BLUE Cake! (Blueberry & Rose Zebra Gluten-Free Muffins)

I decided to have another attempt at making Zebra cake over the weekend; I enjoyed making this cake so much I made it twice!

My experimental baking seldom leaves the small confines of my home, and I have to admit I don’t get a lot of visitors. However, on this occasion I decided to bake a cake for (one of my very few) friends. Not wanting to break my anti-candida diet too much and not wanting feed her anything too bizarre, I had to make a few compromises.

For my first Zebra cake, I used a loaf-tin for my stripy cake as there wasn’t a circular cake tin in sight (I was at the Boyfriend’s ill-equipped kitchen). I used 50% gluten-free flour & 50% wheat flour, and reduced the sugar from the original recipe by a quarter. I had a last minute brainwave to add blueberries puree to half the batter. I added cocoa to the remaining batter for a blue & brown retro colour combo. When the cake was done, it had expanded considerably, unlike my gluten-free mini-dimensional experiments…I could read my BF’s mind *Finally, Feng’s made a NORMAL sized cake!*

This cake was undeniably blue, but came out more marble than zebra. The brown layers didn’t provide enough of an aesthetic contrast, so for my second attempt I decided to omit the cocoa. This time I made gluten-free low-sugar zebra cupcakes. The dome-like fullness of the muffins sadly deflated when out the oven.

My Zebra loaf went down well; it had a light & airy texture and sweet enough to pass off as cake. The Zebra muffins tasted like pancakes but were pretty nonetheless.

Blueberry & Chocolate Marbled Loaf Cake

Blueberry & Rose Zebra Muffins (Gluten Free)

Makes 12

2 egg at room temp

1 tbsp sugar

½ cup milk

½ cup sunflower oil

1 tsp rose water

2/3 cup rice flour

2 tbsp millet flour

1 tbsp arrowroot

1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup blueberries

1. Preheat the oven 350F/180C/Gas mark 4, and line a 12 hole muffin pan with paper or silicon cases.
2. Place the blueberries in a microwavable bowl & heat on high for 20 – 30seconds or until completely cooked & has formed a liquid. Break up remaining solid blueberries with the back of a fork. Allow to cool.
3. Mix the eggs & sugar with a wire whisk.
4. Add the milk, oil & roes water and continue to beat.
5. In a separate bowl, combine together the rice flour, millet flour, arrow root & baking powder. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat just until the batter is smooth, taking care not to over beat.
6. Pour 1/3 of the batter into the cooled blueberry mix, stir to combine.
7. Ladle 1 tbsp of the plain batter into the bottom of each muffin case, and then scoop 1 tbsp of the blueberry batter in the center of the plain batter. Repeat until all batter is used up.
8. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Blueberry Zebra Muffin pre-baking

Blueberry Zebra Muffin Baked

Tags: blue, blueberry, cake, Gluten Free, low sugar, muffin, recipe, zebra