Friday, April 23rd, 2010
Many of those experiencing the uncomfortable symptoms of lactose intolerance still don’t know the cause of their upset, so the team at Lactofree created The Dairy Dilemma, a short animated film to show them how to take control and mend their broken relationship with dairy.
The film, illustrated by young designer Niki Pilkington, follows a young woman who is determined to discover the source of her discomfort in order to live her life to the full.
Sunday, March 28th, 2010
If you’ve been searching for a vegan chocolates or Easter eggs and are not inspired by the choice, why not make your own?
They don’t take long to make and would make an extra special gift.
You can buy simple egg moulds from cook shops or try Lakeland. http://tinyurl.com/ykcm2dl
Squires produce some lovely heavy duty moulds which will last years. http://tinyurl.com/yh3s58t
Dairy free white and milk vegan chocolates can be bought from whole food shops, online or some supermarkets.
You will need –
If the chocolate moulds have been used for dairy chocolate, clean and make sure they are really dry.
Polish the inside of the moulds with a piece of kitchen roll. This will help to give the chocolate egg a shiny finish.
If using solely for dairy free / vegan chocolate you don’t need to wash the moulds after using. Just wipe out the mould with a piece of kitchen roll when you are finished with them and wrap in cling film to keep clean for next time. This will build up a layer of cocoa butter which will add to the shine and help to release the finished chocolate egg.
Break up the vegan chocolates into the glass bowl. Microwave on a low setting for 30 seconds. Stir the chocolate. Continue microwaving for 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each 30 seconds until the chocolate has just melted. If there are a few tiny lumps of chocolate left, stir until melted. If they don’t melt, microwave for another 30 seconds and stir again.
Pour half of the chocolate into each mould and swirl around to coat. Don’t touch the egg part of the mould as the temperature of your hands may cause the chocolate to stick to the mould and not come out easily.
If the chocolate is quite runny and only leaves a thin coating – place the mould on the table for a minute then swirl around again. When the chocolate is the right thickness, turn each mould upside down over the bowl to empty out the excess. If the chocolate looks too thin, refill and swirl around again. When it is the right thickness, place upside down on the greaseproof paper and leave to set.
To speed up setting, place the tray into the fridge.
When the chocolate has set you will see the chocolate has come away from the mould in places.
Take care not to touch the egg part of the mould, turn out each half of the egg.
Rub the moulds with kitchen roll to clean and wrap in cling film ready for next time.
Warm a frying pan over a low heat. Turn off. Gently touch one half of the chocolate egg on the frying pan to melt the edge and stick to the other half of the egg. Leave to set.
Melt 20g dairy free chocolate in the microwave and pour it in a blob onto the greaseproof paper, stand the egg in the chocolate and hold in place with jars until set.
IdeasYou could pipe a message on the egg with melted chocolate or royal icing.
Make flowers out of sugarpaste or modelling chocolate to decorate the egg.
Before sealing the egg, fill the egg with vegan chocolates, dairy free chocolates, vegan fudge (see recipes) or sweets.
Break up bars of dairy free chocolates to fill.
Buy a sheet of cellophane from your local florist and wrap up the egg, tying with a length of ribbon.
Sunday, March 28th, 2010
This is a vegan white chocolate wedding cake I made a few weeks ago. This is a popular design with my vegan customers.
Two tiers were filled with vegan vanilla sponge layered with strawberry jam and dairy free ‘buttercream’, the third tier was vegan chocolate cake filled with dairy free chocolate ganache and the last tier was gluten and dairy free chocolate cake layered with strawberry jam and dairy free chocolate ganache.
The cake contained over 5 kilos of dairy free chocolate.
Instructions of how to make this cake can be found in my new book – Iced Gem Bakes and Cakes
Sunday, February 14th, 2010
Ingredients for the pastry:
1 x 8inch flan ring
75g dairy free margarine (I used Stork Pastry Marg – see here for alternatives).
35g caster sugar
1 medium free range egg
75g Doves Farm plain gluten free flour
75g maize flour (see resource list)
To part bake (bake blind) - 190°C | 375°F | gas mark 5 for 15 minutes.
To fully bake – bake for an extra 5 minutes.
Monday, January 25th, 2010
I recently saw an advert for Lactofree milk on tv which made me laugh.
I had been wondering if people with a lactose intolerance could actually drink this. I’ll buy some on my next shopping trip and let you know what I think.
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010
I decided to test different widely available dairy free margarines to see which, in my opinion, is the best.
Pure soya margarine – not very good for baking.
Pure Sunflower margarine – nice for most baking.
Pure organic margarine – not very good for baking.
Stork pastry margarine – good for pastry but not for sponge cake or butter cream, it is too waxy.
Sainsbury’s Free From margarine – good flavour for general baking.
Tomor Kosher margarine – I didn’t like this at all. It is very waxy.
