This time I was looking for a recipe to make a flavorful gluten-free lemon cake from scratch. The cake should be quick and easy to make and contain no nuts as quite some kids at school did not tolerate nuts very well. And, of course, the gluten-free lemon cake should be soft and fluffy and moist at the same time.
So, lacking gluten in the flours to be used for this cake, this was quite a challenge. Nothing makes a cake more light and fluffy than the gluten-containing wheat flour. But, off I went. First of all, I tried to use not too much starch in this recipe as I guess using whole grain flour is much healthier. Then, I am not too big a fan of using only rice flour as I am not very happy with its sometimes rather dull taste. Especially if you know, how “real” lemon cake with wheat flour used to taste, I guess you will agree with me.
Finally, using the right baking material proved to be very important. I am using a cast-iron baking pan with lid in this recipe, as I found this helps the cake rise best when baked and also stay this way after being taken out of the oven. When I used a normal baking pan, what happened was that first the dough rose nicely but as soon as I took it out of the oven it shrank and lost its lightness and softness. But using a baking pan made of cast-iron and having a lid really made the difference – my gluten-free lemon cake was not only very flavorful but fluffy and moist at the same time. Combined with the lemon icing, the taste of the gluten-free lemon cake was near divine… Enjoy!
Ingredients for the “Butter-Sugar-Mix” (gluten-free lemon cake).
Best start with the butter-sugar-mix. You can either soften the butter or cut it in pieces (as I did). Then add sugar and yolks and mix for a couple on minutes until it gets really creamy. Now you can add lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract and lemon zest and continue mixing for a minute or so.
Ingredients for the “Flour-Starch-Mix (gluten-free lemon cake).
Now it is time to prepare for the gluten-free flour-starch-mix. Carefully weigh the gluten-free flours (pearl millet and corn flour) and the gluten-free starches (tapioca and potato starch) and add 1 teaspoon of locust bean gum powder and 2 teaspoons of (gluten-free!) baking powder and mix everything thoroughly in a big enough bowl.
Beaten egg whites (gluten-free lemon cake).
Last but not least, we need beaten egg whites. When you beat egg whites, you whip bubbles into the mixture. This helps the dough get much softer and … The longer you beat, the more stiff the egg white becomes. Also, adding a little bit of salt at the end of beating helps keeping the stiffness for a longer period of time.
After beating, the egg whites should be combined with the rest of the ingredients quite quickly as otherwise the beaten egg white gets soft again and shrinks.
Three layers of the dough which need to be combined very carefully (gluten-free lemon cake).
Now we combine the three layers of the dough. At the bottom, we have the butter-sugar-mix (bottom layer). In the middle, we place the beaten egg whites (middle layer). And on top comes the flour-starch-mix (top layer). The mixing of these layers needs to be done very carefully, as otherwise the air trapped in the beaten egg whites – which helps make the cake light and fluffy – will escape again. And that is basically it.
Pour the dough in a cast-iron baking pan and cover with a lid (gluten-free lemon cake).
We pour the dough in a greased (butter) and floured baking pan, cover it with a lid so that it does not burn on the surface and put it in the lower to medium part of the oven. Let it bake for about 45 minutes with the lid on, then take the lid off and finish baking for about 15 to 20 minutes until it gets a nice, brownish crust on the surface.
The reason why I am using a cast-iron baking pan with lid is that according to my experience this is the only reliable material where you achieve to get a nice crust at the bottom AND the top of the cake. Before, when using a “normal” baking pan, the cake would either be nice at the top but basically raw at the bottom – or nice at the bottom and burnt on the top. This is also the reason why I am using a lid – to prevent the cake from getting too dark too early at its top. So, I first try to get a nice brownish bottom part (here the cast-iron helps a lot as it spreads the heat very evenly) and then, after about three quarters of baking time, I concentrate on getting a nice, crunchy top part by taking the lid off.
Finally, please make sure to make the “needle test” before taking the cake out of the oven. It can sometimes prove quite tricky to rely only on the brownish colour to assume the cake is ready.
When the cake is ready, take it out of the oven and let cool. In the meantime, you can prepare the lemon icing and the decoration, if you like. The lemon icing is really simple to make. You only need to sift powdered sugar and add freshly squeezed lemon juice, one spoonful at a time, until it shows the consistency you like.
