Gluten-free Birthday Cake Sneak Peek

Tomorrow our five-year-old is celebrating her sixth birthday. When I told her that I was contemplating what type of birthday cake to bake, she frowned. “But I don’t want you to BAKE a birthday cake, Mommy!” she harrumphed. “I want you to BUY it!”

When we go grocery shopping, she loves to make a pit stop at the bakery counter and gaze lovingly at the cakes piled with day-glo roses, licensed characters, and curlicues. Unfortunately, my cakes typically do not look like that.

So we made a deal. I suggested that I would make a cake that *looked* like I bought it at the supermarket. She agreed, as long as I made a test cake for her to approve.

I added another challenge for myself because I wanted to make a gluten-free cake. A few of her friends can’t eat gluten, and I don’t want them to be left out. Plus, I love a baking challenge!

Below is the cake I came up with: an almond-hazelnut strawberry torte frosted with whipped cream. It passed the test.

Almond-Hazelnut Strawberry Torte

3/4 cup butter

1/3 cup sugar

4 egg yolks

2 cups almond and/or hazelnut flour, or a mixture of the two

4 egg whites

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup strawberry jam (preferably a version without added sugar such as Polaners All Fruit)

1 cup whipped cream

8 strawberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and 1/3 cup sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg yolks. Stir in 1 cup almond and/or hazelnut flour. Whip egg whites to soft peaks. Slowly add 1/4 cup sugar and whip until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of egg whites. Fold remaining 1 cup almond/hazelnut flour and remaining egg whites into egg yolk mixture, alternating whites with almond flour about 1/3 at a time. Pour into two greased 8 inch cake pans lined with greased parchment or wax paper. Bake 30 minutes.

Let cake cool. Once cool, remove from pans and refrigerate until cold. Spread strawberry jam on top of one cake. Top with the other cake. Whip cream until fluffy. Using a spatula, spread 2/3 of the whipped cream in a thin layer first on the side of the cake, then on top. Put the rest of the whipped cream in a pastry bag with a star tip. Pipe a decoration around the bottom and top edges of cake.

Wash berries and cut all but one in half. Place the berry halves in a circle around the top edge of the cake. Put one whole berry in the middle.