Gluten-Free Blueberry Cake & Blueberry Fruit Trifle

From Chef Oonagh Williams of Gluten-Free Cooking with Oonagh

As some of you know, I spoke and demoed at the Boston Celiac Symposium April this year. I also supervised the kitchens at Four Points Hotel for the Symposium to help ensure gluten-free safety. There, I watched the blueberry muffins being made–literally hundreds of mini muffins. Afterwards, I tweaked my gluten-free blueberry muffin recipe to use sour cream and whole milk as I’d seen the hotel do. While mixing the batter, I decided a single Bundt cake was easier than muffins. But a single Bundt cake is a lot when there’s only two of us at home, so I used half the blueberry Bundt cake to make a blueberry fruit trifle for a 4th July party! And my gluten-free dessert was the party dessert that vanished.

With butter, sour cream and whole milk, the texture of this cake is similar to a pound cake. I substituted almost melted coconut oil and plain Greek yogurt for lower fat and cholesterol. The taste wasn’t as rich, my husband thinks the butter version melts in the mouth, and with almost melted coconut oil, the batter wasn’t as fluffy. But it works and is tasty.

Gluten-Free Blueberry Cake

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup (5 oz, 140g) sugar or same weight of light brown sugar for more flavor, browner color, but not such a fluffy texture
• 1/2 cup (4 oz, 112 g) soft butter or coconut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons (10 ml) gluten-free baking powder
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) gluten-free vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1+1/4 c (7 oz, 198g) King Arthur Gluten-Free Multi-Purpose Flour (not their blends containing xanthan gum)
• 2/3 c (2 oz) almond flour
• 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum, I have made this with only 1/8 tsp xanthan gum, it’s very tender when warm, but stays together when cool
• 2/3 c 100% sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
• 1/3 c whole milk (or cream (not sour cream) and fat free milk mixed) or fat free milk
• Zest of at least one large lemon, blueberries on their own don’t have a strong flavor
• 1+1/2 – 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries. 1 cup ( 5oz) of blueberries is fluffier than 1+1/2 to 2 cups of blueberries. More blueberries really weigh down the batter
• Sliced almonds, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and gluten-free flour 10 ” Bundt pan. I like to sprinkle with sliced almonds on base of pan.
2. Place the sugar, soft butter, salt, baking powder, vanilla, eggs, flour, almond flour, xanthan gum, sour cream, milk in a mixing bowl, and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy, at least 2-3 minutes. I find that beating longer does give a fluffier texture.
3. Stir in the blueberries and lemon zest.
4. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan. Note: the batter will be VERY thick.
5. Let the pan rest for 10 minutes. Then bake the Bundt pan for 60-70 minutes till light golden brown, less time tastes undercooked. Longer for frozen fruit. Remove from the oven, and let sit for 5-10 minutes before removing from the pan. They are very tender when hot. Best served warm.

Gluten-Free Blueberry Fruit Trifle from Blueberry Cake

I had a lot of fruit in the fridge with the 4^th of July coming up. The more fruit the better for this recipe, but just strawberries and blueberries are wonderful.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 of blueberry Bundt cake cut into about 1-1+1/2 inch cubes
• 1 pint sweet strawberries, rinsed, dehulled, and sliced
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1/4 c water
• 1-2 tbsp fruit liqueur, optional
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 ripe sweet mango, skin removed and cut into small dice, I had one ready to eat, optional
• 1 c sweet, seedless grapes,  had some of those left.

Custard:

• 1 x 4 portion box of Jello instant vanilla pudding
• 1 c milk, I used fat free
• 1+1/2 c heavy cream whipped with 3 tbsp sugar and 1-2 tbsps of same liqueur or teaspoon of gluten-free vanilla extract to make 3 cups
• Toasted almonds
• Chocolate curls

Note: For the 4th July, I had made some of my homemade lemon curd as presents. Then I added 1 cup of lemon curd to 2 cups of whipped cream and used that instead of vanilla pudding.

Directions:

1. In advance, dissolve 1/4 c sugar in 1/4 cup water and add fruit liqueur–amaretto, orange liqueur, even brandy or rum. Add sliced strawberries, and refrigerate overnight. This helps sweeten strawberries that are not sweet enough and gives you some flavored sugar syrup to drizzle on cake.
2. Put half the cake cubes in bottom of 8 cup bowl. Put strawberries, syrup, blueberries, mango, and grapes on top.
3. Top with second half of cake cubes.
4. Beat instant vanilla pudding with 1 cup milk, then fold in 1 c whipped cream. Spread on top of cake cubes.
5. Spread another cup of whipped cream on top of pudding. Pipe remaining whipped cream on top of flat whipped cream.
6. Sprinkle with toasted almonds and chocolate curls.

Chocolate curls: Award-winning baker Rose Levy Beranbaum calls them ‘snowflakes.’ To make them, take a regular bar of gluten-free milk- or semi-sweet chocolate. I used both. Break off a piece about 3 inches long and put it in a folded piece of paper towel so you can hold chocolate without heat of your hand melting it too much. Use a potato peeler with open hole to peel strips that will curl up. Either peel directly above dessert or onto a plate. You can see from the photo these are tiny curls of chocolate that will melt rapidly if you try to handle them. Don’t use chocolate bar that is cold from fridge, the chocolate won’t curl.