked out. Less sweet than the normal type of ground almond cake I make. And it was actually a really welcome change. They were buttery – and just yummy.
I was not so lucky with the pink fondant stuff. I think maybe I added to much lemon juice. I just squeezed in lemon juice rather than measuring it out and the mix was very runny. Also I had just washed the raspberries and they may have had a bit too much moisture on them.
I added in more icing sugar to try and make it less runny. But it remained quite runny so I added in a little butter and let it chill for a bit.
And then after 15 minutes I got impatient and just spooned it over the cakes.
I wanted some cake, OK?
They taste good. They just don’t look like they should.
Ingredients
- 110g salty butter, softened
- 135g caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 150g ground almonds
- 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
- zest of 1 lemon
- 150g icing sugar
- 10 fresh raspberries
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 10g sweet butter, melted
Instructions
- Grease a 12 cup muffin tray and turn the oven on to 180 C. I used fairy cake cases for the buns but I dont this this is really necessary. If you are worried about the cakes sticking to the tray add a circle of greased baking paper on the base of each cup in the tray.
- Place the (salted) butter in a deep bowl with the sugar and lemon zest, and beat until fluffy.
- Add the three eggs and again beat in well. Mix in the ground almonds and finally mix in the vanilla extract.
- Divide the mixture among each of the cups - about two teaspoons of batter in each cup.
- Put the filled tray in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the buns have risen to be domed and golden brown on top.
- Take the tray out of the oven. Turn the oven down to 150 C. Let the buns cool for about 5 minutes an then gently push down the tops of the buns to flatten them a bit.
- Place the buns back in the oven and bake for a further 20 - 30 minutes. When you place a fork into a cake and it comes out clean the buns are cooked.
- Take the tray out of the oven and turn out the cakes upside down on a plate. Leave to cool completely.
- Sift the icing sugar into a bowl.
- Place the raspberries in the sieve and push through with a spoon, into the sifted icing sugar. When no more juice is coming through pour the lemon juice over the mushed raspberries and again just scrape through any juice.
- Combine the juice and icing sugar together until totally smooth.
- Beat in the melted (unsalted) butter until well combined. Then leave in the fridge for at least an hour.
- Spread some of the glaze over the tops of each of the buns.
- Enjoy!
