Gluten-Free Strawberries & Cream Cake

26 Posted on July 26, 2012 - by Jules Shepard

Categories: All, Cakes, Recipes

Tags: , Allergy Friendly, Dairy Free, Desserts, Earth Balance, GFCF, Gluten Free Birthdays, Gluten Free Kids

This month marked the birthday of a special friend whose favorite food in the whole world is strawberries. She tries to add strawberries to everything: scones; pancakes; cakes … but unfortunately they don’t turn out so well because strawberries are so juicy! Add fresh strawberries to a cake and it starts to “weep.” (If you’ve ever tried this, you know what I mean!) Add fresh strawberries to scones and they go kinda flat.

Thus my decision to make a strawberry birthday cake for her, and to make it full of strawberry flavor without the strawberry runny-ness! My creation is before you – I’ve made it several times now, using different proportions to get it just right. I highly recommend the egg-white version below, but you could use whole eggs instead. If you try your favorite egg substitutes, let me know how they turn out! I didn’t have time yet to venture into making this cake vegan, but I’d love to know if you do!

For all the strawberry lovers in your life, I give you Strawberries & Cream Cake (Gluten and Dairy-Free!).

*Note: Before you get fussy with me because I used cake mix in this recipe, please understand that once in awhile I suffer from the same time restraints we all do! Especially in recipe development, when you have to make a recipe several times to get it right and be sure that it’s right enough to share … using my mix was a true blessing! If you’d rather make this recipe from scratch, I’d suggest following the recipe for my white cake, using those dry ingredients as if they were a mix, then proceeding with this recipe as written. There, now everybody’s happy!

Strawberries & Cream Cake

Jules’ Cake Mix
1/2 cup butter or non-dairy alternative (e.g. Earth Balance® Buttery Sticks)
2 cups granulated sugar of choice (white sugar; unrefined sugar; coconut palm sugar; etc.)
8 egg whites (or 4 whole eggs)
1/2 cup strawberry purée (start with 10 oz. frozen or fresh strawberries)
1/2 cup milk, dairy or non-dairy (e.g. So Delicious® Coconut Milk)
1 cup dehydrated strawberries, sliced
red food coloring (if desired) (India Tree® Natural Decorating Colors)

Pre-heat oven to 350º F (static) or 325º F (convection). Spray two 8 0r 9-inch round cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and dust entire surface lightly with Jules Gluten Free™ All-Purpose Flour. To make cupcakes, oil or line cupcake pans with cupcake papers (Makes 28-30 cupcakes).

Purée frozen or fresh, cleaned and hulled strawberries in a blender or food processor. Measure out 1/2 cup. Reserve extra to drizzle over slices of cake if desired (or make a smoothie!).

Combine the butter and granulated sweetener of choice and beat well with your mixer’s paddle attachment, until the mixture is very light and fluffy (approximately 3-4 minutes). Add the eggs next, beating well until the mixture is light (*NOTE: a reader shared that she whipped the egg whites separately to soft peaks and then folded them into the batter, which made the cake incredibly fluffy and light, and didn’t dry it out.)

Slowly add the purée, milk and food coloring (if using), alternating with the Jules’ Cake Mix and beating in between the additions. Stir in dehydrated strawberries and pour into the prepared pans.

For cakes, bake for 30-35 minutes, turning the pans half-way through if using convection setting; for cupcakes, test after 20 minutes for doneness by inserting a cake tester or toothpick in the middle of each cake and be sure it comes out clean, with very few crumbs attached. The cakes will also begin to pull away slightly from the sides of the pans. Add time if necessary to fully bake the cakes.

When done, turn off the oven and leave the oven door open to let the cakes cool slowly there for 5 minutes or so, then remove the cakes to a cooling rack.

After 15-20 minutes of total cooling time, gently invert the cakes to remove them from the pans, then flip gently back onto the cooling rack until fully cooled.

Frost the cakes only when fully cooled, or in the alternative, wrap the cakes with wax paper or plastic wrap and seal inside freezer bags to freeze or refrigerate until ready to use.

Fluffy Frosting

This gorgeous frosting creates the “cream” for my Strawberries & Cream Cake. No dairy here, though!

1 cup granulated cane sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
2 egg whites
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Over medium heat, whisk together sugar, water and cream of tartar in a small saucepan. Continue stirring until the mixture bubbles and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat immediately (the mixture may start to brown, but do not allow it to cook to dark brown or to burn).

Combine egg whites and vanilla in a mixer bowl. Slowly stir in the cooked sugar mixture with beaters on low. Increase mixer speed to high for 6 minutes, or until the frosting has whipped to stiff peaks when tested with a rubber spatula.

Frost cakes with a thick layer of Fluffy Frosting, swirling designs using an off-set spatula for added decoration.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 26th, 2012 at 7:35 pm and is filed under All, Cakes, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

22 Comments

We'd love to hear yours!

