Gluten-free Strawberry Shortcake

When a pot-luck dinner calls for a gluten-free dessert, there's no need to fret. Just about any cake or cookie recipe can be made with a gluten free mix like those from King Arthur or Bob's Red Mill. I've substituted one-for-one in a number of recipes with no problem. Gluten-free flour doesn't work for pies or yeast breads, but just about anything else is fair game.

This time I looked online for gluten-free recipes and saw this one for strawberry shortcake. Since it's spring and store strawberries are not completely white inside, I gave it a go.

https://www.glutenfreepalate.com/gluten-free-strawberry-shortcake/

Wet & dry ingredients Everything mixed

The recipe calls for gluten-free baking soda and gluten-free vanilla. I am not familiar with either, though most standard brands are gluten free from the get-go. However, I was baking for someone with a gluten intolerance and I checked with that person. If you're not sure, it's best to confirm with the person who will be consuming your goodies.

I needed to add about 2 tablespoons of water to thin out the batter a bit. The amount likely depends on the kind of baking flour mix used and the air humidity.

Batter in the cupcake pan

I baked mine in a large cupcake pan (the kind with six versus 12 openings) and sprayed it with cooking spray. One recipe filled the six cups half-way. They rose all the way to the top when baked and looked great.

Review:

· Were the ingredients easy to find? Easy-peasy, but I did not look for gluten-free specific baking powder or vanilla.

· Were the directions easy to follow? You need one bowl for the dry ingredients, one for the wet and stir it all together.

· Did it come out as expected? Better than expected. I sliced the cakes in half, then filled and topped them with strawberries and whipped cream.

· How did it taste? Yummy--sweet and not at all grainy, which can happen with gluten-free. If I didn't say the cake was gluten-free, you likely wouldn't notice the difference.

· Will I make it again? I'm putting this one in my dessert file and thinking about next time. Some almond flour and almond flavoring? Adding cocoa or lemon zest? Could I make them in mini-bundt pans?

Here's the baked shortcakes, though I forgot to snap a photo of the completed dessert. There's a great one on the recipe site!

Comments

Salted Peanut Caramel Tart

This salted peanut and caramel tart was fun to make if you don’ t mind a bunch of moving parts, which I don’t. It’s a layer of crust, then meringue, and finally topping, all with timing you’ll need to pay attention to. The base is easy because it is pressed into the tin rather than rolled out (I used a small glass to get it smooth), but the topping needs to be used within seconds. It’s a Milk Street recipe; mine is in a cookbook, but the recipe is available online: https://www.177milkstreet.com/recipes/salted-peanut-caramel-tart . I’m guessing it could be made gluten-free, but dairy-free would be difficult as the recipe calls for whipping cream and butter. This isn’t a last-minute dessert. The crust is chilled for at least fifteen minutes, then baked for an hour, then cooled. The whipped egg whites and hot syrup for the meringue need to be ready concurrently, with the melted peanut butter soon after. The peanut topping will harden almost as soon as it’s off the heat, so it has...

Jeweled Chocolate Cake

This recipe is listed as one of Ruth Reichl’s favorites. In case you’re not familiar with her, she is a chef, was the food critic for the New York Times and then the editor of Gourmet magazine. She’s written a number of books, two of which I own because she’s a splendid writer. Here’s the link to the cake recipe: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ruth-reichl-save-me-the-plums-memoir-recipes/ and the filling recipe: https://www.food.com/recipe/orange-citrus-cake-filling-147364. This cake totally reminds me of the kind of chocolate cake you might have for a kid’s birthday party, topped with frosting and all kinds of decorations. The cake is light, not overwhelmingly chocolate, can be cut into two layers, and could likely take on anything you put with it, including ice cream. The cake takes about 1 ½ hours, start to cooling and the accompanying brittle can be made while it bakes. I love cakes that can be mixed by hand with a whisk and this cake fits that bill. Praline choppe...

Chocolate Amaretto Cake

This recipe comes from The Fiddlehead Cookbook via the Fiddlehead restaurant in Juneau, Alaska, though I’m not sure the place is still there. I purchased the cookbook on a visit during an Alaskan cruise in 2007. The cookbook was published in 1991. Here is a similar recipe, but the one I made did not use a cake mix, as many on the Internet do: https://www.cooks.com/recipe/rz3zb64n/amaretto-chocolate-cake.html I imagine it would be a copywrite infringement to include the recipe verbatim here but let me know if there’s a way around that. The ingredients are interesting and include mayonnaise, buttermilk, sour cream, and almond flour and it is baked in an angel food or Bundt pan, something with a hole in the middle. This cake could likely be made gluten-free using a gluten-free flour mix, but I don’t think there’s a way around the dairy. This cake is stirred by hand and I always appreciate not getting out the mixer. You’ll need a couple of hours start to finish, and that incl...

My Weekly Dessert

Search This Blog