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Prep time
50 minutes
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Cook time
35 minutes
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Makes
One (8-inch) two-layered cake
Author Notes
A note on the frosting: If you only have a stand mixer, prepare the carob and coconut oil mixture in its companion metal bowl. Sun butter, for those with allergies to almonds, works as a substitute for the almond. This frosting is vegan, too! —Caroline Wright
Test Kitchen Notes
Featured in: After I Survived Cancer, I Celebrated With a Birthday Cake. —The Editors
Ingredients
- For the cake
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Room temperature butter or vegetable shortening, for greasing pans
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2 cups
cups all-purpose gluten-free flour, homemade or store-bought, plus more for pans
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1 teaspoon
baking powder
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1 teaspoon
baking soda
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1/2 teaspoon
kosher salt
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1 cup
unsweetened applesauce, at room temperature
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1/4 cup
liquid honey
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4
large eggs, at room temperature
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1/4 cup
melted coconut oil or butter
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1/2 cup
apple juice concentrate, thawed and at room temperature
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1
recipe carob frosting, follows
- For the frosting
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2 cups
ground carob, toasted preferred
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1 1/2 cups
melted coconut oil
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1/2 teaspoon
kosher salt
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2 pinches
ground cinnamon
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1 cup
almond butter, raw preferred
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2 teaspoons
pure vanilla extract
Directions
- For the cake
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Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour two (8-inch round) baking pans.
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In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients-- applesauce, honey, eggs, coconut oil and apple juice concentrate—until well combined. (Add the coconut oil slowly while whisking, so it doesn’t re-solidify.) Whisk together the wet and dry ingredients, then divide batter between prepared pans.
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Bake cake layers until they begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a skewer tests clean when inserted into the center of a layer, about 30 to 35 minutes. (They will not dome or become uniformly golden.)
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Let layers cool in their pans set on a wire rack 5 minutes, then invert to release them from their pans. Cool cake layers completely before frosting.
- For the frosting
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In a large bowl, stir together carob and coconut oil until glossy and smooth. Set aside in refrigerator, stirring occasionally, until it thickens and the top layer hardens slightly, a little like a frozen lake (about 30 minutes).
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Add almond butter; use a handheld mixer set on high speed to whip until it pales slightly and glossy peaks form, about 1 minute. (If it gets too soft, chill in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes.)
Before her diagnosis, Caroline wrote a book on cakes called Cake Magic!. She started developing a birthday cake using her gluten-free mix found in that book. Check out other recipes she’s developing for her new life—and the stories behind them—on her blog, The Wright Recipes. Her next book, Soup Club, is a collection of recipes she made for her underground soup club of vegan and grain-free soups she delivers every week to friends throughout Seattle's rainy winter.
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