Gluten-free Pistachio Cake with Pistachio Brigadeiro Filling

I love pistachio so much that I made a gluten-free pistachio cake to celebrate my 4^th month of marriage and all the good things that happened until now.

The cake was very moistly and fluffy. This is a recipe that my dear friend Layla made recently. I thought very interesting to use potatoes to get a gluten-free cake. But instead the almonds and lemon zests, I used rice flour and pistachio paste. There is some pistachio paste available on the market, but I prefer everything fresh. You can easily do it with a food processor. Or, if you want to workout a little bit, you can use a pestle and mortal.

You may also note I’m a “brigadeiro” addict. Well, guess what I used to fill the cake? Pistachio brigadeiro. So delicious! I got the idea of pistachio brigadeiro from here. I changed the ground pistachio for pistachio paste and I added one more tablespoon of butter. Wonderful!

Everything was going well until the marshmallow fondant. It was the first time I worked with it. I decided to prepare it by myself because most of the fondants commercially available are not tasty. My dear friend Carol sent to me a recipe from Le Cordon Bleu very easy to make. The cake that she prepared with this fondant was very beautiful and delicious. After finished it, I accidentally put in the fridge overnight. Unfortunately, the fondant became brittle and not able to model. Even that, I could do some little roses and balls for decoration.

Homemade Pistachio Paste
(adapted from here)

500 gr shelled pistachios

125 gr white almond powder

250 gr sugar

7 dl water

1 teaspoon  almond extract

Pound the pistachios in a heavy mortar. This is heavy work and it takes a very long time to obtain a fine powder. Using an electrical kitchen mixer can help. Mix in the ground almonds. Add the almond extract. In a saucepan mix 7 grams (0.7 dl) water with 250 gr sugar. Use a copper bowl or heavy bottomed saucepan or mix constantly to avoid sugar burning on hotspots. Heat until the temperature reaches 250°F. Pour the scalding hot sugar over the pistachio paste and mix in quickly to prevent crystallization. We are drawing near to completion when the paste starts to look like baklava offal. Carefully add one teaspoon water at a time and mix thoroughly until you obtain a marzipan-like texture. Do not use too much water. Knead well with both hands to get a smooth, homogeneous mixture. Store in a plastic bag and freeze for best preservation.

Gluten-free Pistachio Cake

200g butter, softened

200g golden caster sugar

4 eggs

100g rice flour 

250g mashed potatoes

200g pistachio paste

2 tsp gluten-free baking powder

How to prepare: 

Heat oven to 360°F/fan 320°F/gas. Butter and line a deep, 20cm round cake tin. Beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy, then gradually add the egg, beating after each addition. Fold in the cold mashed potato (make sure it doesnt have any potato lump), pistachio paste and baking powder.

Tip into the tin, level the top, then bake for 40-45 mins or until golden and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Turn out onto a wire rack after 10 mins cooling. 

Pistachio Brigadeiro

100g pistachio paste
1 can (395g) sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoon unsalted butter

Mix the condensed milk, butter and pistachio paste in a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly – when the bottom of the pan starts to show and the mixture is a bit thicker, remove from heat and fill the cake.

Pumpkin Mousse Cake for a Gluten-Free Thanksgiving

In my country we don’t celebrate the Thanksgiving Day. As this will be my first one, I am so excited to prepare all the traditional meals. Of course that I will prepare the roasted turkey. What is the thanksgiving without turkey? But, what I should make for dessert?

There is a blog that I love to read: Gluten free girl and the chef. One of the authors, Shauna, has a great history of struggle against the celiac disease. She and her husband are launching now a book about gluten-free recipes:

They developed a lot of delicious recipes for the Thanksgiving. You can see all of them in her wonderful post. That encourages me to do my first gluten-free dessert. This was a challenge. 

After see so many pumpkins of different colors and shapes, I decided to make a pumpkin dessert. My choice was a Pumpkin Mousse Cake recipe adapted from here. 

