Gluten Free Lemon Cake Bars & Reviewing Oxo Kitchenware

Readers, I'm sorry! Blogging again seems to have taken a bit of backseat these last few weeks. I’ve just about managed to find some time to bake but blogging, well that’s another story!

We did a bake sale for Macmillan earlier in the week, raising over £200 for the  charity so at least the cake eating is for a good cause!

Yesterday my Godmother came over for lunch and I was challenged to produce an entirely gluten free meal for her visit as she’s coeliac.  I was conscious of not making two of everything so did a teriyaki salmon dish with rice noodles for main and then these oh-so-cute lemon cake bars for dessert.  Everyone said you couldn’t even tell they were a gluten free substitution. 

Oxo UK very kindly sent me a batter bowl and baker’s dusting wand for review and I thoroughly enjoyed using them in this bake.

Image Source: oxouk.com

Image source: oxouk.com

Oxo have over 200 kitchen items available in the range and the items are designed not to hurt your hands and be accessible to all.  Genius!  Spending a fair bit of time in the kitchen – this is something I really appreciate.  Their marketing must work: having been a Oxo virgin until last week – I bought an ice cream scoop in Sainsbury’s on Friday after saying “ooh look, it’s an Oxo product!”

Their universal designs are perfect for lefties like me.    Oxo was founded on the principals of designing products which work for as many people as possible. Something I really like.  Why should arthritis stop you from having fun in the kitchen?!

I do have a big ceramic baking bowl which I use for cakes, but I was pleasantly surprised by the batter bowl.  It’s lightweight, so easy to work with, has an easy grip handle which is great when you have a hand mixer in the other hand and it also sits on the worktop without moving, even when you have the hand mixer going at full pelt!

The bowl is a decent size and the high sides are great to ensure you don’t splatter cake batter halfway across the kitchen.   I made the cake bars in an 8in x 8in tin and there was no sign of hitting the top of the batter bowl with the mix.  

The mix also came away from the sides of the batter bowl evenly and with the help of my trusty spatula was transferred to the cake pan with ease.

I’m absolutely certain this will become a staple in the kitchen going forward and at £13.00 is a worthwhile investment for any cook or baker.  It’s available online directly from Oxo.

The second piece of kit I received was a baker’s dusting wand which I used to finish my cake before serving.  I forgot to take an action shot, but you’ll see from the finished article it evenly distributed the icing sugar as a decoration on the black plates.

 

Image source: oxouk.com

I never even knew such a thing existed before last week but now I can’t wait to use my baker’s dusting wand even more.  I enjoy making bread and pasta and can see this coming in so handy when flouring my board or my pasta dough as I need it.  Expect further reference to my “magic wand” in future. No jokes please!  And I promise to show some action shots next time!

But for now, here’s the finished article...

Gluten Free Lemon Cake Bars

Ingredients

makes 5 finished desserts

Cake

125g gluten free self raising flour

2 large eggs

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

125g caster sugar

125g unsalted butter

Filling/Topping

250g icing sugar

75g butter (softened)

Few drops of Sicilian Lemon flavouring

30g cream cheese

Method.

1. Preheat the oven to 190c/170c fan/Gas 5.

2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs one at a time, with a teaspoon of flour as you go to prevent curdling.

Mix the eggs as you go to incorporate into the mix.

4. Grate in the zest of 1 lemon and mix to combine.

5. Pour in the juice of 1 lemon and mix to combine.

6. Sift in the flour and mix to combine to form your cake batter.

7. Transfer the batter into a prepared (buttered) 8in x 8in square silicone baking pan.  Smooth out the top to form an even cake.

8. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes until golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean.

9.  Now the science bit.  Switch off the oven and open the door slightly.  Leave the cake in the oven for now.  After a couple of minutes, open the door fully.  Then, pull the oven shelf forward several minutes later and cool half in half out of the oven for a few moments.  Then remove from the oven and cool on a rack, in the tin for a few moments.  Once the cake has firmed up, you can transfer it to the cooling rack.

10.  When cool, slice the cake into 10 equally sized pieces.

11. Prep your topping and filling by creating a buttercream with the butter and icing sugar.  Then, stir in the cream cheese at the end and a few drops of lemon flavouring.  Top tip – grate the butter or let it sit for a while. It makes your life much easier when making the buttercream!

12.  Sandwich together two equally sized slices with the filling, then decorate the top of each cake with some more of your frosting mix.  Finish each with a  little decoration.

13. Serve immediately with a scoop of lemon sorbet and dust each plate with a little icing sugar using your baker’s dusting wand. 

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Disclaimer: I received the kitchenware from Oxo to review and bake with.  Any opinions expressed are my own.