So we had an interesting weekend…
late on Friday night, as I was putting the kids down, I noticed a smell of burning rubber. Not generally a good sign. My husband and I walked around the house, sniffing everywhere. We could not find the source.
Concerned about our house burning down, I could not sleep. As I lay there, I could hear the heater turning off and on. On and off. Not really surprising since it was unusually cold for us – down in the 20s. But what bothered me was the weird humming sound. And the vibration.
I woke up my husband. “Something is NOT right with the heater.”
So we began to explore some more. He was able to determine that although the outside fan was working fine, and the pipes were hot, nothing was coming through the blower.
The house was getting colder by the moment. So we made a plan. Move the three kids into our room, and run the space heater in there for the night.
…. oh wait, wait! I need to interrupt this important post with some BREAKING NEWS. We are hearing reports out of Miami that Justin Bieber has been arrested….
(Did y’all hear about that? Andrea Mitchell actually interrupted a Congresswoman she was interviewing on live news to bring reports about Justine Bieber’s arrest!!! Is true journalism dead??? Unbelievable.)
… As I was saying. We collected the children, turned on our space heater in our bedroom, and hunkered down for the night.
We stayed plenty warm. The next morning (I am getting to the cake, I promise!) it was in the low 50s in our house. Thankfully, we have gas logs and I was able to warm up the living room. My husband suggested if I needed to bake anything, now was the time.
So I thought, hmmm. What sounds good?
Coffee cake! And I have been wanting to experiment with other gluten free recipes, so that is what I did. And it turned out great.
(in case you’re wondering, it was Sunday afternoon before we got the heat fixed, but thank goodness the previous owner purchased the extended warranty on the system, so it cost us $0. We just had to hibernate for 2 days, all of us already sick. But it was a fun adventure!)
I pulled out the handy dandy family cookbook, found my Aunt Peg’s Blueberry Coffee Cake recipe, made a few adjustments, and voila, the Gluten Free Blueberry Coffee Cake was a success.
Gluten Free Blueberry Coffee Cake
- 1 1/2 cup flour (All purpose gluten free flour)
- 1 tsp Xanthum Gum
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 c. blueberries (I used frozen)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 c. milk
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup sugar (OR if you are trying to lower you sugar intake, you could substitute 1/4 cup Agave – which is what I did)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 c. oil
- Topping:
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1/4 c. brown sugar
- 1/4 c. chopped nuts
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cream egg, sugar, and oil together.
- Add dry ingredients, milk, and cinnamon. Fold in blueberries.
- Pour into a greased 8X8 cake pan. Sprinkle on topping. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Notes: You can use an all purpose Gluten Free flour like Namaste, which does not require the xanthum gum. It also tastes great. Since recipes with gluten free flour tend to be a little dry, you want a little extra liquid. Using Agave syrup not only has the benefit of cutting down the sugar content, but it is also liquid, which helps add moisture. If you use regular sugar, I encourage you to add either more milk or perhaps some extra egg whites.
I am an Amazon affiliate, but I have used and highly recommend both of these gluten free all purpose flours.
jamie@southmainmuse says
January 27, 2014 at 5:41 pmThat is cold. Thank goodness for space heaters and extended warranties. Sounds like that is a great recipe.
Janine Huldie says
January 27, 2014 at 5:55 pmTotally hoping you got the heat back up and running. Love that you baked thoug and thanks for sharing your recipe here today with us 🙂
another jennifer says
January 27, 2014 at 8:33 pmI’m glad you got the heater fixed. We only run out of oil when it’s subzero. Murphy’s Law, right? Still trying to figure out why our hot water isn’t much more than lukewarm. Yay, winter!
Dana says
January 27, 2014 at 9:08 pmI can’t imagine no heat – it is 71 degrees in our house right now and I am freezing. Just me, though – the rest of my family must be hot blooded. The coffee cake looks yummy; I’ve never baked anything gluten free before. We don’t have to, but maybe I’ll give it a try!
Lady Jennie says
January 28, 2014 at 12:38 pmOh my goodness, that is an adventure, and happily one you’re done with!!
Can’t wait to try this cake.
Chris Carter says
January 28, 2014 at 3:25 pmUgh. What a story!! I love how you got to the recipe! LOL That looks delicious!!!
So glad you had the furnace covered!! Right after we moved into this house, ours died. No heat for a week in November and it was brutal. Had to buy brand new one and AC. Just one more major snag in moving into a foreclosed house! 🙁
It’s all good now though! Thank GOD!
thedoseofreality says
January 29, 2014 at 10:33 amUGH! The fact that you had to wait all weekend is the WORST! Thank goodness you got it fixed! And that coffee cake sounds DELICIOUS! 🙂
Kristen B says
February 10, 2014 at 2:28 pmHa, love the story leading up to the recipe. Glad you were able to stay so upbeat throughout the adventure. Our power was off for a couple of days over Christmas. We have a wood furnace but without electricity to run the fan, it didn’t stay very warm.
Alena@TheHomemadeCreative says
February 12, 2014 at 1:43 amI know, it makes me sick how people are reacting to Beiber’s arrest. #ugh
My sister-in-law’s heat went out back in November, when we got our first really cold spell. Not fun! I’m glad your situation was resolved quickly and cheaply!
I’ve never baked gluten-free, but this recipe sounds really yummy.
Jennie says
May 10, 2014 at 7:56 amHow much milk?
katbiggie says
May 10, 2014 at 9:48 amWell that’s a slightly important detail, isn’t it? 1/2 cup! Sorry for the oversight – I just edited the recipe. Thanks for pointing that out.
Lise says
June 22, 2015 at 12:19 amBecause my daughter has to avoid dairy I used almond milk in the cake batter and a dairy-free spread in the topping. This worked out great and has to be the best gluten free recipe I have ever made! Thanks for such a great recipe!
K says
April 23, 2016 at 12:04 pmJust made this and have a couple notes for someone making this for the first time.
1) check your gluten free flour for xanthan gum or other binders. I didn’t do this and added the called for xanthan gum and it ended up WAY too gummy and thick.
2) add your extra milk or egg whites before all the dry ingredients. Once all the dry ingredients are in, the dough is too thick to try and add liquids to.
Overall the end result tasted good but it was very frustrating to make. I think adding the xanthan gum really made both issues worse. Hope this helps someone.
katbiggie says
April 25, 2016 at 5:03 pmThanks, this is really great feedback! I appreciate you sharing that information!