Do you ever go to a restaurant just hoping there might be something you can eat? Like, you’re not even holding out for amazing food, or a plethora of choices, or something you’ve never had before. Just something safe for you to eat. Huge bonus points if it actually tastes good.
Well. Let me tell you. If you are gluten-free, or paleo, or vegetarian, or vegan, you need to check out Flower Child, which offers the elusive tasty options, diverse choices, and novel experiences that you may have thought were no longer part of your eating life. It is a chain under the umbrella of a larger restaurant conglomerate. I’ve now eaten at a few of their brands, and I will go back to all of them. But that’s for another day.
Today, let’s focus on Flower Child. You’ve got options there, almost no matter which restrictions you’re working around. I ordered the Glow Bowl, and it did not disappoint. Neither did the kombucha that is ON TAP, people. So good.
But, in a glorious display of hedonism self-love, my dining companion and I ate dessert first. And what a dessert it was! It was light and fluffy and moist – that is such a gross word, but so perfectly descriptive of this beautiful, gluten-free creation. And so unusual in a gluten-free creation, especially one served in a food-service setting. It was the Olive Oil Lemon Cake: a tall-ish cupcake sort of a thing, covered in a translucent lemony glaze. The crumb was perfect. The bright lemon flavor was perfect. The gluten-free inclusivity was perfect. I nearly cried tears of gratitude for not just having a gluten-free dessert option, but for having an option was every bit as good as “regular” desserts.
And for those of you who need to avoid dairy, you NEED this cake. Gluten-free baking requires adjustments, but there are many work-arounds. Dairy-free baking is a totally different, and frequently disappointing, ballgame. But just as there is no crying in baseball, there will be no crying when you try this cake! Let’s all observe a moment of thanks for olive oil, the savior in this recipe, and standout nutritional star in its own right (looking at you, antioxidant polyphenols).
So, of course I wanted to eat it again. And even more, I wanted to make it myself, and then eat it again. So I turned to the trusty intranets for the recipe. And I found it. You wanna see? https://www.dmagazine.com/food-drink/2017/04/eat-this-now-gluten-free-lemon-cake-at-flower-child/
I tried it, following the recipe scrupulously. It did not work for me. At all. I was suspicious after mixing the batter, which did not look like any batter I’ve ever mixed before. But I poured it into my jumbo popover tins (because I wanted the golden cakes to be sorta tall, just like at Flower Child – they did not look like they came out of a muffin pan) and baked per directions (a total of 26 minutes).
My friends, when I tell you that they were not done after 26 minutes, that is a gross understatement. They were still goopy. I kept baking. After 90 minutes, I turned up the heat. An hour later, still no cake. I tented those little darlins with foil to keep the tops from burning, which was successful, and kept them in the oven even longer to finish cooking, which was not successful.
By this time, I just wanted to go to bed. So I shut off the oven and took my disappointment off to the bedroom. (Insert your own adult humor here.)
In the light of a new day, I was determined to make these damn cakes. (I also hate wasting anything, so I made cake balls out of the unbaked mess of the previous night – recipe coming soon! They were GOOD. But they weren’t the lemon cakes I wanted.) So, I made some major modifications to the recipe, aligning more closely with the ingredient ratios I know to be solid performers, and I think I got it. I also made the glaze thicker, because more is better with any sort of frosting, I say. But you be the judge – try it and let me know what you think!
(Now is a good time to confide in you, my darlings, that I have no idea how to take food photos (or really any photos). I promise you I will do my level best to learn some skills in this area, which will require me to at least get a new phone, if not an actual camera. Until then, I’m so sorry for the photo quality. Unfortunately, that is just one of my technological foibles. Whatever you do, please promise me you won’t judge the recipe on my poor pics.) Make these tasty little bits of heaven yourself and look at your masterpieces in the comfort of your own home. I promise they will look lovely. And taste even better.
Copycat Flower Child Olive Oil Lemon Cakes
Ingredients
For the cakes:
- 3 whole eggs
- 1 1/3 cups evaporated cane sugar
- 1 1/4 tsp vanilla paste (vanilla extract may also be used; I prefer the richer taste of the paste in this recipe)
- 4 tsp lemon zest from about 2 lemons, preferably organic
- 3 1/2 tbsp lemon juice freshly juiced and strained
- 6 1/2 ounces coconut milk I have used both canned coconut milk and the boxed variety for drinking – both worked
- 2 cups gluten-free flour or flour of your choice – I tested with King Arthur GF Measure for Measure
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
For the glaze:
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 tbsp lemon juice freshly juiced and strained
- 1/2 tbsp coconut milk if needed to thin
Instructions
DIRECTIONS for cakes:
- Prepare 6-8 jumbo popover tins. (You can also use jumbo muffin tins, or 12 regular muffin tins.) Lightly grease with olive oil. Do this BEFORE you start mixing your ingredients. You want to get those little cakes baking ASAP once the batter is mixed, or it messes with the texture.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer or with a hand mixer, combine eggs and sugar. Whip for approximately 3-5 minutes, or until fluffy – it should increase in volume.3 whole eggs, 1 1/3 cups evaporated cane sugar
- Add vanilla paste, zest, juice, and coconut milk. Mix gently to combine, using mixer or with a spatula, by hand.1 1/4 tsp vanilla paste, 4 tsp lemon zest, 3 1/2 tbsp lemon juice, 6 1/2 ounces coconut milk
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, soda, and powder together.2 cups gluten-free flour, 3/4 tsp kosher salt, 3/4 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder
- Gently fold flour mixture into wet ingredients by hand, just until fully incorporated.
- Fold in olive oil by hand. It will take a few minutes for the oil to evenly distribute so that none is visible on top of the batter. Be patient, persistent, and gentle to achieve a uniform consistency. Don’t be overzealous here; this is not the time to beat it to death.1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Immediately spoon or pour the batter into the prepared tins, filling no more than 2/3 full or they will overflow and you’ll have to clean your oven. If you have tins that are solitary units (as some popover tins are), placing them on a cookie sheet will make transfer in and out of the over a whole lot easier. If they are connected, like a standard muffin pan, no need to do this unless you want some extra protection in case of overflow.
- Bake in a 350-degree oven for 13 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake an additional 13-15 minutes. Cakes are done when the tops spring back when lightly touched. They should be light golden brown. If your cake tops are burning before they fully bake, give them a foil tent for protection.
- Cool completely before unmolding from the pans.
Directions for glaze:
- Place powdered sugar in a small shallow and wide bowl (this facilitates dipping your cakes).1/2 cup powdered sugar
- Add the lemon juice and stir until smooth.1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- If the consistency is not thin enough to glaze your cakes, either add coconut milk, 1 tsp. at a time, or additional lemon juice, also 1 tsp. at a time, to achieve the consistency you want. I like mine thick enough to really stick, but liquid enough to dip my cake tops in the bowl and get even coverage.1/2 tbsp coconut milk
- Apply the glaze to the cakes which have been released from their pans. You can set them on a cooling rack over a baking sheet to minimize mess and glaze pooling on the bottoms of the cakes, if you'd like. Either spoon the glaze over the tops of the cakes, or dip the cake tops in the bowl of glaze, tilting the cakes until the tops are evenly covered, then set them on the rack to dry.