Did I also mention soy-free? Maybe we should start a thread called "Stump the Chumps" like they have on Car Talk, because I think this might be a stumper !

I think I am close to making up a recipe. I'm finally getting around to making my GF and everything else free cake for my birthday, even though my b-day was a month ago. DH is too overwhelmed by my diet for this task. I made a chocolate cake from a Pamela's mix - excellent! The frosting is now the challenge. I tried making the frosting from the "Enjoy Life" semi-sweet chocolate chip package, but I don't like it. Seems that I need to make my own powdered sugar with a substitute for cornstarch. How do I substitute cornstarch in quantity with arrowroot? This is the recipe I found for making your own powdered sugar. Any suggestions for how to make it corn free, and how to make it a good tasting, fluffy chocolate frosting? To give you an idea how good I'm at baking, I own a copy of "The Idiot's Guide to Baking". Help!

2 cups unbleached cane sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch

Blend in food processor or blender for 1 minute. Scrape down sides & blend an additional 30 seconds.

I'm also thinking of substituting my birch sugar (xylitol not from corn) for the cane sugar. It looks and acts like regular sugar.

Claire

Floofy frosting I can't help with. But, if your interested in a delightful chocolate glaze...take some chocolate chips, and melt with just a little orange juice. You want maybe a teaspoonful to 1/2 a cup chocolate. (If your using enjoy life, make it a very scant cup, the tiny chips take up much less room than full size, LOL) It should be thin enough to pour, but thick enough to stick to the cake.


Mmmmm. I miss citrus!

Just a few suggestions, because I'd rather do this than clean out my pantry. Note: I haven't tried these myself, but I would try them if I were in your situation (and, I'm hoping after Tom's food sensitivity results are in that we won't be in your situation).

Do you have any kind of margarine-type substitute you can use? I'm guessing not, based on those restrictions. What about mayonnaise? I know you can always make mayonnaise, and it would meet your requirements (unless you forgot to mention no eggs, just to add to the challenge). I have to admit, I've never made mayo and I know there's a trick to it. But, this is cake we're talking! It's important! Anyway, I would substitute mayo for margarine/butter in your cake frosting and go from there. If you're making chocolate icing, that should take care of any mayo taste. (You should probably refrigerate this one though, especially if you do have to make homemade mayo.)

As another suggestion (and this would add a bigger change to the taste), what about peanut butter? (Were you going to say no nuts, too) Try replacing your margarine/butter with peanut butter and go from there. It might be a little stiffer, so you may need more milk... or maybe half PB and half mayo?

Anyway, here's a frosting to get you started (remember, I've only made the dairy-substitute versions, not the corn & soy-free version):

Alternate Cocoa Frosting
1 pound box sifted powder sugar (use your homemade powdered sugar)
3/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup mayo or peanut butter or 1/4 cup mayo and 1/4 cup PB
1/2 cup milk substitute (or water, if you don't have a substitute)
1 t vanilla (or skip, if this is a problem)
Mix sugar and cocoa. Cream part of cocoa mixture with mayo and/or peanut butter. Blend in vanilla and part of milk substitute. Add remaining cocoa mixture and blend. Add remaining milk substitute and beat to desired consistency. Beat for at least a minute or two. Longer if desired.


Also, remember that you're adding a lot of sugar. It's going to taste good, no matter how bad it looks, so go ahead and experiment. It will be edible. (So far, my kids have not disagreed with this philosophy. They are happy to eat my sugar disasters. It's the disasters that aren't dessert-related that they stick their noses up at.)

Isn't there an egg-white based frosting? Royal frosting?

Yes! (My memory is good now 1 year since GF!)

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,166,...254200,00.html

What about coconut milk?

This is an awesome "fudgey" frosting recipe. You would have to substitute arrowroot or tapioca flour or something for the cornstarch, and rice or almond milk or something for the soy milk. You'd probably use less rice/almond milk since they don't seem to be as "thick" as soy...for that matter, you could probably use water.

Fudge Frosting
http://www.veganstreet.com/veganliving/recipes022.html

1/3 cup water
1/4 cup non-GMO cornstarch (or substitute)
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup almond butter, smooth
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (or roasted carob powder)
2 tsp. vanilla
approximately 1/4 cup plain soy milk (or substitute)

Place the water and cornstarch in a saucepan, and whisk until fully integrated. Stir in the maple syrup. Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Once the mixture is very thick and smooth, reduce the heat to lowand continue to stir for one more minute. Pour the mixture into a food processor or, to mix by hand, a medium bowl. Add the remaining frosting ingredients, and process or stir until very smooth. The mixture should be very thick, but spreadable, so use the least amount of soy milk as possible. Set aside and let stand until completely cool

Frost cake and let the frosting sit for at least an hour for it to set. Decorate with candles and voila!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Ghee and coconut oil seem like the best substitutes for margarine. Eggs are ok, but not dairy. I was all ready to make my own powdered sugar (which, BTW, is the same as confectioners sugar) without the cornstarch, but in the end, I chose the path of least resistance. I saved my frosting that I originally made with the "Enjoy Life" chocolate chips. It tasted better after being in the refrigerator, and spread better too. This is not to say that it was a great frosting. I just couldn't wait long enough to grind all my own sugar to make powdered sugar, to then make frosting just to eat that yummy Pamela's chocolate cake

For those of you who can't eat powdered sugar because of the cornstarch in it, here's how you do it (caveat - I haven't tried it yet myself):

Grind sugar in a coffee grinder, food processor, spice grinder, or blender for about 2 minutes. I've read various things about spliting it up in batches, which makes sense. Add about 1 tbsp potato starch, tapioca powder or arrowroot to 1 cup sugar. This is mostly to keep it from clumping, so if you are going to use the powdered sugar right away, you probably don't need it.

Ok, I just shoveled down two pieces of the cake. The frosting I ate is definitely better chilled, but doesn't taste as good at room temperature. Instant gratification has been satisfied, but I'll make sure to make the frosting first the next time !

Claire

I'm pretty sure most of the organic powdered sugars don't have cornstarch in them.

I make a buttercream type frosting and whip it extra long with my Kitchen Aid and it comes out pretty fluffy. I usually use real butter, but ghee would work fine or you could sub the palm shortening if you wanted. I use almond or rice milk in it and cocoa and powdered sugar. It's quite yummy and easy. (But don't ask for a recipe because I just throw stuff in there until it's the right consistency--then I end up with extra frosting sometimes, but hey, that's not a problem!)

Rachel

I was quite disappointed to discover today that the 3 or 4 brands of organic powdered sugars I looked at (2 different stores) all had cornstarch in them (at least it was organic cornstarch). I found one brand of cornstarch free powdered sugar on-line, but who has the patience to order that when a chocolate craving is calling !

Claire

Well, I *know* I've bought some that didn't but I have 2 different brands in my pantry right now and they both have it in them. I'm sorry!

That's the pits.

I would just try to sub another starch (arrowroot, tapioca) for the cornstarch and try that recipe you posted. Also, if you're just going to use it right away, your probably don't even need the starch--as far as I understand it, that's just to keep it from clumping and if you use it right away it won't clump anyway.

Happy Belated Birthday!

Rachel