Raw Berry Tart with a Coconut Pastry Cream (vegan, gluten-free)

I have something for you, just in time for 4th of July celebrations.....and no cooking required! I used to think that making tarts was a complicated process, but it is really quite simple. You will need a 9 or 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, which can be found on amazon.com or your local kitchen store. For this recipe I use my standard nut-date crust which is pressed into the pan. Then the filling is added and topped with whatever berries or fresh fruit you have on hand. Raw tarts come together so quickly!

For the pastry cream, I use coconut butter, which is made from both the oil and the meat. We like the brand Artisana, but you can use others. Sometimes it is labeled with different names such as coconut mana or coconut cream concentrate, but it is all the same thing.

Grain-Free Cupcakes with Vegan Coconut Frosting

These gorgeous chocolate-banana-honey grain-free cupcakes are from Elana Amsterdam's latest cookbook, Gluten-Free Cupcakes: 50 Irresistible Recipes Made with Almond and Coconut Flour. If you are looking for simple, healthy grain-free cupcake recipes, this is the book to turn to. All but one of the cupcake recipes contain eggs. It isn't easy creating grain-free recipes without using a lot of eggs. There are also a bunch of healthy frosting recipes to choose from, many of them being dairy-free.

My children love flipping through her book picking out the recipes they want me to make.....which is all of them I think! I love that all of Elana's recipes contain very few ingredients and can be made in a snap! Be sure to check out her blog too if you haven't already.

Although I can't share the recipe photographed above, I wanted to mention that I have substituted honey for the agave nectar called for in this recipe with great results. This particular recipe as well as many others are made with coconut flour. Great for those of you who are nut-free. I do have another recipe to share from the book that I think you'll like. And if you are interested in winning a signed copy of this book, please leave a comment below.

If you are interested in checking out another recipe in this book before purchasing it, you can read my friend Shirley's review from last April where she shares Elana's Marble Cupcakes.

Milk Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Agave Frosting (Vegan & Gluten-Free)

Welcome to day three of our Gluten-Free Progressive Dinner Party! Today's theme is chocolate! I am sharing a favorite allergy-free cupcake recipe amongst the younger crowd. This chocolate cupcake is light, moist, easy to make, and has a mild chocolate flavor. The great thing about this recipe is the fact that all children love it, gluten-free or not. I also have another fun giveaway for you, read on to find out....

My 5-year old nephew was just in town visiting. I made these cupcakes for a bake sale at my children's school this past weekend. Of course I had to save a few of them! My nephew, who isn't gluten-free, loved them and asked me to send the recipe to his mom (along with a number of other recipes I made)!

Like my Soft Molasses Cookie recipe, I use either Sucanat or Coconut Sugar for the sweetener in these cupcakes. I have tested it with organic cane sugar and the overall flavor lacked the depth that only a dark, rich sugar can give. Sucanat or Coconut Sugar work beautifully. If you haven't yet entered the giveaway for the 2-pound bag of Coconut Sugar, you still have time, go to my last post to enter.

If you are interested in baking gluten-free cakes or cupcakes from a mix then I have just the thing! Authentic Foods has offered 6 Vanilla Bean Cake Mixes for a giveaway here. I love using their superfine flours in baking. You'll see a number of recipes on this blog using their flours and arrowroot powder. To be entered in the giveaway just leave a comment. To be entered twice you can share this on twitter or facebook, just be sure to come back and leave a second comment! The giveawy will remain open until 9pm PST on December 11th. I will choose 6 names using Random Number Generator so please check back to see if you won and then email me with your contact info!