Tuesday, September 4, 2012

The Gluten-Free Birthday Party Series: Grain-Free, Sugar-Free, Gluten-Free Birthday Cake


Delicious half-eaten birthday cake shot.  Love my photography skills don't you?  Hopefully at the least this is a testament to the product being edible, if not downright yummy!

A big thanks goes to Joyful Abode as her recipe for her little one served as the jumping off point for this recipe.  Here is her recipe.  I wanted mine to also be SF and dairy free, and as free of added starch as possible.  If those aren't concerns for you, I urge you to check hers out!  Clearly her frosting was prettier than mine!

This cake could probably serve 15-16 people depending on how big the slices.  If they are toddler sized slices, than probably much more.  Indeed this cake is so not-bad-for-you, you could conceivably give it to your toddler for breakfast the next day.  Is that what I did?  I'll never tell.  But beware, this frosting does not last.  So don't expect it to look the same the next day or you'll be super disappointed!

Grain-Free, Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Strawberry Cake with Marshmallow Frosting
1 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup chestnut flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
8 room temp eggs
1/4 cup walnut oil, or melted coconut oil
1 cup preferred SF liquid sweetener
1 cup finely chopped strawberries
1/2 cup preferred nut milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting:
4 egg whites, preferably chilled
pinch of cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup xylitol

Line two 9 inch cake pans with parchment and grease the sides.  Preheat your oven to 350.  If you have a convection oven, now would be the time folks.  In a large mixing bowl, combine your flours, baking powder, and salt, and stir well to get out any lumps.  In a separate bowl, break your eggs, and pour in your oil, liquid sweetener, extract, and nut milk.  Pour wet into dry and stir stir stir!  You want this to be a wet cake batter, not quite pancake batter consistency, but nice and pourable.  You may need to add a bit more nut milk depending on how dry your coconut flour is.  Then add in your chopped strawberries.  Pour equal amounts into your cake pans and bake until the tops are starting to turn golden and a knife comes out clean.  You do not want to over bake these so start checking the minute you see some color on the tops.  Remove them and let them cool on the counter thoroughly before you even think about frosting them!!!

For the frosting, get your double boiler out.  Once the water is simmering, add your egg whites, cream of tartar, and xylitol.  With your electric whisk, whisk until you have very stiff peaks.  7 minutes ish.  Then add in your extract and whisk just enough to distribute.  Use a spatula to carefully fold in your chopped strawberries.  If you are smart, you will do several things.  Get a cake plate.  Put paper towel down on the sides only.  Place one cake on the plate and frost it with one of those special frosting knives, I forget what they're called.  Place your second cooled cake on top, and frost the top, and then down the sides.  Once you've finished, remove the paper towel and you've got a clean cake plate.  Top with berries and serve as soon as humanly possible!

We had an entirely gluten-free party, and all the treats I prepared were sugar-free too.  Surprisingly, people seemed to enjoy the cake a lot!  Would the kiddos have preferred your standard white flour and buttercream frosting cake?  Duh.  Were there tears of protestation?  No.  And most importantly, S loved every bite.  And who am I kidding- who else do I care about?

This was my first layer cake and my first time making a meringue frosting.  It's a good dairy-free go to frosting, but if you need to frost your cake much in advance, this is not the frosting for you.  I don't know if a coconut cream frosting would hold up much better either.  If you have any frosting suggestions, please let me know!!!  And please, do not use erythritol in this frosting.  The cooling sensation would not be welcome in this instance.  Unless you get your hands on some of that special erythritol for baking- the powdered kind.  That might work better.

Stay tuned for more GF birthday party recipes, including brownies, and raw vanilla cake bites.  XoXoGFG

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