Brandy O’Leary said: on July 27, 2012

This looks so yummy and very simply to make!!!
Reply
Hailey Hughes said: on July 27, 2012

Is there a way to substitute your regular flour for this? I have 6 bags of that, and 0 cake flour
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- Jules said: on July 27, 2012
  
  Hailey – read the intro note to the recipe where I explain how to make the cake with my flour if you don’t have my Cake Mix!
  Reply
Sue said: on July 27, 2012

How do I cook this cake @ high altitude, above 5,000 ft.
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- Jules said: on July 27, 2012
  
  Sue- have a look at my post on High Altitude Baking Tips: http://blog.julesglutenfree.com/2012/05/high-altitude-gluten-free-baking-tips/. I would suspect you would not need to make any adjustments at all, having baked others of my cake recipes at 7,800 ft with success. If you feel that the batter is too thick/dry, you might add a splash more milk, but other than that, I would try it the way it’s written first just to see. Good luck!
  Reply
tERRI KROENING said: on July 27, 2012

WHERE OR HOW DO I MAKE DEHYDRATED STRAWBERRIES SLICED??
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- Jules said: on July 27, 2012
  
  Terri – the easiest thing is to buy the strawberries dehydrated or freeze dried. Look for Crunchies brand: http://crunchiesfood.com/. Otherwise, there are lots of internet sites explaining the best ways to DIY!
  Reply
Deborah said: on July 28, 2012

What can you use as an egg substitute for the frosting.
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- Jules said: on July 28, 2012
  
  Deborah, since this frosting is egg white-based, I’d recommend using my vegan frosting recipe instead. Try this one: http://blog.julesglutenfree.com/2010/10/chocolatewhite-frosting/
  Reply
Hailey Hughes said: on July 28, 2012

Hey Jules, I just made your cake.. Its FABULOUS!!! I did whip my egg whites until soft peaks.. then folded into the batter. This made the cake incredibly fluffy and light,and didnt dry it out. This could be a good option for those who have had problems with it coming out too dense for their tastes. THe dried strawberries make this cake SO amazing! Thanks for the recipes!!
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- Jules said: on July 30, 2012
  
  Hailey, that’s a great idea with the egg whites – thanks for sharing your results! I’ll go back and add that suggestion in the post for folks. I always appreciate input from my “recipe testers”!
  Reply
- Jeff said: on July 31, 2012
  
  Did you take a picture of this yummy cake?
  Reply
Bethany said: on July 30, 2012

I will be making this cake very soon. I think I’ll make this for MY birthday at the end of August. Thanks for the recipe.
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- Jules said: on July 30, 2012
  
  Awesome, Bethany! Happy early birthday!!!
  Reply
Pam said: on July 30, 2012

Jules … what can i use to replace the eggs in the cake recipe..or can i… i was thinking chai seeds or flax or is that to much…pam
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- Jules said: on July 30, 2012
  
  Pam – this recipe calls for 4 eggs or 8 egg whites … that’s a lot of eggs. If you want to try to use egg subs, I’d recommend using a few different kinds, rather than all the same replacement. In my book, Free for All Cooking, I outline lots of different subs and how to use them in all kinds of recipes. I would suggest trying the sub on the Jules’ Cake Mix + subs like 1 Tbs. milk powder (I’d use Dari-Free), 1 Tbs. cornstarch and 2 Tbs. warm water (= 1 egg) and the chia seeds + water sub you describe, rather than just using the chia sub. Do you have my book? It would be really helpful when considering which and how to try. Expect that the cake will be a bit more dense with the egg subs, but still plenty tasty! This cake might also work best as cupcakes with the egg subs, so that the centers will be sure to be fully cooked without drying out the outside. Keep me posted on your experiments!
  Reply
ashlyn millican said: on August 8, 2012

jules being only 11 years old im picky on my food and having celacs disease doesnt help at all but tryin this is bringing my hopes up on awesome tasting food thanks!!!

ashlyn
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- Jules said: on August 9, 2012
  
  Ashlyn, my kids and I are super picky too – it’s ok to be picky about your food and don’t settle for anything less than yummy! I hope you get to make this cake soon. Just because you have to eat gluten-free doesn’t mean you can’t have awesome and beautiful foods like this cake … it tastes as good as it looks!
  Reply
Bonnie said: on August 11, 2012

I must be missing something– what is the measurement of cake flour? This looks delicious so I’m eager to try it.
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- Jules said: on August 13, 2012
  
  Hi Bonnie, this recipe was written for my Jules Gluten Free Cake Mix, so the recipe just calls for one whole mix. See the notes if you’d prefer to make it from scratch – there’s a recipe for that too!
  Reply
Sandra said: on August 21, 2012

Is this recipe in your book? I just bought it on Amazon, but I am wondering if I need to print this one out. Thanks!
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- Jules said: on August 23, 2012
  
  Sandra, this recipe is not in my book, so print it and put in with the cake recipes in my book! Enjoy!
  Reply