Gluten Free Yellow Cake

I’ve been on a cake making kick, evidently. A couple of weeks ago I decided to revamp the yellow cake recipe I’ve been using for a while. I’ve actually been a little disenchanted with it, even though I invented it myself. Recently it’s just seemed too…heavy. And the texture hasn’t been quite right. So I compared that recipe with the Vanilla Texas sheet cake that I’ve been making, and ended up with this recipe. Well, actually I ended up with a recipe that didn’t work quite as well as I wanted. So THIS time I decreased the buttermilk and it turned out beautifully. It’s not quite as tall as I’d like it to be, but that could probably be fixed by making a 1.5 times recipe and then baking it a little longer. I’ll let you know how it turns out after I try it :)

Gluten Free Yellow Cake

3/4 c. butter, softened
1.5 c. sugar
3 eggs
2 c. EGF all-purpose flour
1 tsp. xanthan gum
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. buttermilk (I use just under 1 c. whole milk plus about 2-3 tsp. lemon juice; don’t go crazy, though, or you’ll end up with a lemon cake)
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 375°. Prepare a 9 x 13 pan (either by spraying it with nonstick cooking spray or by lining it with parchment paper).

Combine butter and sugar in a stand mixer. Beat on medium to high speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix well. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Combine buttermilk and vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk to the creamed butter mixture, starting and ending with flour and mixing on low to medium speed after each addition until well incorporated. (Don’t go too overboard on the mixing, though. Because we are working with gluten free flours, the cake won’t get tough, but if you incorporated too much air into the cake batter the lack of gluten means the flour has a harder time keeping its structure around the air bubbles and then you’re more likely to get a collapsed cake. And NOBODY wants one of those.)

Pour batter into the prepared pan. Place in the preheated oven and bake for about 35 minutes (maybe a little less, maybe a little more). The cake will be pulling away from the edges of the pan and the top will spring back when gently touched. (Also a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean. You know the drill.) Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

Before frosting - can you tell how the edges have pulled inward a bit? 

I frosted mine with a recipe of Lemon Buttercream Frosting that I found on Sally’s Baking Addiction. I did add  an extra couple of tablespoons of fresh lemon juice because the lemon flavor wasn’t quite strong enough for my taste. Altogether the cake was just delightful - the taste and texture were just like a homemade cake made with regular flour - and super easy to make. I’m excited to try it as the cake part of my Peach Right Side Up Cake, too!

The color is not quite right on this picture as it was taken inside, but you can see how cleanly it cut and how beautiful the texture was. 

Peanut Butter Sheet Cake

So, it turns out I really like these sheet cakes. I’ve done chocolate, vanilla, and caramel sheet cakes, and today I decided to try a peanut butter version. I’m not sure what it is that helps these particular gluten free cakes to be so soft and light (I suspect the boiling water), but they’ve just been delicious. This peanut butter cake was no exception. Everyone liked it, even my daughter’s college roommate who, as a general rule, doesn’t like peanut butter things. Give it a try and tell me what you think!

Peanut Butter Texas Sheet Cake

2 c. EGF all-purpose flour
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter (1 stick)
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1 Tbs oil
1 c. water
1/2 c. buttermilk (I use 1/2 c. whole milk plus about 1.5 tsp. lemon juice)
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

In a large bowl, combine flour mix, sugar, xanthan gum, baking soda, and salt. In a medium pan, combine butter, peanut butter, oil, and water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring regularly. (Don’t worry if the peanut butter mixture starts to look separated - it will all mix in well in the end). Pour peanut butter mixture into flour mixture and mix well until smooth. Add buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla and mix thoroughly. The batter will be thin.

Pour batter into a greased (or well-sprayed-with-Pam or parchment-paper-lined) 13x18 sheet cake pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. (The edges of the cake will start to pull away from the pan when the cake is done, and the center of the cake will bounce back if gently touched (don’t burn yourself!).) Remove from the oven and, while hot, top with the following frosting:

Peanut Butter Frosting

1/2 c. butter (1 stick)
1/2 c. peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
3 1/3 c. powdered sugar (just under 1 lb.)
6-7 Tbs. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Place powdered sugar in the bow of a stand mixer. Combine butter, peanut butter, and milk in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring continually, until mixture starts boiling.  (Again, don’t worry if the mixture separates some.) Turn the mixer on low and slowly pour the hot peanut butter mixture into the powdered sugar while the mixer is running.  Mix on medium speed until the powdered sugar is well-incorporated and the icing is smooth, then add the vanilla.

Pour immediately over warm cake and gently spread. (Frosting will firm up quickly and spreads best while still hot.)

