Nutty gluten-free cake with or without spun sugar

Candied hazelnuts

The gluten-free birthday cake challenge

Totally in awe is the only way to describe my state at 1:00 am on the eve of my sister’s birthday, as I stared at my work.

I had been in desperate need of a cake. Not just any cake… but a gluten-free confection, so the birthday girl could have some, too.

Chef Janet Rörschåch’s blog suggested a beautiful angel-light cake made from eggs and ground nuts, decorated with vanilla-infused fruit and boozy whipped cream.

The pièce de resistance was glittering threads of sugar, spun from hazel nut centers. Perfect!

Although I have had zero experience with this sort of thing, the instructions were thorough. How hard could it be?

The cake

The cake was easy to make. Blood-sugar spikes from eating this dessert are not a serious problem. There is no refined flour. And the protein from the eggs, as well as fats from the nuts and cream, impede absorption of the sugar. You get vitamins and minerals from the eggs and fruit, too. Calories? Yes. But empty calories? Not so much.

I settled for mangoes, because I had some. I also had a vanilla bean in my spice drawer, a gift from Christmas past, stored in a glass tube. The fruit in its light vanilla syrup tasted wonderful and it cooked up in a flash.

Gluten free nut cake, without the spun sugar

I flavored my whipped cream with a splash from a long-forgotten bottle of Crème de Cacao. Janet used Frangelico, which would have gone better with the nuts in the cake. But the cacao was very good.

But if you want the candied nuts…

Janet said to get everything ready before you begin the sugaring process. So I began by toasting and skinning the nuts. After 10 minutes in the oven, I wrapped them in terry towel and began rubbing. Nuts! Half an hour later I was still trying to get the last bits of papery skin off. Next time, I’ll buy the skinned nuts.

Janet called for a pot of ice water close to the stove, as a safety precaution. Hot sugar burns badly!!! This is NO job for a kid. It’s no job for an amateur cook, either. But by now, I was now committed.

Terrified by Janet’s warnings, I turned the sugar and water on medium high, rather than high as instructed. The sugar began to froth. After 10 minutes, when it was supposed to be golden, it had just begun to bubble. At 30 minutes I was going cross-eyed staring at the roiling sugar, which now looked glossy thick but still not what I would call golden. Next time, I’ll start on high.

Then, ZAP. It browned at the edges. I turned the heat off and began waiting the minute or so Janet said it would take to cool. The whole pot of sugar turned brown. I moved it off the burner and stuck in my first skewered nut. The sugar dripped right off. It took about 5 minutes before the syrup would stay on the nut long enough for me to prop it over the edge of the counter.

From that point on, I got about 10 or 12 done before the sugar got too hard. I put the pot back on the burner (next time I won’t take it off) and managed to get a few more nuts done…. a persnickety process, indeed!

I ended up with what you see in the picture at the top.

But look what I found floating just above the newspapers on the floor…

A web of gold filaments so beautiful I wanted it to crown the center of my cake.

Alas! By 2:00pm the next day, the web had dissolved into a sticky unpleasantness. The candied nuts were still presentable, though. They made a lovely crown for the cake.

Clean-up took another half hour…

And that’s how it took 2 hours from start to finish in the middle of the night to decorate a birthday cake. Next time, I’ll do better :).

The recipe below is for the gluten-free cake decorated without the spun sugar… much easier and equally as delicious.

Gluten free nut cake, without the spun sugar

Nutty gluten-free birthday cake with fruit and cream

Cake

• 4 extra large eggs, separated
• 1 cup castor sugar (spin ordinary sugar in a food processor if you can’t find any)
• ½ teaspoon real vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 1 ½ cups ground almonds (120 grams)

1. Set oven to 350ºF.
2. Butter bottom and sides of spring-form pan, add parchment to bottom, then butter parchment.
3. Whip whites into soft peaks.
4. Beat yolks, sugar, salt and vanilla until the yolks are pale yellow.
5. Use a slotted spoon to fold whites into yolks.
6. Fold in ground hazelnuts with slotted spoon.
7. Spoon cake mixture into pan.
8. Place in center of oven and bake 40 to 55 minutes.
9. Ready when there is no jiggle in center or cake skewer (toothpick) comes out clean.
10. Remove from oven and set pan on wire rack to cool.
11. Run knife around edge.
12. Remove from spring-form pan then remove parchment.

Vanilla-Infused fruit in light syrup

• 3 medium mangoes, peeled and diced (about 2 cups)
•  1/3 cup sugar
• pinch of salt
• juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoon water
• 1 vanilla bean, split, seeds removed with knife

1. In pot add sugar, mangoes, salt, lemon juice, and water.
2. Bring to boil.
3. Reduce to simmer until sugar dissolves.
4. Turn off heat.
5. Add vanilla seeds and pods, and lemon zest.

Whipped cream

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 or 2 tablespoons crème de cacao liqueur (use stevia or icing sugar if you don’t want alcohol)

1. Whip cream to soft peaks.
2. Add liqueur and beat 10-20 seconds more.
3. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Candied nuts: If you want to try your hand at these, see Janet’s post for detailed instructions.

To serve: Put a slice of cake on a plate. Top with some fruit (warm or cold), a dab of whipped cream, and one or two candied nuts arranged artfully.