Gluten-free lime pound cake
Oct. 12th, 2010 10:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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omnomnomThe thing that finally allowed me to go gluten-free without fear was the discovery that yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as gluten-free pound cake*.
I make GF pound cake all the time using a basic recipe, with flavor variations. This lime-flavored one has been a tremendous success.
Gluten-Free Pound Cake with Lime Variation
(I can't imagine making this cake without a stand mixer, but people say they've done it with a hand mixer.)
Ingredients
Method
Preheat the oven to 325F/160C.
Generously butter a 9x5" loaf pan (this is a rectangular bread pan with a total capacity of 8 cups, or slightly under 2 liters)
Zest the limes completely, then juice them. Set juice and zest aside.
Whip the butter in a large bowl for several minutes until it's pale and fluffy.
Add the sugar and whip for another 2 minutes. Pale and fluffy is the key.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating for a full minute after each addition. The batter should continue to be fluffy, though by the fifth egg, it might start to curdle a little. Whip whip whip. This cake requires an extraordinary amount of beating.
With the mixer running, slowly drizzle in about half of the lime juice. Reserve the remaining lime juice for the glaze.
Blend the flour mixture, the baking powder, the xanthan gum and the lime zest, and add it to the butter mixture all at once. Mix at medium high speed for another three or four minutes.
Turn this delicious, fluffy, pale-colored batter into the prepared pan
Bake at 325/160 for an hour. Test for doneness by inserting a thin blade into the middle. If it comes out crumby or gummy, keep baking. I've left this cake in as long as 90 minutes sometimes.
Meanwhile, make the glaze:
Heat the remaining lime juice and the 1/3 cup of sugar in a small saucepan till the sugar is completely dissolved.
When the cake is done, remove it from the oven and let it cool in its pan for a few minutes. Then carefully turn it out onto a cooling rack, and use a second cooling rack to flip it right side up. (Gluten-free cakes tend to be a bit more delicate than wheat-based cakes.)
When the cake is almost cool, pierce it lots of times with a skinny chopstick or a skewer, then pour the lime glaze over the top and let it soak in.
This cake is delicious while still warm, but the lime flavor develops after a day. Keep it in a tightly-closed tin. It will be good for at least three or four days, assuming it lasts that long.
*Evidently Americans mean something different by "pound cake" than do our UK and commonwealth cousins--to us, it's a buttery, eggy, rich, dense and rather plain loaf-style cake, not usually frosted, and served in thin slices.
**After much fiddling and experimentation, I've settled on Shawna Ahern's all-purpose gluten-free flour mix as my baking flour. I don't know how readily available its component ingredients are around the world, but I've had good luck finding most of them locally in my American city or online from American sources.
I make GF pound cake all the time using a basic recipe, with flavor variations. This lime-flavored one has been a tremendous success.
Gluten-Free Pound Cake with Lime Variation
(I can't imagine making this cake without a stand mixer, but people say they've done it with a hand mixer.)
Ingredients
- 3 limes
- 2 sticks (1/2 lb, 230 grams) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup (about 110 grams) of granulated white sugar
- 5 large eggs at room temperature
- 280 grams all-purpose gluten-free flour blend** (this is roughly 2 cups but really, in GF baking, you need to weigh, not measure, the flour)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- Another 1/3 cup or 35 grams of granulated sugar for the glaze
Method
Preheat the oven to 325F/160C.
Generously butter a 9x5" loaf pan (this is a rectangular bread pan with a total capacity of 8 cups, or slightly under 2 liters)
Zest the limes completely, then juice them. Set juice and zest aside.
Whip the butter in a large bowl for several minutes until it's pale and fluffy.
Add the sugar and whip for another 2 minutes. Pale and fluffy is the key.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating for a full minute after each addition. The batter should continue to be fluffy, though by the fifth egg, it might start to curdle a little. Whip whip whip. This cake requires an extraordinary amount of beating.
With the mixer running, slowly drizzle in about half of the lime juice. Reserve the remaining lime juice for the glaze.
Blend the flour mixture, the baking powder, the xanthan gum and the lime zest, and add it to the butter mixture all at once. Mix at medium high speed for another three or four minutes.
Turn this delicious, fluffy, pale-colored batter into the prepared pan
Bake at 325/160 for an hour. Test for doneness by inserting a thin blade into the middle. If it comes out crumby or gummy, keep baking. I've left this cake in as long as 90 minutes sometimes.
Meanwhile, make the glaze:
Heat the remaining lime juice and the 1/3 cup of sugar in a small saucepan till the sugar is completely dissolved.
When the cake is done, remove it from the oven and let it cool in its pan for a few minutes. Then carefully turn it out onto a cooling rack, and use a second cooling rack to flip it right side up. (Gluten-free cakes tend to be a bit more delicate than wheat-based cakes.)
When the cake is almost cool, pierce it lots of times with a skinny chopstick or a skewer, then pour the lime glaze over the top and let it soak in.
This cake is delicious while still warm, but the lime flavor develops after a day. Keep it in a tightly-closed tin. It will be good for at least three or four days, assuming it lasts that long.
*Evidently Americans mean something different by "pound cake" than do our UK and commonwealth cousins--to us, it's a buttery, eggy, rich, dense and rather plain loaf-style cake, not usually frosted, and served in thin slices.
**After much fiddling and experimentation, I've settled on Shawna Ahern's all-purpose gluten-free flour mix as my baking flour. I don't know how readily available its component ingredients are around the world, but I've had good luck finding most of them locally in my American city or online from American sources.