Vanilla Texas Sheet Cake

So, after I made three or four chocolate sheet cakes in a row I suddenly began to wonder if there was a vanilla version of the Texas Sheet Cake, and (if so) if it would translate well to gluten free.  I was a little hesitant to try it because I had the idea in my head that chocolate cakes always transition to GF better than vanilla ones.  But I had a free afternoon, so I tried it. I found a recipe here and modified it to be a little closer to my original chocolate version. So far I've made it twice, and it's been a big hit each time, with people fighting over the last piece :)

Vanilla Texas Sheet Cake

2 c. EGF all-purpose flour
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. butter (2 sticks)
1 c. water
1/2 c. buttermilk (I use 1/2 c. whole milk plus about 1.5 tsp. lemon juice)
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

In a large bowl, combine flour mix, sugar, xanthan gum, baking soda, and salt. In a medium pan, combine butter and water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. Pour butter mixture into flour mixture and mix well until smooth. Add buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla and mix thoroughly. The batter will be quite thin.

Pour batter into a greased (or well-sprayed-with-Pam) 13x18 sheet cake pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. (The edges of the cake will pull away from the pan when the cake is done.) Remove from the oven and, while hot, top with the following frosting:

Browned Butter Frosting

1/2 c. butter (1 stick)
5 c. powdered sugar (about 1 1/3 lb.)
6 Tbs. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring continually, until butter is a light brown color and aromatic. (If you burn the butter, don't use it. Throw it out and start again.) Add powdered sugar a cup or so at a time, stirring until well incorporated each time and adding milk as necessary to keep the mixture mixable. Remove from heat and add any remaining milk and the vanilla. Mix well with a hand mixer or stand mixer until smooth.

Pour immediately over hot cake (frosting will firm up quickly and spreads best while still hot).

Gluten Free Texas Sheet Cake

I've been making a lot of Texas Sheet Cakes lately. I hadn't ever really tried to make a gluten free version of it until recently. I'm not sure why...perhaps because I'm not a huge huge chocolate cake fan. But one day a few weeks ago I suddenly wanted to make one, so I pulled out my mom's old recipe, compared it to a recipe I found on the web, made some GF adjustments and set to work. The first one was a little crumbly and hadn't been cooked quite enough, but subsequent trials were just lovely. So I thought I'd share.  Enjoy!

Texas Sheet Cake

2 c. EGF all-purpose flour
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. butter (2 sticks)
1 c. water
4 Tbs. cocoa
1/2 c. buttermilk (I use 1/2 c. whole milk plus about 1.5 tsp. lemon juice)
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

In a large bowl, combine flour mix, sugar, xanthan gum, baking soda, and salt. In a medium pan, combine butter, water, and cocoa. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. Pour cocoa mixture into flour mixture and mix well until smooth. Add buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla and mix thoroughly. The batter will be quite thin.

Pour batter into a greased (or well-sprayed-with-Pam) 13x18 sheet cake pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. (The edges of the cake will pull away from the pan when the cake is done.) Remove from the oven and, while hot, top with the following frosting:

Frosting for Texas Sheet Cake

1/2 c. butter (1 stick)
6 Tbs. milk
4 Tbs. cocoa
1 lb. powdered sugar (about 3 3/4 cups)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. coarsely chopped pecans

Combine butter, milk, and cocoa in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and pour over powdered sugar. Add vanilla. Mix well. Add chopped nuts. Pour immediately over hot cake (frosting will firm up quickly and spreads best while still hot).

Peach Right-Side-Up Cake

When I was little my mother made a pineapple upside-down cake. She may have made more than one, but I disliked it so much that I don't really remember.  I don't know why I disliked it ... lots of people LOVE Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. And I myself love fresh pineapple. I don't even mind canned pineapple ... but I will happily forego eating Pineapple Upside-Down Cake for the rest of my life.  Sometime this spring, however, I saw a picture on facebook of a PEACH Upside-Down Cake.  Now, THAT appealed to me. So I googled some recipes and started to play. I don't actually turn the cake upside down - we just eat it straight out of the cake pan,with vanilla ice cream, cool whip, or whipped cream - which is why I call it a Right-Side-Up Cake.

Gluten Free Stroopwafels

Last year my family and I went to a tulip festival held here in Utah Valley. There was a vendor selling Stroopwafels… a Dutch treat that's kind of a crispy, thin cookie filled with a cinnamony caramel syrup.  They were, of course, full of gluten. But that didn't stop my husband and me from enjoying them… it only stopped me from being able to share with the children. At the time I wondered if I could make some gluten-free, but when I looked up recipes they all called for yeast. As yeast-based breads are often hard to translate into gluten free versions, I decided not to try it then. Today, though,  I suddenly worked up enough energy to give it a shot.

Gluten Free Graham Crackers

A couple of weeks ago I made graham crackers for a dessert. I used the recipe in our second cookbook, but as I baked them I realized again that I have not been in love with this recipe for a while. Somehow the graham crackers always seem to boil away. And they are chewy… And they just aren't quite as good as I want them to be. So today I decided that I would take a look at the recipe and see what I could do to improve it.