It has been a while since I last posted on here but my Mum’s birthday, today, was a great opportunity to get baking again. (The diet is on hold!)
Last night we went out for a meal and found a restaurant really putting others to shame when it comes to gluten free.Their gluten free menu was extensive and varied, the staff were knowledgeable and I was confident eating their delicious food. Firecracker chicken wings, BBQ ribs with chips and a huge piece of chocolate fudge cake meant I was one very happy coeliac.
Today we took advantage of the warm weather and had a barbecue. Rice salad, GF pasta salad, green salad, tomato and mozzarella salad, coleslaw, maple belly pork, sausages and steak made a great gluten free feast. Proof that being gluten free doesn’t have to mean missing out on things.
Then, the most important part. It’s not a birthday without cake! I made a Victoria Sponge cake which looks, smells and tastes spot on.

You’ll need 2 x 7″ round cake tins, and here’s how to make it:

Ingredients

For the cake:
150g gf self raising flour (plus xanthan gum if it’s not already in the flour mix)
150g soft margarine
150g caster sugar
1.5 tsp gf baking powder
1 tsp glycerin
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs

For the filling:
Raspberry jam
100g salted butter
200g icing sugar
1tsp vanilla essence

Recipe

1. Grease and line the two tins.

2. Put all of the cake ingredients into a bowl and mix until smooth. This is much easier with a food mixer but a wooden spoon and some elbow grease will also do the job.

3. Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and level the tops with the back of a spoon.

4. Bake at 180*C fan for 20-25 mins, until the tops bounce back when gently pressed with your finger tips.

5. Tip the cakes out of the tins and onto a cooling rack. After 10 mins, remove the lining paper. Allow to cool completely before filling.

6. Put the butter in a bowl and soften with a spoon. Slowly add the icing sugar, mixing regularly. Add the vanilla essence and mix thoroughly.

7. Spread a thin layer of the buttercream onto one of the cakes – this stops the jam soaking through.

8. Spread as much raspberry jam as you’d like on top of the thin layer of buttercream.

9. Spread the rest of the buttercream evenly on the other cake.

10. Put one cake on top of the other and dust the top with icing sugar.