Recipe: Gluten-free birthday cake by Susan Hart

One of the happiest outcomes of my life is the relationship my children have with each other. For my older daughter’s recent birthday, my younger daughter baked her favorite cake from childhood — gluten-free, of course — and it was a smashing success.

The recipe used my new flour mix, Help Yourself — It’s Gluten-free!, which was an added gratification. The mix can be purchased at Great Basin Coop in Reno, Sierra Acupuncture in Carson City, or on my website, HelpYourself-gf.com.

The recipe is adapted from Silver Palate’s Chestnut Cake recipe, although this has no chestnuts. It’s just a really nice yellow cake and easy to prepare.

The cake itself is also dairy-free, so it could be topped with a dairy-free icing or glaze to preserve that quality.The cake was absolutely delicious, dense and crumb-y at the same time. The presentation was unique, as you can see. I love my girls!

GLUTEN-FREE YELLOW CAKE WITH WHIPPED CREAM AND STRAWBERRIES

(Requires two hours to cool before topping can be applied)

CAKE

2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup dry white wine

2 1/2 cups Help Yourself GF Baking Mix (or other g-f mix)

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

TOPPING/FILLING

1 pint heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 pints fresh strawberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly (gluten-free) flour two 9-inch cake pans.

Beat the sugar and eggs in a large mixing bowl for 30 seconds. Add the oil, wine, flour, xanthan gum, salt, baking powder and vanilla. Beat for one minute.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans. Place the pans on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool for 5 minutes, then turn the layers onto racks to cool for 2 hours.

When the cake is cool, whip the cream, slowly adding the 1/4 cup of sugar and, finally, the vanilla.

Place about 2/3 cup whipped cream between the layers and garnish with 1 cup sliced strawberries. Put more whipped cream on the top and sides, and garnish with remaining strawberries, whole or sliced.

Chill for 45 minutes to an hour and serve. Serves 12.

Bon Appetit!

Susan Hart has been cooking gluten-free for 20 years. She can be reached at glutenfree.hart@gmail.com.