This morning I woke up and wanted to make a cake. With fresh strawberries and blueberries. A buttermilk berry cake but with honey and without gluten. Something that Eden could eat. In my adventures and attempts at healthier baking I have found that baking without gluten is not a really daunting challenge - once you figure out the way to exchange flours and what the different flours taste like. But baking a cake or cookies without sugar can be a bit dicey. Success is not guaranteed. At least not for me. Not yet. I am having fun with the challenge though.
I traded around a few bits and pieces from last year's recipe, crossed my fingers and held my breath, and.... it was pretty good. Moist and full of berry goodness with a sweet crunchy crust. The name doesn't have quite the ring that buttermilk berry cake does but nobody eats the name.
gluten-free berry honey cake
1 cup + 2 Tbsp whole grain gluten-free flour mix*
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp grey sea salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 cup fresh strawberries
1 cup fresh blueberries
Butter a 9" cake pan and line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt.
Beat honey and butter until fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Add the egg and yogurt and beat well. Fold in the dry ingredients. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Scatter the berries evenly over the top. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes then turn out onto a rack. Cool for 10 minutes and invert onto serving plate.
*I make my own mix of whole grain gluten-free flours. You can find the recipe for the mix at the bottom of this recipe. Or you can use any commercial gluten-free flour mix you prefer.
6 comments:
I have begun taking gluten out of my diet and am so happy to find this recipe! Is it hard to always make the changes to the recipes? That is what always confuses me.
can't wait to try this! I LOVE honey in baked items and of course, anything GF! I adore your blog Cheri. It is inspiring and beautiful and full of everything lovely!!
Jocelyn - using gluten-free flours is not much of a challenge if that is the only change. There are several good gluten-free flour mixes that are quite readily available (Bob's Red Mill makes one that many people like, I have used C4C from William's Sonoma, Planet Organic in Calgary has a 'house' blend). All of those can be substituted cup for cup with regular white flour with very good results. Of course, there is a difference but it is not a bad difference. The recipe that I referred to at the bottom of this post for a whole grain gluten-free flour mix is easy to make and can also be substituted cup for cup. If you want to get wild and crazy with different flours it is fun but there are a few things you need to know - weights of the flours being chief - and you must use a scale. Different flours have very different weights and it is the total weight of the flour in a recipe (as opposed to the volume) that is critical.
So no, it isn't hard to simply go gluten-free in recipes. No other changes need to be made in most cases. Deciding to make the change to no refined sugars seems (to me right now at any rate) to be a pretty big game changer. But that's another post all together.
Sorry this response was so long :) Probably way more than you asked for. And if it is not enough info, let me know and I will try to answer better. Thanks for the comment.
Erika - THANKS!!! What a nice comment :)
Thank-you!
this cake looks heavenly! Can't wait to try it! I second your opinion on gluten free flours! it is much easier than once was and Red Mill's is excellent! Much easier and just as effective as using a complicated combination! Love your blog!
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