Not my Choice, now my Passion!

Gluten free baking always comes with its challenges. Living with Celiac disease for the past twelve years, I have grown to love experimenting in the kitchen with gluten free recipes and overcoming some of these challenges of using different flour combinations, texture issues, and dry, crumbly end products. I will admit that gluten free cooking and baking is a lot easier these days as Celiac disease, gluten intolerances, and general knowledge behind gluten are more widely known and  common resulting in more of a variety of products available and more specialty bakeries and restaurants featuring gluten free food. This makes it exciting for me to learn about the new ideas and combinations that have been explored and tested as well as the fact that there are more quality products available nowadays compared to when I was first diagnosed. Ten to twelve years ago, I remember driving an hour to a small specialty market in order to stock up my cupboard with mediocre white rice bread and rice pasta products. This obstacle is what inspired me to explore gluten free cooking and baking with my family in the first place, and therefore I am grateful as this passion would not have developed into what it is for me today. I like to describe it as “Not my choice, but now my true passion.”

With my gluten free background, I hope to bring this passion and much more as a new intern for Nordic Ware. For the past two months, I have been introduced and so nicely welcomed into the wonderful Nordic Ware Community.  This family-owned, established cookware company strives to provide innovative and high quality cookware and demonstrates true passion behind the products produced here locally. I have enjoyed my time here so far in the Marketing department, and I am excited to learn and grow in new areas!

When I first started, a realization did hit me: I had never used a Bundt pan in my life. As a recent college graduate, my knowledge and experience was very minimal truly based on my experience consuming these wonderful cakes at family gatherings, as Bundt pans were not very common in kitchens on my college campus. As this product line is a major aspect and legacy of Nordic ware, it was time to make my first Bundt cake!

I wanted to share this first experience and gluten free recipe that is perfect for this time of year, including all my favorite things into one amazing cake: bananas, chai, chocolate, and coffee. Even with making it gluten free, I didn’t experience any challenges the first time, and with some helpful tips from the Nordic Ware experts, this Banana Chai Spiced Bundt Cake with Chocolate Espresso drizzle turned out beautifully using the Heritage Pan. Within this recipe, I used one of my favorite local products, Gray Duck Chai, which added a unique blend of spice and warm flavor. For flour, I discovered Bob Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to1 Baking Flour mix, something I haven’t used before, providing a great texture and option for gluten free cake recipes. Another GF flour to try is King Arthur’s Gluten Free Flour.

I am happy to say my first Bundt cake experience was a success and this recipe turned out amazing.  My friends even indulged in a slice before I could photograph the end result, and the cake was gone within a few days! I hope you enjoy and look out for more gluten free recipes in the near future!

Gluten Free Banana Chai Spiced Bundt Cake with Chocolate Espresso Drizzle

Serving: 10 cup Bundt pan

Ingredients

Cake:

• 3 1/3 cups Gluten Free Flour (Bob’s Mills Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour)
• 1 ½  teaspoon baking powder
• 1 ½  teaspoon baking soda
• 1 ½  teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 ½  teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½  teaspoon allspice
• ½  teaspoon nutmeg
• ¾ cup Chai concentrate (Gray Duck)
• ¾ cup Milk
• 4 medium (over-ripe) bananas
• ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 ½ cups light brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 ½  teaspoon vanilla

Dark Chocolate Drizzle:

• ¾ cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 2-3 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1-2 tablespoons espresso powder

Directions:

Cake:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, salt, allspice, and nutmeg. Set aside while mixing the wet ingredients. In a medium mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar. Slowly add the eggs and vanilla.

Next, mash the ripe bananas in a small bowl and thoroughly mix into the batter. Add the Chai concentrate and milk. Finally, slowly mix in the dry ingredients until well combined without any clumps.

Thoroughly and carefully spray the Bundt pan and pour the batter until ¾ full. Bake the cake for 55-60 minutes until the top is a golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then turn upside-down onto a rack. Do not take out of the pan before 10 minutes as the cake might not come out clean or wait too long as it might be difficult to come out. Let cool completely on the rack.

Drizzle:

In a double boiling saucepan, add all the ingredients and melt together. The chocolate drizzle should be pretty thin so it’s easy to pour over the cake. If you want it to be thicker, use less coconut oil or add more chocolate chips. Melt together until there are no clumps and smooth. Pour the chocolate drizzle over the Bundt Cake once the cake is cooled and enjoy!