Every year on my kid’s birthdays, I use their birthday cake request as an excuse to push my creativity in the kitchen. I aspire to create beautifully decorated cakes that look right out of a magazine. I say ‘aspire’ because I still have a ways to go in the decorating department!
Since I can no longer go to the wonderful European Patisserie by my house and buy an exquisite cake or tart like I used to, I try to recreate it as best as I can at home. It has taken me several years and many failed attempts to make a great tasting sugar, gluten and grain-free birthday cake that everyone will enjoy. I finally can say I have found the right combination of ingredients that even our sweets-loving friends and family that come over will enjoy!
This year, for my daughter’s 13th birthday, she requested a yellow cake with blueberry frosting and a blackberry drizzle. Challenge accepted! I used a lemon almond flour cake base and added my homemade blueberry jam (sugar-free and sweetened with only honey) to a meringue buttercream frosting. The blackberry drizzle was made from simmering blackberries and blending into a puree.
Lemon Almond White Cake
Ingredients:
4 eggs
3/4 cup of honey
4 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 tbsp almond extract
1 tbsp lemon juice
Zest from 1 lemon
5 cups almond flour
1.5 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F°.
2. Place silicone cake molds on a baking tray to make it easier to transfer them to the oven.
3. Place eggs, honey, coconut oil, almond extract, lemon juice and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl and mix together until fully incorporated.
4. Add the dry ingredients and mix together.
5. Pour the batter into the cake molds filling it about 3/4 of the way to the top.
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown on top and a toothpick comes out clean.
7. When done baking, let the cake cool considerably before removing from the molds. The best way to remove the cake is to place a dinner plate on top of the mold and flip it upside down. By waiting until it is cooled down, there will be less chance that the cake will break apart and stick to the mold when removing.
A note on bakeware: Silicone is best to use with gluten free batters since they won't stick like when using metal bakeware. You can spread a bit of coconut oil to the bottom of the mold to help further prevent any sticking.
This recipe is enough to fill two 9-inch round cake molds, or three 6-inch round cake molds.
Blueberry Jam
Ingredients:
1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp honey
Directions:
Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the blueberries have broken down. Once cooled, place mixture in a blender to make into a smooth puree. You can use leftover jam for any breakfast treat or as an additional drizzle over this cake.
Blueberry Almond Meringue Buttercream Frosting
This meringue can be very versatile and used for cakes, cupcakes and cookies. You can add different flavors and colors to personalize it for what you are making. For example, you can add lemon juice to make it citrusy or strawberry puree to make it pink.
Meringue is a time-consuming recipe and can be tricky to make if all the proper steps aren’t taken and if you aren’t patient. I learned a lot about making an SCD compliant, sugar-free buttercream from fellow food-blogger @alifeofhappenstance. Her page has tons of good tips on making buttercream, as well as troubleshooting if something goes wrong. Check out her blog here for more detailed tips on making meringue.
These are the most important tips though for ensuring your meringue buttercream turns out perfectly:
- Make sure all your ingredients are room temperature. Leave the butter on the counter for several hours prior to making this recipe.
- Before you add the butter, the meringue MUST be at room temperature or the frosting will turn soupy.
Ingredients:
3 egg whites (at room temperature)
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon almond extract
14 tbsp unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1/3 cup homemade blueberry jam (see above)
Directions:
1. Place honey in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it reaches 240F° on a candy thermometer. This is the soft boil stage of the honey and it will be quite bubbly.
2. While honey is heating, place the egg whites in a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on high speed until soft peaks start to form.
3. Once honey is done heating, reduce mixer speed to medium and slowly pour the hot honey into the egg white mixture.
4. Continue mixing on high speed until the meringue becomes thicker and has doubled in volume. This process could take up to 30 minutes.
5. After the meringue is done, swap out the whisk attachment for the paddle attachment.
6. Continue to mix on medium while adding one tablespoon of butter at a time until is it all fully incorporated into the frosting.
7. Add the blueberry jam until is it fully incorporated and you have a nice blue-ish colored frosting.
This recipe makes about 2.5 cups of frosting. It was just enough to frost a two-layer, 9 inch diameter cake with one layer of frosting in the middle. The meringue can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge, but it must be allowed to come to room temperature and whipped again before frosting a cake.
Blackberry Drizzle
The drizzle was made the same way as the blueberry jam. Any flavor of fruit, fresh or frozen, can be used and turned into a puree to add to the middle of the cake or drizzled on top.
Ingredients:
1 cup blackberries
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp lemon
Directions:
Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the blueberries have broken down. Once cooled, place mixture in a blender to make into a smooth puree.
Once all the parts of the cake are made, you can assemble it and decorate it as you wish!
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