Monday heralded in a new year. A year of being a little bit older and quite possibly a little bit wiser!?  It was a day spent at work with colleagues, a lunch in the park and a phone that I had to turn onto low, it was beginning to annoy my colleagues so much *beep beep* awww,  xx said happy birthday! *beep beep awww, yy is so sweet! *beep beep*....  but, hey, it was my birthday, I was feeling the love no matter what!

A morning tea of gluten free cakes were, of course, provided by me.  Those of you who follow me on twitter will have seen a few baking & pre birthday celebration photos on instagram on Sunday (I'm so in love with this app - can you not tell from the photos? if you've got this app you can follow me by searching for @gfscallywag) I spent the majority of the day breaking eggs, weighing flours & spices, mixing batters and whipping up some of my favourite vanilla cream cheese frosting - oh my its just soooo deeeelicious I've no words, just lots and lots of dirty teaspoons *teee hee hee*

The team was treated to a gluten free carrot cake with vanilla cream cheese frosting (above is the only photo I managed to take of the birthday deliciousness) and a vanilla coconut cake with berries covered (also) in vanilla cream cheese frosting. I'd already dirtied numerous bowls with cake batter, so, I thought I'd stick to just the one massive bowl of frosting ! Both cakes went down a treat and as per the requests on my facebook page , yes, I will be sharing the gluten free carrot cake recipe as soon as I'm back from Perth next week (recipe below please remember not to drool on your keyboards!). The whirlwind trip back to Perth will be spent showing off my gorgeous birthday present, a gorgeous, army green, flared coat that I found a few weeks ago, it's simply stunning and was at the very top of my birthday wishlist!

In the meantime, it's come to the time of year again when the Irresistible Gluten Free Expo is on in Melbourneand I've got tickets to give away!

I'm super excited about this as I've never been to the Irresistible Gluten Free Expo and this year I get to go myself, rather than just give away some tickets to you, my fabulous readers and fellow gluten intolerant, coeliac folk in Melbourne!

A BIG congratulations to the three winners of the Irresistible Gluten Free Expo Double Pass giveaway!!!

Sharifa Buzimkic

Trish Abrahams

& Babba Ganesh

I loved all of your answers! Especially Sharifa's crying herself to sleep! Please email jas [@] glutenfreescallywag.com with your name and Victorian postal address by this Friday 16th September 2011 to ensure tickets get to you in time! See you at the show next weekend!

For those of you who are wanting to go to the Irresistible Gluten Free Expo in Melbourne this year you can visit the websiteto purchase tickets or get them from the door on the day!

This competition is now CLOSED. 

*** To enter to win 1 of 3 double pass (valued at $40) to the Melbourne Irresistible Gluten Free Expo on September 24 & 25th 2011***

Copy the below sentence, paste it onto a wall post on the Gluten Free Scallywag facebook page or below in the comments section and finish it off for me - I simply must win tickets for the Irresistible Gluten Free Show this year or____________

You can enter twice by following the above instructions and answering the question by leaving a comment or posting on the facebook page, otherwise it's only one entry per person. 

No anonymous comments.

You must have a Victorian postal address and be able to attend the show on either Saturday 24th or Sunday 25th September.

Entries close Midnight AEST Monday12th September 2011. Winners announced Tuesday 13th September. 

Goodluck!

** This giveaway has been sponsored by the Ogilvy PR Team behind the Irresistible Gluten Free Expo.

Gluten Free Carrot Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Serves 8

4 eggs

310ml vegetable oil

1 Tblspn vanilla

330g castor sugar

300g gluten free plain flour

1tsp gluten free baking powder

2tsp bi-carb soda

3tsp cinnamon

3 cups grated carrot

80g walnuts, chopped finely (optional)

Preheat oven to 165degrees celcius, grease and line 2 x 20cm springform baking pans.

In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, oil, vanilla and sugar until thick and sugar has dissolved. Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the gluten free flour, baking powder, bi carb and cinnamon. Add the carrot and walnuts and combine until coated with flour. Add the egg mixture and mix until just it’s just come together.

Pour into pan(s) and bake for 45-50minutes.

Allow to cool for 20minutes and then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

Make 2 times the quantity of this gluten free vanilla cream cheese frosting recipe. Simply swap the lemon rind for 2tsp vanilla essence. For a dairy free option make a classic orange drizzle icing with icing suager, orange rind and a little water.

To assemble the cake:

With a sharp serrated knife slice a thin layer off the top of each cake to make them level.

Place one cake on serving platter and dollop some frosting on top. Spread it out a little, careful not to go all the way out to the edges, as when the second cake is placed on top the weight will squash it out!

Place second cake top down onto the cake, so that the bottom is now the top of the finished cake. Apply a crumb coat of frosting to the top and sides for the cake. A crumb coat is a thin layer of frosting that collects all the crumbs, so that your final frosting layer doesn't go lumpy!

Refrigerate for 10minutes and apply final frosting coat. Decorate with walnuts, coconut or even some pumpkin seeds. Stand back and admire your own delicious handiwork before cutting it up and enjoying with friends!