ninja cupcakes and mint sugar

eli turned 7….i can’t believe it. it seems just yesterday i was holding him in my arms, well i still do only he’s a bit bigger and he gets a little embarrassed. heh. anyway, he requested mint ninja cupcakes this year for his celebration. it was an easy request to fill. i wasn’t sure how to make the mint flavor, i have mint extract but i also have a garden overflowing with mint.

chocolate mint

i decided to flavor my sugar with mint from the garden. i made my regular cupcake recipe and replaced the sugar with mint flavored sugar. simple and delicious. we’ve been cutting down on our sugar intake lately but since this was a special occasion i made an exception and boy was i glad i did.

mint sugar

1 cup sugar of choice
a really large handful of chocolate mint, between 1/4 to 1/2 cup mint leaves, unpacked

place in food processor and pulse until mint is incorporated with sugar. don’t pulse too much……you’ll end up with mint flavored powdered sugar.

gluten-free, dairy-free birthday cake! (and banana ice cream)

this is the second year i made eli a ninja cake for his birthday. ♥ he’s my little ninja ♥ i found this recipe in the early stages of our gluten free adventure here and, i’m thankful i did every time a birthday rolls around. i changed it up a bit this year. now all i have to do is figure out how to make the frosting sugar-free and we’re set.

i didn’t get a picture of it but one of our summer treats has been banana ice cream. i buy bananas at a discounted price because they are over-ripe, bring them home, slice them and put them in the freezer for later. it’s a quick easy snack. i’ve been doing a lot of searching over the summer to find gluten free, dairy free and mostly sugar free recipes that a six year old will eat. not everything i make is edible. heh! but i’ve learned a lot about food and nutrition and created some delicious recipes that maybe someday i’ll find the time to share.

birthday cake

1⁄2 cup brown rice flour
1⁄2 cup tapioca starch
1⁄4 cup coconut flour
1⁄4 tsp salt
1 1⁄2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp guar gum
1⁄2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1⁄2 cup grapeseed oil
1⁄2 cup coconut milk
1⁄2 tbs vanilla

preheat 350°
prepare an 8inch cake pan with parchment paper and oil. (cut a piece of parchment for the bottom, better safe then sorry)
sift together first 6 ingredients in a small bowl, in a medium bowl whisk eggs and sugar for about a minute. add the grapeseed oil, coconut milk, and vanilla. whisk. add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well.
bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
recipe makes 1 8in cake. cake above made with 3 8in cakes. i did not triple the batter because i don’t like splitting the batter between pans, it never comes out even.

banana ice cream

approx. 2 cups frozen banana slices
¼ – ½ tsp guar gum (opt)
blend the bananas in food processor until a smooth ice cream consistency then add guar gum if using and blen some more. eat or put back into freezer for later. that’s it. yum.

i put guar gum in it to keep it from freezing into a hard brick.