It’s that time of the year when I turn 21 again 😉
Today is the day of celebration for me, it’s my birthday and this is my 200th blog post. I couldn’t be more happier. Birthdays have always been special to me, filled with greetings, gifts and phone calls from my family, friends and fellow bloggers. Without which I wouldn’t have felt special on this day. Thanks everyone for your love and support…
I baked two cakes for my birthday. Does this sound weird? Well, when my husband made plans to order a cake to celebrate my birthday, I instantly felt that for this birthday I should be baking a cake for myself. If I don’t bake a cake for myself then what’s the point in calling myself as a food blogger.
I wanted to have my hubby to enjoy the cakes too, so I decided to make the cakes Gluten free. Ever since we swallowed the bitter truth that my husband has gluten intolerance, I’ve been researching and shopping for Gluten free products. Initially it was hard for me to make gluten free dishes, but now I’m beginning to get into the groove. This was my first time baking Gluten free cake. The truth is it’s not that hard to make gluten free dishes, you just have to buy gluten free products and yes they are expensive.
I first decided to make just a 4 layered strawberry cake, as I started to style the cake, I was hit with the thought that I should be making two cakes – a 2 layered strawberry cake and a 2 layered pineapple cake. I am a huge fan of strawberries, so definitely strawberry cake is my favorite one. The pineapple cake came out pretty good as well.
Gluten Free Strawberry Cake:
Ingredients:
For making the cake:
- Gluten free all purpose flour or use regular All purpose flour – 3cups
- Unsalted butter, slightly melted – 2 sticks or 1 cup
- Baking soda – 1/4 teaspoon
- Baking powder – 2 1/4 teaspoons
- Salt – 1 teaspoon
- Granulated sugar – 1 3/4 cups
- Large eggs, at room temperature – 4
- Milk, whole or skim – 1 1/3 cups
- Pure vanilla extract – 1 tablespoon
For Filling:
- Strawberries, fresh or frozen cut half – 4 cups
- Sugar – 1/3 cup
- Lemon juice – 1/2 tablespoon
For making whipped cream:
- Heavy Whipping cream, cold – 2 cups
- Confectioners sugar or powdered sugar – 4 tablespoons
Instruction:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F with one rack in the center and the other rack in upper position.
- For 2 layered cake: Grease 9-inch round cake pan and line with parchment paper which is cut round to fit the bottom of the pan.
- Since I made 2 small cakes each with 2 layers, I used two 7 1/8’*1 1/2″ pans. You could also use 9-inch round cake pan.
Making the Cake batter:
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Beat the sugar and butter which is melted in a large bowl using a hand mixer till it gets smooth and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add the flour, alternating with milk, beat it beginning and ending with the flour.
- Avoid over beating the flour and milk mixture.
- Add the vanilla extract and combine well.
- Divide the batter between the two pans and keep the pan on the middle rack and bake it.
- Bake for 45 minutes first and run a knife into the middle of the cake if it comes out clean and the center of the cake has cooked well, you could remove the cake from the oven.
- If the center of the cake has not baked well, then keep the cake pan on the upper rack and continue to bake for another 15-20 minutes, checking frequently using a knife whether the center of the cake has baked to perfection.
- For me, it took 1 hour to bake.
- Transfer to wire racks and let the cakes cool in pan for about 10 minutes.
- Run a knife around the edges of the cakes, invert onto racks and let cool completely.
Making the filling:
- While the cake is baking you could make the filling.
- Place the halved strawberries along with the sugar and lemon juice into a saucepan.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes till it’s slightly mashed.
- Strain the juice from the cooked strawberry filling and keep aside the filling and syrup separately, let cool down.
Making the Whipped cream:
- Using a hand mixer, whip the heavy whipping cream along with sugar until medium peaks form.
- Don’t over whip as the cream would change to butter.
Layering and styling the cake:
- Trim the cake tops and cut the each cake horizontally into two halves.
- Brush one of the cake halves with strawberry syrup.
- Spread the strawberry filling over the syrup.
- Spread 1/3 rd of the whipped cream over the filling.
- Place the other half of the cake over this, bottom side should be up.
- Since I only made a 2 layered cake, after placing the second layer I covered the cake with whipped cream using a flat spatula.
- Spread the whipped cream evenly; garnish the top of the cake and the sides with strawberry; I also made some other decorations too.
- Finally, I sprinkled grated semi sweet chocolate on the cake.
If you are making a 4 layered cake:
- After placing the 2 layers, repeat with two more cake layers and spread with whipped cream over the cake and do the decorations.
Pineapple Cake:
Ingredients:
For making Pineapple Cake:
- Cut the second cake horizontally into halves and keep aside.
For making pineapple filling:
- Pineapples, diced, canned or fresh- 1 can
- Sugar- 3 tbsp
- Water or syrup from the can- 4 tbsp
Instruction:
- Drain the syrup from the canned diced pineapple.
- In a saucepan, cook the diced pineapple along with sugar and syrup or water until it gets slightly mashed for about 15 minutes.
