Recipe Fridays!

Vegan Gluten-free Lemon-Orange Buttercream Cake

When you work in an office where there are multiple people who have gluten or dairy allergies, making birthday cakes can be an exercise in futility. "This one has not dairy but uses flour!" "This one is flourless but has six eggs!" It's nice to find a decent cake recipe that is free of both;)
This recipe comes from Daring Bakers.

Ingredients

For the Cake
2 1/4 cups Favorite GF flour blend (I used Bette Hagman�s gourmet blend- white rice, potato starch, tapioca starch)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tsp. egg replacer
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1 1/4 cups carbonated lemon soda (dairy-free alternative to buttermilk, carbonation lightens GF cakes)
3 ener-g foods egg replacer eggs (6 tbsp water, 4 � tsp egg replacer, whisked together)
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) earth balance vegan spread, or other GF DF butter substitute (coconut oil?) at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

For the Buttercream
3 tbsp sweet rice flour
1 cup milk substitute (soy, rice, almond)
3/4 cup Earth Balance Margarine *substitution not recommended*
1 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup sugar
*fresh lemon juice* (optional- test this with a small sample of the frosting to make sure it won’t cause it to separate, or can re-congeal if whisked heavily.)

For Finishing
2/3 cup orange marmalade

Directions

Getting Ready
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round (or square) cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To Make the Cake
1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, egg replacer, and xanthan gum.
2. Whisk together the egg replacer eggs in a small bowl.
3. Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl and beat with your margarine until you have a nice, creamy texture. Add your egg replacer to the mixture and beat again until thoroughly combined.
4. Remove the mixer bowl from the stand and gently fold in your carbonated beverage (or dairy/substitute) and any additional seasonings. *consider adding 1 tsp. cider vinegar here*
5. Slowly sift your flour mixture into the bowl, folding in after 1/3 of the flour has been added. Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture, fold, and add the rest, folding until you have a nice cake texture. Consider adding 1/4 cup applesauce if the batter seems dry.
6. Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch; a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean.
7. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners.Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).

To Make the Vegan Buttercream Recipe
1. Combine your milk substitute beverage and sweet rice flour in a pan and whisk until thoroughly combined.
2. Heat on a burner and bring to a boil. Lower temperature and simmer, letting mixture thicken. Take off burner and let cool.
3. Meanwhile, whisk your margarine, lemon extract, and sugar together in a mixer or with a hand-held mixture until combined and creamy. When the milk sauce is cool, beat into the sugar-margarine mixture and pour into a container.
4. Cool in refrigerator until ready to frost cake (at least an hour).

To Assemble the Cake
If your cakes rose adequately, you can slice the layers in half. If not, just use the cakes as is, shaving off the bumpy top to have a nice, flat surface if desired. Spread each layer with orange marmalade and your vegan buttercream, placing cake layers together and finally topping with marmalade and then buttercream. If desired, you can place cookie cutters or biscuit cutters on the top of the cake and fill each one with a thin layer or marmalade for additional decorative pop (And flavor). Remove mold and enjoy your modern, delicious, vegan and gluten-free cake!

Serving
The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but I think it's best to let it sit and set for a couple of hours in a cool room, not the refrigerator. Whether you wait or slice and enjoy it immediately, the cake should be served at room temperature; it loses all its subtlety when it's cold. Depending on your audience you can serve the cake with just about anything from milk to sweet or bubbly wine.