Cake Makes Life Better. Make a Cake.

From the Author, Deimante: Cake makes life better. I think that's pretty much a fact. Unfortunately gluten is my mortal enemy and so I'm on a mission to bake delicious gluten free cakes. This one has made it onto my list of success! What's even better is that it's in the shape of a heart!

This cake is light, creamy and moreish. In fact it's so good that all of my friends who tried it absolutely loved it and didn't even know it was gluten free until I told them! I found this recipe on Gluten Free On A Shoestring and have adapted it slightly. If you want to attempt making this delicious cake yourself check out the recipe below.

Gluten-Free Lemon Cream Cake Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 315 g self raising gluten free flour
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 12 tablespoons (168 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 200g granulated sugar
• 1 large egg (50 g, weighed out of shell) + 3 egg whites (75 g) at room temperature, beaten
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 225ml lukewarm water
• 9 tablespoons (54 g) nonfat dry milk, ground into a finer powder (although I didn't use any of this and the recipe still turned out fine)
• Zest of half a lemon
• For the lemon cream filling
• 284ml heavy whipping cream, chille
• 1 package of cream cheese, at room temperature
• 5 tablespoons (70 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 460 g confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice ( I actually used 4 tablespoons as I felt that it wasn't lemony enough with just two)
• Finely grated zest of 2 lemons

Making the Lemon Cake

*The recipe calls for a stand mixer but I managed to do each step by hand using a whisk it did take longer to do but it worked fine.*
In a large bowl, place the flour blend, xanthan gum, nonfat dry milk, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and whisk to combine well.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a large bowl with a hand mixer, place the butter and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). I beat it by hand and even though it took longer it worked fine.
Add the sugar, eggs and vanilla, beating on medium-high speed until well-combined after each addition (again I did this by hand using a whisk).
Add the dry ingredients and the water, alternating between the two and beginning and ending with the flour, beating on medium speed to combine after each addition. The batter will be light and fluffy and may seem a bit curdled (which is fine!).
Add lemon zest of 1 lemon
Divide the cake batter evenly among the two prepared cake pans and shake into an even layer in each.
Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake, rotating once, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached (about 25 minutes).
Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before inverting onto wire racks to cool completely.

Making The Lemon Cream Filling

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or a large bowl with a hand mixer, place the heavy whipping cream and beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. I beat by hand and it probably took around 10 minutes.

Scrape the whipped cream into a separate bowl and place it in the refrigerator to chill. In the same mixer bowl, place the cream cheese and butter and beat (with the paddle attachment if using a stand mixer) until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
Add the salt and confectioners’ sugar, and beat on low speed until the sugar is absorbed into the cream cheese-butter mixture.
Add the lemon juice and lemon zest (keep a little from sprinkling), turn the mixer up to high speed and continue to beat until the frosting is light and fluffy (about 3 more minutes).
Remove the whipped cream from the refrigerator and fold it into the cream cheese frosting.

Once your cake is fully cool, spread the cream cheese frosting on them and decorate with a little grated lemon zest.

Get a picture, these things disappear quickly.

Baked wearing this:

This recipe was used with permission from Deimantė Ona Baurinaitė-Peel, who writes about food, travel, and fashion at http://sunnydei.com.

If you have any good gluten free bakes please do share them with us!

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