Gluten Free Cakes 101

Making a gluten free cake from a box mix is convenient, but you’re not going to get comments like, “This is the best cake I’ve ever eaten! I can’t tell that it’s gluten free at all!!”

Goal:

There are two goals for this class. The first – bake a delicious gluten free cake. The second goal is to experiment. Bake a second cake, but this time use a different mixing method, or a different type of fat and see what differences you can discern in the finished cake.

What To Expect:

I don’t think that you can truly say that you’ve learned how to bake something if you’ve just done it once. To truly learn, you need to repeat what you’ve done several times at least. Even when you’re using the same recipe, you’ll learn something new from each repetition. It’s only after you’ve had a few successes, a few failures, and tried a few variations that you can begin to truly understand the recipe.

So, in this lesson, I’m giving you an assignment that I haven’t before. Bake these cakes, but bake them several times. In the Yellow Gold Cake recipe, I’ve given you suggestions for recipe variations and different creaming methods so that you can try all of them and see how the each variation makes the cake different (or not). Learning is experiential and experimental. My goal is remove as many possible pitfalls and stumbling stones from your step. But the learning process is still yours to go through…so keep baking =)

Session 1: Learn About Cake Baking – Approximately 30 minutes

Start with these articles and videos:
Article: Ingredients and Substitutions for Gluten Free Cake
Article: How To Mix Cake Batter And Why It Actually Matters
Video: Cake Mixing Demonstration – Creaming Method
Video: Cake Mixing Demonstration – Dissolved Sugar Method
Article: 10 Cake Baking Tips

Session 2: Baking a Cake! – Approximately 90 minutes

Pick one of these recipes to bake:
Recipe Printable

Mary’s Yellow Gold Layer Cake
Mary’s Black Chocolate Layer Cake
Mary’s Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Icing