My niece Madi is enrolled in a culinary baking program and is in love with all things baking. I am not a baker; I am a cook. There is definitely a difference. Cooks fly from the hip. They taste as they go and throw this and that in the pot and have a hard time following a recipe. Bakers are methodical; they measure and pay attention to the details. Bakers are every bit as creative as cooks, but they approach their craft differently. They have to be more fastidious, as baking is a science, and you have more opportunities to screw up. So when Madi invited me to spend a day baking with her, I was all ears. Madi wanted to take a stab at gluten-free baking so we decided to make a gluten-free birthday cake. And I have to say, it turned out pretty darned well.

Gluten-free birthday cake

More and more  people are experimenting with gluten-free eating, my family included. I personally think going gluten-free can be an effective way to avoid a lot of highly-processed and sugar-ladened foods, provided you don't substitute a lot of highly processed sugar-ladened gluten-free foods to fill in the void. That said, for those on a gluten-free diet, there are special occasions when you really miss a good baked treat. For me, birthdays are one of those times. This cake fills the bill for a great gluten-free birthday cake. It is light, tender, lemony and delicious.

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Gluten-free baking

There are a few good gluten-free baked goods out there. Meringues, particularly, come to mind. But there are a lot more dreadful gluten-free baked goods that are not worth the bother. Madi and I did our research and found Gluten-free Baking Classics by Annalise G. Roberts, a highly rated gluten-free baker and author. Annalise has delved deep into the science of baking gluten-free. Her book is filled with great recipes, methods and gluten-free baking wisdom. Madi and I used her lemon cake recipe for the basis of our cake.

Annalise G. Roberts' custom gluten-free flour mix

You can buy premixed gluten free flours, but just substituting them for regular flour does not always come out well. Many gluten-free baked goods are heavy and dry. Annalise developed a mix of extra finely ground brown rice flour, potato starch and tapioca flour, that until recently had to be blended at home. Now Authentic Foods sells a premixed gluten-free flour blend specifically for Annalise's recipes. You can purchase this flour here online. Or you can make your own mix by combining 2 parts extra fine ground brown rice flour with 2/3 part potato starch, with 1/3 part tapioca flour.

Xanthan gum

Xanthan gum replaces gluten in gluten-free baking. Xanthan gum is made from fermenting glucose, sucrose or lactose.  It provides elasticity and helps baked goods bind together. It is critical to be very accurate in measuring xanthan gum. 1/8th teaspoon too much or too little will make a difference.

Filling

For the filling we followed my daughter Margo's suggestion and cooked down some fresh strawberries, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice to make a jammy fresh fruit filling. Adjust the amount of sugar you use depending on the sweetness of your strawberries. See my post on strawberries to learn how to buy and store them as well as the health benefits of eating strawberries.

Frosting

We wanted a whipped cream based frosting, but one that would hold up. We added cream cheese to the frosting to make it a little sturdier, slightly modifying a recipe by Jo-Lynn on All Recipes. I like to use vanilla paste instead of vanilla extract, because of the flavor and aroma, and because I love seeing the vanilla seeds in my frosting. You can use either vanilla extract or vanilla paste as they are 1:1 substitutes for each other. A trick Madi taught me is to put the cake pans in the freezer before you frost them. You can freeze them overnight, but even a half hour helps firm up the cake and makes it easier to frost.

Note on duplicate ingredients

Some of the same ingredients are used in the filling, the cake and the frosting. For this recipe, I list the ingredients and the amounts in the order they are used, repeating ingredients used at each step, rather than combining the the total quantity of the ingredient used in one line. I think this method reduces the risk of inadvertently dumping all the sugar for the entire cake into the filling. Please let me know what you think!

The most fun I have ever had baking a cake

As I mentioned, baking is not my thing, but I had a blast baking with Madi. We can't wait for our next baking date! Print