Gluten Free Tiramisu Cake

It is time once again for the Gluten Free Ratio Rally! This month Kate from Gluten Free Gobsmacked hosted the event this month, and our assignment was WHITE OR YELLOW CAKE! Yum.

Perhaps the greatest thing I love about the gfreerally (other than the really tasty food that everyone creates) is the access to the knowledge of other food bloggers. I love the ability to work with everyone in researching the proper ratios and what actually makes a traditional white or yellow cake.

For this Ratio Rally Recipe, I use a ratio of:

flour : egg : sugar : fat

1 : 1 : 1 : 1

Out of this opportunity, I learned of a completely new way of preparing a cake batter to produce a buttery, tender yellow cake. The nice thing with the texture of this cake was that I was easily able to separate it into a layered cake with minimal cracking or breakage.

The main reason I was excited for the white/yellow cake challenge is that growing up my mom had a small business of sort building and decorating cakes. It was part of what got me interested in cooking, and I'm excited to share this sophisticated cake. Feel free to exclude the rum in order to serve without any alcohol.

Please visit Kate's blog for her Gluten Free Basic White Birthday Cake Recipe, and for the complete list of Ratio Rally Recipes!

Prep Time: 1 hour
Bake Time: 40 minutes
Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

Cake
227g eggs (4-5 large eggs)
227g white sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
85g white rice flour
57g potato starch
28g tapioca starch
28g almond flour
28g brown rice flour
227g melted butter

Syrup
1/6 cup strong coffee, chilled
1 tsp rum

Frosting
5 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1 cup mascarpone
1 1/2 cup heavy cream

Dark Chocolate for garnish

Steps

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line the bottom of an 8" round cake pan with parchment paper, and grease the bottom and sides of the pan. In a small bowl, combine all the flours.

Fill a shallow dish with warm water, and place an empty medium-sized mixing bowl into the dish. Add the eggs, sugar, lemon, and vanilla, beat for about a minute. Remove the eggs from the water and beat them until they have tripled in volume, which took me about 5 minutes.

Gradually fold the flour into the batter until fully combined. Pour the batter into the pan, and bake for 40 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Once the cake is baked, remove from the oven and let cool completely. Once the cake is completely cool, run a knife along the edge of the pan and invert into a cooling rack.

While the cake cools, mix together the coffee and rum in a cup. To make the frosting, start a double boiler, and add the egg yolks and sugar. Cook over high heat until the sugar is dissolved, stirring constantly. Once sugar has dissolved, reduce to low heat and continuously whisk for 10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes, remove the custard from the heat and whisk until it has thickened a bit, approximately 1 minute. Fold in the mascarpone until combined. Whip the cream in a chilled bowl until peaks form, and gently fold into the custard until well combined. Refrigerate the frosting until you are ready to frost.

Once the cake is chilled, cut the cake in half so that there are two circle cakes. I have two techniques to recommend for this.
1. If you are scared of dividing the cake, take a long sewing string, and wrap it around the cake. Gently tug the string until it cuts through the cake and splits it.
2. If you feel a little brave, use a really long, sharp knife to divide the cake in half. Be sure to cut slowly for your safety, and in order to allow you time to make the perfect cut.
Once the cake is divided, carefully place the bottom piece onto a plate. I normally use two large knives to get leverage in between the cake layers. It also never hurts to have a friend lend you some hands in order to safely transport the cake.

Using a pastry brush, brush the coffee onto the cakes, and drench them in the coffee. Let the cakes stand for a few minutes to soak in the coffee.

Now, its time to ASSEMBLE THE CAKE!

Mmmmmm creamy goodness. Favorite frosting ever.

Take a nice, large dollup of frosting and place on top of the bottom layer, and spread smooth. Place the top layer on top, and then secure the layers with toothpicks. I like doing this to prevent the cake from sliding everywhere when you frost it.

Frost the top of the cake, followed by the sides. After I frost the sides, I like to run the knife across the side of the cake for an uniform side at the end. If the frosting starts to melt (especially during the summer), place the cake in the fridge for a few minutes to firm up. Once the frosting is complete, use a potato peeler to shave chocolate on top of the cake.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! Be sure to check out the other Gluten Free Ratio Rally Recipes!

Thanks again to our host this month

GF Basic White Birthday Cake by Kate @ Gluten Free Gobsmacked