The Ultimate Cake Challenge

In my opinion the ultimate dessert is a layered cake.

A layered cake is usually one of those things that we think is so complicated that we end up leaving it to the professionals and buying one for our special occasions. 

There are several problems with buying a cake, the most important being it can cost a fortune to get a really nice one, especially if it is gluten free. Most standard bakeries do not make gluten free cakes as you have to be super careful to avoid cross contamination. To get a safe gluten free cake there are many things to need to take into consideration to ensure it is safe to eat. You need to make sure that:

• ingredients are kept safe in sealed containers and different utensils are used, such as scoops, and they are cleaned regularly.
• the storage, baking, decorating areas (basically the entire bakery) is cleaned and sanitized after the regular cakes are made and prior to making anything gluten free.
• the batter is made at a different time so the gluten filled flours are not flying around in the air mixing with the gluten free batter.
• gluten free cakes need to be baked in separate ovens and pans from the regular gluten filled ones, which means having double the equipment.
• the decorating surface is clean and sanitized to ensure no crumbs from the regular cake get mixed in with the icing/filling and then spread on the gluten free cake. And I learned cakes can be very crummy as you are decorating them.

So most of us will seek out a gluten free bakery, which has a dedicated gluten free facility, to purchase our cakes. This is why they can cost so much.

Since a layered cake is for very special occasions we do not often buy these kinds of cakes and may not know the quality of the bakeries in our areas who do gluten free cakes. This comes down to the last issue, taste. Gluten free anything can be finicky. It can be dry, crumbly, tasteless, or even mushy. Even the regular store bought cakes have issues with taste, most often that they don't have any. Store bought cakes can often be too sweet as they are covered with too much icing and the cake itself does not have much flavor. The best thing about making your own cake is you can control all aspects of taste. You choose the cake flavors, the icing and the fillings.

I decided since I really do not like the regular store bought cakes that I was going to make the cake for the party I was hosting for my parents 40th wedding anniversary. Since I was making it, this would naturally be a gluten free cake. I used the Luscious Lemon Cake recipe by Mary Capone from the April/May 2012 Living Without Magazine that I earlier tried as lemon cupcakes and made a 2 tiered lemon cake. The lemon flavor in this cake counters the sweetness of the icing and makes a natural paring.

I can definitely say that if you are to attempt a feat such as this, make sure you have at least a full day to complete the entire cake. Baking two of each of the 6" and 9" cakes took the morning with the cakes cooling till the afternoon, then they needed to be carefully sliced in half. I made the lemon curd for the filling and the lemon butter cream icing. Again I reduced the amount of milk in the icing recipe to make a thicker icing that would set hard on the cake. Layering the cake with the lemon curd and icing filling and then icing the outside of the cake took the rest of the day. I left the cake in the fridge to wait until closer to the event to finish the decorations including adding the fondant flowers I had made a couple weeks earlier. I think the only thing I would change would be to make the cake closer to the event date so it is little fresher and not quite as dry. The lemon curd filling is a nice touch as it adds moisture to the cakes themselves.

If you can bake, you can make a layer cake. Decorations can be as simple as just icing the cake and adding confectionery decorations that can be purchased at local cake decorating or craft stores, or as complicated as you can make it. The only limit in decorating is your imagination. Gluten free cakes should not be a daunting idea. Just take your time, plan your steps, put on some music and go for it. Be adventurous and you will be surprised what you can accomplish.