Supermarket block baking margarine – The baking margarine does state not suitable for milk allergy sufferers due to manufacturing process. Good for pastry but not for sponge cake or butter cream.
Vitalite margarine – best margarine for baking and spreading.
Suma soya margarine – not very good for baking.
White vegetable fat – ok for pastry, not much flavour obviously. This can be used to give a ‘royal iced’ look to an egg free cake including piping and scrolls. More about this later.
We thought Pure soya and Sainsbury’s Free From were really nice but the best was Vitalite. This could be because it tasted saltier than the others, it has a nice buttery flavour.
We thought Pure organic had a nice flavour. It was hard to decide which we preferred out of Pure sunflower and Vitalite. They both had a good flavour and texture.
We found Sainsbury’s Free From and supermarket baking margarine both had a good flavour.
The best was Stork pastry block margarine and Vitalite.
Mixing in twice as much icing sugar to margarine. You just need to mix the sugar in gently or the mixture will split.
The best margarine for this was the Sainsbury’s Free From and Vitalite. The Vitalite didn’t seem to split as much as the others.
So in my opinion, if you are to have one dairy free margarine in your fridge it should be Vitalite Dairy Free spread.
Saturday, December 5th, 2009
Did you know you can buy dairy free white and milk chocolate?
Vegan white and milk chocolate contains rice milk as a milk replacement which works really well.
My favourite vegan white chocolate is made by Organica. You can buy it as a 100g bar.
Quite a sweet chocolate with a strong vanilla flavour, it can be used exactly the same as conventional chocolate in baking. For example, melting and moulding into chocolate moulds, making chocolate fondant for covering cakes, making sugar cake decorations and making dairy free truffles (see my recipes).Organica also produce a milk and plain chocolate bar made with rice milk which can be used in baking.
Their website is www.venturefoods.com
If you can’t eat dairy and have missed ‘proper’ chocolate chips in your cookies then get excited as you can now buy Plamil dairy free chocolate drops which are also gluten free and nut free.
I was so pleased to find this product. Before I was chopping up dairy free chocolate to add to cakes and biscuits which took ages and ended up with chocolate crumbs everywhere.
They are made of real chocolate and taste really good.
Their website is www.plamilfoods.co.uk
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
I really liked this dairy and gluten free whipping cream. It is widely available. I found it in Infinity Foods.
Grano Vita. Organic Cremo Vita. (http://www.granovita.co.uk/product_details.php?type=13&product=8015)
Instructions state to store in the fridge for 5 hours before whipping. After 5 hours I found it didn’t need whipping as it was already thick. I was able to pipe the cream using a star shaped piping nozzle. It had still kept its shape by the next day stored in the fridge and stored at room temperature – although at room temperature it doesn’t taste as nice.
It has a nice sweet flavour a bit like a Mr Whippy ice cream and I tried freezing it to see if I could eat it as a quick ice cream. Take out of the freezer half an hour before serving to soften slightly. It does split if frozen and defrosted.
Alternatively you could make a ‘mock’ cream by beating together 200g white vegetable fat with 400g icing sugar and a few drops of vanilla extract. Once beaten add water, a drop at a time and keep beating until it is soft and easy to pipe.
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
Wheat, gluten and dairy free.
They had a nice flavour just a bit gritty.
Wheat, gluten and dairy free.
They have a good texture and nice flavour at first. If you leave them in your mouth too long they become almost gummy and hard to swallow. Leaves a bit of an aftertaste which you wouldn’t notice if eating with a dip.
Dairy and gluten free.
I could really taste the potato flour in these biscuits. They have a strong vanilla flavour. I didn’t really like them because I don’t like the taste of potato flour.
Had a lovely moist flavour. It didn’t leave that dry feeling in your mouth like some others do. It was really nice toasted, reminded me a little of toasted crumpets.
Gluten and dairy free.
Crunchier than usual Rich Tea biscuits. They have a nice flavour. Not at all gritty, quite sweet. It doesn’t leave a funny taste in your mouth like some.
My name is Gemma Mcfarlane. I have been cooking meals for people with special diets since leaving catering college. I became determined to offer the same choices to everyone so began researching and experimenting with different ingredients.
Many people think they have to give up their favourite foods when they discover they have a food intolerance or allergy. They are put off by bland, processed special diet cakes in supermarkets and long for good, homemade food but don't realise they can make anything better themselves.
By putting my recipes online I hope to introduce you to the joys of gluten and dairy free baking.
If you would like to make a comment visit me on Facebook.
Many cake makers are reluctant to make cakes for special diets as they don't know enough about ingredients or what people can or can't eat.
In this book I will be offering advice about diets, cross contamination, wheat and gluten free, dairy free, egg free and vegan cake recipes and tips / techniques for decorating celebration cakes.
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