Gluten-Free Scratch Cake
Created | Updated Jan 25, 2025
Gluten-Free Scratch Cake
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Are you like me, beginning to hate the people who post online recipes? The name of the game with food sites is keeping you on the page until all 4200 of their ads have succeeded in loading. They latch onto your computer like barnacles, and like barnacles, they slow down the ship with which you navigate the web. Never visit a recipe site on anything other than an in-private window with strict filtering.
How do they keep you on the site long enough for all the leeches to attach themselves? The cooks tell you their life stories, in two-sentence increments. I have now gone on too long already, and will proceed to explain how to bake this cake. Which you might want to do if you can't have gluten for medical reasons and are tired of cake mixes that are full of sticky xanthan gum, as I am. I still wanted to bake Elektra a birthday cake we could enjoy together.
| Ingredients |
2 1/2 cups flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 cups sugar 3 eggs 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup sour cream 1 1/4 cup milk (I recommend buttermilk, if you have it.) |
| What to Do |
| 1. Preheat oven to 350°F. (177°C or Gas Mark 4.) |
| 2. While you're at it, grease and flour two 8-inch pans. Yes, yes, yes: it's a 20-cm pan. Also 1.9 liters, but I think that only works before it's baked. After the magic happens, you've got cake, and you can't measure cake in liters, can you? I'm confused. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you what to do: rub butter or margarine (UK: marge) or Crisco (hillbilly version) all over the inside (but not outside!) of the whatever-size-they-are pans. Then comes the tricky part: dump a tablespoon or so of gluten-free flour into each pan. Holding the pan carefully by its outside over the sink, gently rotate the pan until the inside is evenly coated with a light dusting of flour. Dump the excess in the sink. Set the pans aside for now. |
| 3. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside. |
| 4. In another bowl, mix sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Add the sour cream. |
| 5. Add dry ingredients and buttermilk alternately, mixing each time. This way, the flour won't explode into a big cloud and cover your kitchen. When you're done, you'll have a nice batter. |
| 6. Divide batter between the two pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the cake is firm and springs back when you poke at it. Let the pans cool on top of the stove (remember to turn the oven off!) for 15 minutes, then turn the layers out onto a clean dishtowel and let them cool some more. |
| 7. When the layers are cool, frost the cake. You can use a gluten-free store-bought frosting, or make your own. Bon appetit! |