- Strain the syrup from the cooked pineapple filling, keep aside the syrup and filling separately.
Layering the pineapple cake:
- Brush one of the cake halves with the pineapple syrup.
- Spread the pineapple filling on the cake.
- Spread the whipped cream over the filling.
- Place the other half of the cake over the whipped cream, bottom side up.
- Cover the cake with whipped cream and spread it evenly using a flat spatula.
- Place round cut pineapples (canned) over the cake, and on the sides of the cake.
- To make it colorful, I decorated the cake with dates as well.
Tips:
- If there is any leftover strawberry filling and syrup it can be used as a spread for breads and rolls.
Gluten Free Strawberry Cake and Pineapple Cake
Gluten Free Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
For making the cake
- Gluten free all purpose flour or use regular All purpose flour - 3cups
- Unsalted butter, slightly melted - 2 sticks or 1 cup
- Baking soda - ¼ teaspoon
- Baking powder - 2¼ teaspoons
- Salt - 1 teaspoon
- Granulated sugar - 1¾ cups
- Large eggs, at room temperature - 4
- Milk, whole or skim - 1⅓ cups
- Pure vanilla extract - 1 tablespoon
For Filling
- Strawberries, fresh or frozen cut half - 4 cups
- Sugar - ⅓ cup
- Lemon juice - ½ tablespoon
For making whipped cream
- Heavy Whipping cream, cold - 2 cups
- Confectioners sugar or powdered sugar - 4 tablespoons
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F with one rack in the center and the other rack in upper position.
- For 2 layered cake: Grease 9-inch round cake pan and line with parchment paper which is cut round to fit the bottom of the pan.
- Since I made 2 small cakes each with 2 layers, I used two 7⅛'*1½" pans. You could also use 9-inch round cake pan.
Making the Cake batter
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Beat the sugar and butter which is melted in a large bowl using a hand mixer till it gets smooth and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add the flour, alternating with milk, beat it beginning and ending with the flour.
- Avoid over beating the flour and milk mixture.
- Add the vanilla extract and combine well.
- Divide the batter between the two pans and keep the pan on the middle rack and bake it.
- Bake for 45 minutes first and run a knife into the middle of the cake if it comes out clean and the center of the cake has cooked well, you could remove the cake from the oven.
- If the center of the cake has not baked well, then keep the cake pan on the upper rack and continue to bake for another 15-20 minutes, checking frequently using a knife whether the center of the cake has baked to perfection.
- For me, it took 1 hour to bake.
- Transfer to wire racks and let the cakes cool in pan for about 10 minutes.
- Run a knife around the edges of the cakes, invert onto racks and let cool completely.
Making the filling
- While the cake is baking you could make the filling.
- Place the halved strawberries along with the sugar and lemon juice into a saucepan.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes till it's slightly mashed.
- Strain the juice from the cooked strawberry filling and keep aside the filling and syrup separately, let cool down.
Making the Whipped cream
- Using a hand mixer, whip the heavy whipping cream along with sugar until medium peaks form.
- Don't over whip as the cream would change to butter.
Layering and styling the cake
- Trim the cake tops and cut the each cake horizontally into two halves.
- Brush one of the cake halves with strawberry syrup.
- Spread the strawberry filling over the syrup.
- Spread ⅓ rd of the whipped cream over the filling.
- Place the other half of the cake over this, bottom side should be up.
- Since I only made a 2 layered cake, after placing the second layer I covered the cake with whipped cream using a flat spatula.
- Spread the whipped cream evenly; garnish the top of the cake and the sides with strawberry; I also made some other decorations too.
- Finally, I sprinkled grated semi sweet chocolate on the cake.
If you are making a 4 layered cake
- After placing the 2 layers, repeat with two more cake layers and spread with whipped cream over the cake and do the decorations.
Gluten Free Strawberry Cake and Pineapple Cake
Pineapple Cake
Ingredients
For making Pineapple Cake
- Cut the second cake horizontally into halves and keep aside.
For making pineapple filling
- Pineapples, diced, canned or fresh- 1 can
- Sugar- 3 tbsp
- Water or syrup from the can- 4 tbsp
Instructions
- Drain the syrup from the canned diced pineapple.
- In a saucepan, cook the diced pineapple along with sugar and syrup or water until it gets slightly mashed for about 15 minutes.
- Strain the syrup from the cooked pineapple filling, keep aside the syrup and filling separately.
Layering the pineapple cake
- Brush one of the cake halves with the pineapple syrup.
- Spread the pineapple filling on the cake.
- Spread the whipped cream over the filling.
- Place the other half of the cake over the whipped cream, bottom side up.
- Cover the cake with whipped cream and spread it evenly using a flat spatula.
- Place round cut pineapples (canned) over the cake, and on the sides of the cake.
- To make it colorful, I decorated the cake with dates as well.
Notes
If there is any leftover strawberry filling and syrup it can be used as a spread for breads and rolls.
