You can make this vanilla cake with a chocolate icing, or you can include some lemon ingredients in the batter and make a lemon icing. The recipe is for 2 9-inch round cake pans, or the equivalent volume in square cake pans. To figure out the size, remember that the area of a circle is pi (3.14) times the radius squared, and you have to account for the depth also, since this is about volume…
Don’t use bottled lemon juice – use fresh juice – it tastes better.
1 1/2 cups white rice flour
3/4 cup tapioca flour (make sure to use a flavorless tapioca flour!)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups white sugar
2/3 cup gluten-free mayonnaise
2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla extract
1 cup milk (for the lemon cake use part buttermilk)
This is really easy to mix up – put the first six dry ingredients in a bowl, and stir well.
In another bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until light and lemony colored. Beat in the mayonnaise and vanilla. Next, mix in the dry ingredients alternating with the milk, until all is mixed up well.
Grease the 9-inch round pans with butter, line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper, and dust the insides of the greased pans with rice flour or mochiko flour. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, or until a skewer tests clean. Let the cake cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then loosen the edges with a knife and turn out the cakes on racks to cool.
To stack the cake for icing, put the first layer on the plate top side down, frost the flat bottom side, then put the next layer on with the flat side down. This will put the flat sides together and they will not slide around as much.
To make a lemon cake, add the following and make adjustments:
Add the grated rind of one lemon and 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice from one fresh lemon, and substitute for the milk 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of buttermilk.
To make a lemon cream cheese frosting, melt 11 ounces of fine gluten free white chocolate (don’t use chips – they don’t melt well) in the top of a double boiler, allow to cool to room temperature. Mix in 12 ounces of cream cheese, and 12 Tablespoons of unsalted butter. Beat well until really smooth. Mix in 2 Tablespoons of fresh lemon juice. Use one cup of the icing between the layers, and use the rest to coat the top and sides of the layer cake.
For a chocolate frosted birthday cake, use the vanilla cake as the base. Then use the following icing from the Food Network’s Barefoot Contessa Show, adapted for gluten free cooking:
6 ounces gluten free semisweet chocolate
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 Tablespoon of gluten-free pasteurized egg product, such as Eggbeaters, but check on gluten free status
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon gluten free instant coffee powder dissolved in 2 teaspoons of hot water
Melt chocolate in top of double-boiler and set aside to cool to room temperature.
In a separate bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy, mix in the egg product and the vanilla. Gradually beat in the confectioner’s sugar and the coffee mixture by hand. Do not overbeat. This is a soft icing – spread it on the cake and then refrigerate the cake immediately.