Spill the lemon icing over the cooled cake, decorate and let dry.
Enjoy your very flavorful and moist gluten-free lemon cake!
My Recipe:
Gluten-Free Lemon Cake
| Prep time: | Bake time: | Total time: | Yield: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 mins | 1 hour | 1 hour 30 mins | 15 slices |
INGREDIENTS
* GLUTEN-FREE DOUGH:
Butter-Sugar-Mix
- 200 g [≈ 1 cup minus 2 TBS] unsalted butter, softened (or in pieces)
- 200 g [≈ 1 cup] granulated sugar
- 5 egg yolks
- 1 organic lemon (freshly grated lemon zest)
- 3 TBS freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tsps. vanilla sugar (or vanilla extract)
- 1 TBS apple cider vinegar
Flour-Starch-Mix
- 100 g [≈ 1 cup] whole grain millet flour (pearl millet flour)
- 50 g [≈ 1/3 cup plus 1 tsp.] whole grain corn flour
- 50 g [≈ 1/3 cup plus 2 TBS] tapioca starch
- 50 g [≈ 1/3 cup] potato starch
- 1 tsp. locust bean gum powder (or xanthan powder)
- 2 tsps. baking powder (gluten-free!)
Beaten Egg Whites
- 5 egg whites
- 1/8 tsp. salt
* ICING:
- 1 medium lemon (freshly squeezed lemon juice)
- 200 g [≈ 1-1/4 cup] powdered sugar
- Serve with whipped cream
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 190 °C (375 °F). Grease (butter) and flour baking pan (best use a cast-iron baking pan with lid).
- Make dough: Start with the “Butter-Sugar-Mix”: Mix butter, sugar and yolks in a big mixing bowl until very creamy (best use an electric mixer). Grate lemon peel and press lemon juice and add together with vanilla sugar (or vanilla extract) and apple cider vinegar to the creamy butter-sugar-mix.
- “Flour-Starch-Mix”: Mix all ingredients of “flour-starch-mix” thoroughly in an extra bowl.
- “Beaten Egg Whites”: Beat egg whites in an extra bowl with a hand mixer and add a dash of salt shortly before getting stiff.
- Combine dough layers: Place “beaten egg whites” (middle layer) on top of “butter-sugar-mix” (bottom layer) and then the “flour-starch-mix” (top layer) on top of all. Carefully combine all layers by hand (best use a rubber spatula) until you have a smooth dough.
- Bake: Pour dough in prepared baking pan, cover with lid and bake for 45 minutes. Then remove lid and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes to get a nice brownish crust on top.
- Take cake out of the oven and let cool.
- Make icing: Sift powdered sugar so avoid hard sugar clumps in the icing. Add one spoonful of lemon juice at a time to the powdered sugar and mix thoroughly until desired consistency is reached. Pour lemon icing over cooled lemon cake, decorate and let dry.
- Serve lemon cake with whipped cream on the side.
- Enjoy your very flavorful and moist gluten-free lemon cake!
Tips & Tricks:
- If you “roll” the lemon by hand a couple of times, applying medium pressure to the lemon, you will get much more juice out of it.
- By adding beaten egg whites to the dough, the cake will get a much softer (and less dense) consistency. It is important to very carefully mix the beaten egg whites with the rest of the ingredients as otherwise the air trapped in the beaten egg whites will start to dissolve again.
- Don’t forget to make the “needle test” before taking the cake out from the oven, to make sure it is fully baked.
NOTES:
g = gram
ml = milliliter
TBS = tablespoon = 15 ml
tsp. = teaspoon = 5 ml
1 cup = 1 cup [US] = 235 ml = 16 tablespoons (TBS)
1 stick of butter = 1/2 cup = 113 g (= 4 oz. = 8 TBS. = 24 tsp.)
1 pound (lb.) = 0.454 kilograms (kg) = 454 grams (g)
1 ounce (oz.) = approx. 28 grams (g)
1 inch (in or “) = 2.54 centimeters (cm) = 25.4 millimeters (mm)
1 liter = 1,000 ml = 1.0567 US quarts (liquid)
1 quart = 1 US quart (liquid) = approx. 0.946 liters
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