Gluten Free Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Frosting

Name: Gluten Free Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Frosting
Ingredients: 3/4 cup +2 tbsp brown rice flour (140 grams); 1/2 cup +2 tbsp and 1 tsp white rice flour (105 grams); 3/4 cup +2 tbsp tapioca starch (105 grams); 1/2 tsp xanthan gum; 2-1/2 tsp baking powder; 1/2 tsp salt; 1 "egg" (I used Ener-G egg replacement powder, mixed according to their instructions); 1-3/4 cup non-dairy milk; 1/4 cup water; 1/2 cup non-dairy butter (softened); 1-1/2 cup sugar; 1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract; 1/4 cup water; 1 cup non-dairy butter (softened); 4 cups powdered sugar (measured, then sifted); 1 tbsp vanilla extract; 1-3 tsp water or milk (as needed)

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With my daughter’s first birthday rapidly approaching, I have been planning on finding a vanilla cake recipe I like so I can make a cake (one for the adults, one for her to destroy/eat) for her party. I found a vegan recipe online that looked pretty good and was highly reviewed. I made a couple of small tweaks, converted the flour to a gluten free blend I like for cakes and made a test cake. I knew something was off with it when it developed what can best be described as looking like an outie belly button on the top well before it was done. When it was done, I was still optimistic. It looked good otherwise, smelled nice and was fully baked. I let it cool off completely before trimming it. Still looked good. Made frosting, covered it and put it in the fridge for a bit. When I finally sliced into it to try a slice, I immediately knew something was off. The interior of the cake was oily. What had been the top half of the cake was more baked than the bottom half (which is the opposite of what usually happens). And it somehow had a slight taste of lemon, even though I did not put any lemon juice in it, despite the original recipe calling for it. Apparently the wishes of the original author somehow prevailed.

So did I tweak it and try again? Did I change my mixing technique? No, I crossed out that recipe in my notebook, made a note that it was bad and moved on to a recipe I had done years ago with some success. One of my all time favorite vegan baking books is The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. It’s been one of my go to sources for years. The vanilla cake recipe in it is more of a traditional cake recipe, but it always turned out a little too dense. Now, several years and a degree in baking later, I tried it again and figured out what to change.

You start off by creaming the butter and sugar, which is a common thing in a lot of older, non-vegan recipes. Before you start that, I suggest you get all of your other components ready. Measure out (and sift!) your dry ingredients, whip together your egg replacer and combine it with your other liquids. Although the mixing process for this is a little more intricate than the usual add wet to dry, once you start mixing, it comes together pretty quickly.

As for the frosting, it’s a very basic frosting. The original recipe it started off as calls for 1 to 2 tablespoons of liquid in addition to the vanilla extract. If you add that much, it tends to have a whipped cream like consistency, which sounds great, but doesn’t work so well for decorating a cake. I say just mix it longer and add a tiny bit of liquid if needed. The frosting in the pictures has no additional liquid. It could have possibly benefited from a tiny bit, maybe a teaspoon or so. But a tablespoon would have been overkill, so I’ve adjusted it accordingly.

We let Dahlia try a bite of the cake and it’s safe to say she loved it, as when we offered her more, she snatched the entire piece before we could break off something smaller for her. So even if no one else likes it, the soon to be birthday girl approves.