Gluten-Free baking for Celiacs (with recipe & frosting to try!)

Gluten-free baking poses it's own unique set of challenges, and once you start baking without wheat based flours you'll notice that each gluten free flour has it's own unique properties. Gluten free flours do not rise as easily or high as wheat flours and you'll often notice an abnormally high number of eggs used in recipes to help resolve that. Also using a small amount of guar or xantham gum in your recipes helps reduce the "crumbling effect" since gluten free flours do not bind as well as wheat. Some flours like potatoe or coconut are much heavier than tapioca flour for example, so once you understand the different flour qualities you can try combining different flours together to get much better results in whatever you are baking. I use much diferent flour combinations for my cookies than for my cakes since I'm looking to achieve different results. There is premade "all purpose" gluten free flour which is generally based on white rice flour but I haven't had really good results with it and prefer to mix my own - plus I've noticed some people complain about being allergic to the rice flour so finding out your cutomers needs in advance and blending your flours according them yields the best results for your customers individual needs.

I can't stress how imperative it is to do proper research before you attempt a gluten free cake for someone who has Celiacs disease! Gluten is HIDDEN in many things you wouldn't expect. For example vanilla extract is made with alcohol - which is wheat based - and there is debate with some saying it's okay because of the distillation process while others will not take a chance. Even some chocolate has gluten and some of the cheaper versions of icing sugar use wheat starch instead of corn starch as their base. Make sure you educate yourself on what is safe! Also be extremely careful of cross contamination and exercise great dilligence in cleaning - or do what I do and use seperate utensils & bowls for your gluten free baking only. Bottom line is that as the baker your customers safety is your responsibility and it doesn't matter how great your liability insurance is if your bakery's reputation is damaged because one of your customers get sick! I would also suggest checking out a government Celiacs Disease website and familarizing yourself with the disease before proceeding.

Now onto the recipes! I tried a great non-gluten cake recipe from www.epicurious.com a year or so ago and had great feedback from it! I actually really enjoy baking with coconut and almond flours as they add a great taste to the batter. The biggest thing I've learned is the importance of sifting your dry ingredients several times to get as much air into the flour as possible since non-gluten flours don't tend to rise as easily as regular cake & pastry flour so it takes a bit more work. The melted white chocolate & cream frosting was a nice change from the regular buttercream everyone uses and was a great taste combination with the cake flavour.

Coconut layer cake

Ingredients
1 3/4 cup almond flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour
(I actually altered the flour and combined 2 cups of coconut, almond, tapioca, potato starch and white rice mixed together and really liked the results)
10 large eggs, at room temperature, separated
1 tablespoon Coconut rum or Gluten-Free vanilla or almond extract

2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Baking Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Line bottoms of 3 seperate 8" round cake pans with parchment paper.
In large bowl, whisk together almond and coconut flours.
In bowl of electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat egg yolks at high speed until pale yellow and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to moderately low and beat in rum or gluten-free extracts and all but 1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar. Scrape down bowl, then increase speed to high and beat until pale and thick, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and gradually add almond and coconut flour mixture, scraping down bowl and folding in last of flour by hand. Set aside.
In clean dry bowl of electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat egg whites on moderate speed until very foamy, about 1 minute. Beat in cream of tartar, salt, and remaining 1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar. Increase speed to moderately high and beat until whites hold stiff peaks, about 2 minutes. Fold 1 cup beaten egg whites into yolk mixture to lighten, then gently fold in remaining whites. Divide batter between pans, smoothing tops, and bake until layers are golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Invert pans onto wire racks and cool completely, at least 1 hour. Run knife around cake layers to loosen, invert onto rack, and peel off the parchment.


Fluffy white-chocolate whipped cream frosting

Ingredients
3 cups heavy cream, chilled
9 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons vanilla or almond extract
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

Directions to Make frosting:

Chill bowl of stand mixer and whisk attachment or large metal bowl and beaters for at least 15 minutes.
In small saucepan over moderate heat, bring 1 cup cream to simmer. Transfer white chocolate to medium heatproof bowl, pour hot cream over, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in rum and salt. Let cool at room temperature until thickened slightly, about 1 hour.
In chilled bowl of electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat remaining 2 cups cream at moderately high speed until whisk leaves marks but cream does not quite hold soft peaks, 6 to 8 minutes. Turn mixer off, then add white chocolate mixture and beat just until stiff peaks begin to form, about 5 minutes. (Do not overbeat, or cream will curdle.) Refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours. (Frosting can be made ahead and refrigerated, covered, up to 8 hours.)

To assemble cake:

Layer cake, using 1 cup frosting between each layer, then frost top and sides with remaining frosting. Press 2 cups of coconut flakes onto the frosting. Refrigerate until frosting is firm, at least 3 hours or overnight.