This past Easter I made a cake for a get together with friends. We sadly never made it to said get together due to our kiddos being sick. But the cake made it there, and it was a big hit. Which is saying something, given that it wasn't your typical cake. I have since been asked to make this cake as a birthday cake for a precious girl at our church who, due to allergies, had never had a "bakery style" birthday cake before. I was honored by the request, and excited that I could help make her day extra special.
I have been meaning to post the recipe alterations here for months now. But time often gets away from us in our loud, busy, adventure filled life with little ones. :) So here it is now.
The original recipe came from Allrecipes.com. I frequent their site for fun stuff. The link to the original is
here.
The cake that I made, however, needed to be allergy free. And when I say allergy free, I mean it. I altered this recipe to make it gluten, dairy, egg, corn, nut, and coconut free.
*I am including the brand names of the replacement items I used, but that's just as an aid. If you have a preferred flour blend or different egg replacement etc, go with what you know and prefer. I purchased most of my replacement products at Whole Foods. Though our local Kroger carries some options as well. The Namaste Foods flour blend is certified nut free and also has a good texture and taste, so it is our preferred for this cake.
Allergen-free Rainbow Citrus Layer Cake
Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups Namaste Foods gluten free "Perfect flour blend"
5 tsp corn starch free baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup shortening
2 1/4 cups white sugar
The equivelent of 4 eggs of Ener G Egg replacer
1 1/2 cups Rice Dream classic rice milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tsp grated orange zest
2 tsp grated lime zest
2 drops (or more if using natural food based food coloring) yellow, orange, and green food coloring
A squeeze of juice into each layer
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 9-inch round pans.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg replacer a "splash" at a time, until incorporated. (Side note, get that egg replacer good and whipped up; nice and frothy before adding.) Stir in the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk. Divide batter into three bowls.
4. In the first bowl, stir in the lemon zest, yellow food coloring, and squeeze of lemon juice; pour into prepared pan. In the second bowl, stir in the orange zest, orange food coloring, and squeeze of orange juice; pour into second prepared pan. In the last bol, stir in the lime zest, green food coloring, and squeeze of lime juice; pour into third prepared pan.
5. Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake layer comes out clean. about 30 minutes. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then turn out (gently!) onto a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Assemble the cake: stack the layers together with the Lemon Frosting (recipe to follow) in between the layers. Frost sides and top with Orange Frosting (recipe to follow). Enjoy!
Lemon Frosting
(This recipe will leave you with a bit of extra frosting... do with it as you choose :)
1/2 cup Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks (can substitute shortening)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbs lemon juice
3 cups corn starch free powdered sugar
1-2 Tbs rice milk to desired consistency
Whip butter until fluffy, add next three ingredients. (Tip-I often add the juice and vanilla to the powdered sugar before adding it to the mixer, simply because it dampens the powdered sugar and keeps it from flying everywhere when I turn on the mixer.) Add milk as needed.
Orange Frosting
1 1/2 Tbs orange zest
1 tsp lemon zest
1 Tbs orange juice
1 tsp lemon juice
1/3 cup + 2 Tbs vegan buttery sticks (can substitute shortening or other dairy free butter replacement)
1/4 tsp salt
4 cups corn starch free powdered sugar
2-3 Tbs milk to desired consistency
Whip up butter. Add zest and salt, mix. Add juice and powdered sugar (see tip in lemon frosting). Add milk as needed.
Side notes: I have been known to be heavy handed with my zest and juice.
The frosting can be colored for decorating if desired.
Also, food coloring of any kind is completely optional.
I do not recommend using "butter flavored" crisco in any part of this recipe. The flavoring is too overpowering.
*When making something allergen free, in a home that isn't, always be sure to properly, thoroughly, clean all work spaces, tools, aprons, etc that will be in any way possible to contact the food.*
In my experience, gf cakes often are just a bit odd. My family does not eat gf, and even we truly enjoyed this one. And I have received many great reviews on it. If you are looking for allergen-free AND tasty, give this one a try!
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| First time I made it. I used regular food coloring this time |
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| Not exactly designer, lol, but it was delicious. |
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| And this was the second time, natural food coloring used, and decorated for a birthday girl. |
Fun side note: it was my first ever layer cake. :) It was a lot of fun to make both times. And I look forward to making it again in the future.
Additional side note: I'm not exactly sure why some of my text seems to be highlighted. Odd...
