Light Gluten Free Vanilla “Yogurt” Cake

So, since I am a lover of all things chocolate I sometimes do not even think about other flavor options in dessert like gluten free vanilla cake. Do you remember the Neapolitan ice cream growing up with the strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate striped sections? Nope, just the chocolate please.

Every once in awhile I run across someone who actually prefers vanilla over chocolate. At first I always do a mental, “who ARE you?” thought, but hold up. Vanilla bean ice cream is way delicious. So are vanilla caramel cremes. Hmmmm….. maybe there are other flavors out there besides chocolate.

My husband would choose vanilla over chocolate, so here is what I made for his birthday. I spared him yet another chocolate item that is baked from the mental list of what I would personally prefer. Throat clearing, yes- that is the truth. Have you ever been given or (gasp) been the giver of a gift purely from your wish list to someone else? The fact that I baked something vanilla flavored is a pure act of love. All the chocoholics out there know exactly what I’m talking about. Turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. The kids were asking for it for breakfast and there were no slices left so a win in my book.

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Gluten Free Vanilla “Yogurt” Cake:

• 1 C. Plain yogurt
• 1 C. Sugar
• Large pinch of salt (roughly 1/4 tsp.)
• 1 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 1/3 C. Oil (I have used olive or avocado oil)
• 2 Large eggs
• 2/3 C. Tapioca starch
• 1 C. Brown Rice flour
• 1/2 tsp. Xantham gum
• 1 1/2 tsp. Baking powder
• 1 tsp. Baking soda
• Zest of 1 lemon or 10 drops Lemon Essential Oil
• Topping: berries of any kind, apricots, peaches, what you like. Canned, frozen and thawed, or fresh. Just remember to drain canned or thawed liquid so it doesn’t make the cake a soggy mess.
• Whipped topping (optional but more fun)

Here’s what I did: I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. Then greased AND floured a Duncan “Tiara” pan. You could use a large round cake pan also.

I then mixed all the liquid ingredients up through the eggs. Then all dry ingredients in a separate bowl and added to the wet ingredients. Last was adding the lemon zest but I never have lemons on hand so I used Lemon Essential Oil to replace this.

My goal was to have the batter be on the thinner side, not like brownie batter. If it’s too thick, thin it with a little “milk”. Then baked for 30-35 minutes until center was done.

I tested for done-ness by using a a fork in the center and by using a food thermometer to check the center for a temperature between 180-200 degrees. The top was golden-colored.

I cooled it on the burner top of the oven. Once cooled, the cake was removed from the pan by running a butter knife along edges to loosen and inverted onto a pretty plate. Topped with blueberries this time but I’ve also used raspberries, apricots, strawberries, and peaches. A generous swirl of whipped topping and it was good to go. I froze the leftovers, haha–I’m kidding! It didn’t last long enough to justify freezing it.

A note on dairy

Half of our family is supposed to be dairy-free. That doesn’t stop us from having it about half the time. When I made this for my husband, I used Kava dairy-free yogurt successfully. Other plain dairy-free yogurts would work also in this even though I will write the recipe down with the dairy components. Personally, I would gravitate towards the coconut milk dairy-free yogurts over the almond milk yogurts because I always subconsciously think of the coconut version being a little thicker with a better fat feel in the mouth.

But, maybe that’s all in my mind. If you make this with almond milk yogurt and like how it turns out, please let us know. I topped it with regular whipped cream but there is now a coconut whipped cream that is delicious, so you can use that for the topping if you wish.

This recipe is adapted to be gluten-free from the wonderful memoir Lunch in Paris: A Love Story with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard. If you love a good story about living in France, this is a great read.

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