This cake consists of a “génoise” with pumpkin mousse. To prepare a gluten-free “génoise” I replaced cake flour for rice and almond flour. The result was perfect! In Brazil we love to use sweetened condensed milk in desserts, so I used that instead granulated sugar in the pumpkin mousse. I prefer made   fresh pumpkin puree that to use canned puree.

The result was this delicate dessert:

Have a wonderful holiday!

Gluten-free Pumpkin Mousse Cake

(Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Collection Series, Cake, by Fran Gage (Simon & Schuster, 2003)

Génoise

The génoise, a light, elegant sponge cake, is one of the building blocks of French baking, used as a base for both jelly rolls and layer cakes. The successful leavening of the cake depends solely on how much air is whipped into the eggs. Heating the sugar and whole eggs before whipping helps the eggs attain the maximum volume possible, although a slightly denser, still satisfying, version of the cake can be made without this step. Some génoises, such as this recipe, contain a little butter, which tenderizes the crumb.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

½ cup sugar

½ cup rice flour, sifted

¼ cup almond flour, sifted

3 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 375°F. Line the bottom of a 9-by-3-inch round cake pan with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the eggs and sugar by hand until combined. Place the bowl over but not touching simmering water in a saucepan and gently whisk until the mixture registers 140°F on an instant-read thermometer, about 3 minutes. Put the bowl on the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on high speed until the mixture is pale and almost tripled in volume, 5 to 8 minutes.

Remove the bowl from the mixer. Sift the flours over the egg mixture in two additions and carefully fold in with a large rubber spatula. Fold a large dollop into the melted butter, and then fold back into the egg mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake until the top is browned, about 20 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely. Run a table knife around the edge of the pan and invert the cake onto a work surface. Turn the cake right side up. Use as directed in the specific recipe for a layer cake or jelly roll.

Pumpkin Mousse

To make fresh pumpkin puree, choose a firm-fleshed cooking pumpkin. (Avoid large field pumpkins used for jack-o'-lanterns as they are too watery.) Cut in half through the stem end and place, cut sides down, on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven until a skewer pierces the flesh, about 25 minutes. Scoop out the seeds, scrape the flesh from the skin and puree in a food processor. The puree should be the consistency of canned pumpkin. If it is too thin, cook over low heat until thickened. Freeze leftover puree for up to 3 months.

2 1/4 tsp. (1 envelope) unflavored gelatin

2 Tbs. cold water

1 3/4 cups fresh pumpkin puree

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

1 Tbs. dark rum

1 2/3 cups plus 1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tsp. confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

Make the génoise as directed, let cool completely and place the cake, right side up, on a work surface. Cut the cake into 2 equal layers.

In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water, stir and let soften until opaque, about 3 minutes.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine about 1/2 cup of the pumpkin puree, the condensed milk and salt and heat and stirring. Stir in the softened gelatin and let cool to room temperature. In a bowl, stir the pumpkin mixture into the remaining pumpkin puree. Whisk in the cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and rum.

Using a stand mixer or by hand, whip the 1 2/3 cups cream to soft peaks. Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold one-third of the whipped cream into the puree, then fold in the remaining cream, making a mousse.

Peel off the paper from the bottom cake layer. Put the layer, cut side up, into the bottom of a 9-inch round springform pan. Spread half of the mousse evenly over the cake. Trim 1/2 inch from the outside edge of the remaining layer. Center it, cut side down, on top of the mousse. Top with the remaining mousse, pushing it between the cake and the pan and smoothing the top. Refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours or up to overnight.

Warm the sides of the pan with a kitchen towel soaked in hot water and wrung out. Remove the pan sides and smooth the sides of the mousse with a frosting spatula.

Whip the 1/2 cup cream and the confectioners' sugar to medium peaks. Spoon into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch star tip (see related tip at left). Pipe shells around the top edge and a few in the center of the cake. Run a thin knife under the cake to free it from the bottom of the springform pan and transfer to a serving plate. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serves 10 to 12.