Gluten-free Lemon Coconut Cake

I'm new to baking gluten-free goodies. As a baker of a resort, I need to consider the guests food restrictions or preferences. This opened a door to a lot of opportunities. I learned to make gluten-free bread. Just as how I struggled during the early stages of my baking career, I found myself facing the same dilemma, only this time I am dealing with a dough so fragile that working with it is tricky. So, when asked if I could whip up gluten-free cake for a customer's birthday recently, I wondered if the process would be as challenging. There is no kneading and shaping involved. Perhaps I could manage. As it turns out, gluten-free cake making is a lot easier.

The guest asked for small one pound cake for the birthday celebrant. I don't like wasting food so  I cut the recipe in half. For this, all I needed was a small amount of flour.  I thought of making my own to keep the cost low.  After doing some research online, I found an easy way to make a homemade gluten-free flour.

I had three types of flours and starches in hand(buckwheat, potato flours and cornstarch.) The rule  is to mix 40 percent of the whole grain flours with 60 percent of white flours/starches (source:ww.glutenfreegirl.com)  Buckwheat flour  falls in whole grain flour category and the other two are in white flour/starches category. I combined 58 grams of buckwheat with 44 grams of potato flour and 44 grams of cornstarch. And  my homemade gluten-free flour was born.


Lemon Coconut Cake
Source: Mygluten-freekitchen.com

147 g homemade gluten-free flour
1 1/8 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 TBSP lemon zest
1 TBSP and 1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 1/8 cups coconut milk
5 TBSP coconut oil


Lemon Whipped Cream
200 ml whipping cream
25 g icing sugar
4 TBSP lemon juice
2 Tsp lemon zest

1. Preheat oven to 160 C. Grease a round pan very well.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. I didn't have  xanthan or guar gum so I skipped it.
3. In the bowl of the electric mixer. beat eggs and sugar with a paddle attachment on low. Continue beating on medium-high until light and fluffy.
4. Stir in vanilla essence, lemon juice and lemon zest.
5. On low speed, add the flour mixture.and mix until just combined.
6.Warm the coconut milk with oil in a medium saucepan until combined. Add to the batter and mix until combined.
7. Pour batter in the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the skewer inserted in the center comes out with  moist crumbs clinging to it.
8. Remove from oven and let cool in a wire rack.
9. While the cake is cooling, make the lemon whipped cream. Whip the whipping cream with icing sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold in the lemon juice and zest. Slice the cake in three layers. Frost with lemon whipped cream. Garnish with a few slices of lemon. Serve.