Gluten-Free Red Velvet Cake

A delicious, typical, American cake. Red like sin, which this cake truly is (at least not to try) made with a smooth cheesecake-ish filling and cheesecake icing.

Ingredients:

Sponge:

340 g gluten free mix

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

110 g butter at room temperature

200 g granulated sugar

240 ml cooking oil

2 full spoons coca

5 medium size eggs (at room temperature as well)

1,5 teaspoons of vanilla flavor

1 teaspoon vinegar

Red food coloring (liquid or gel is best)

240 ml buttermilk (room temperature)

Cheesecake filling

250 g cream cheese at room temperature

70 g powdered sugar

2 spoons fresh lemon juice

3 spoons hot water

2 spoons powdered gelatin

300 ml heavy cream (33% fat minimum)

Icing:

250 g cream cheese at room temperature

60 g butter at room temperature

80 g powder sugar

1/4 teaspoons vanilla flavor

Preparation: 45 minutes, refrigeration time: 3 hours. Baking time: 30 minutes at 180° C. 

Directions

Sponge

1) Grease and line 2 same size cake pans (22-24 cm) and preheat the oven to 180° C.

2) In a bowl mix 340 g of gluten free flour mix together with 1 teaspoon baking soda, 2 heaping spoons of cocoa and half a teaspoon salt. Set aside

3) In a separate bowl, best using a hand mixer or a kitchen aid robot mixer, mix 110 g of butter at high speed for approximately 2 minutes. Add 200 g of granulated sugar and mix for another 2 minutes until incorporated in the butter. Add 240 ml of oil and mix again for 2 minuter until incorporated.

4) Separate egg yolks from 5 eggs. Add the egg yolks to the mixing bowl together with 1,5 teaspoon vanilla flavor and mix on medium speed until incorporated.

5) Add 1 teaspoon vinegar and a teaspoon of red food coloring. Mix on medium speed until incorporated. The amount of food coloring you want to use is up to you, the type and intensity of the coloring and your own preferences on how intense you want the color of the cake to be. Add the coloring only one teaspoon at a time (we used about 3 teaspoons in the end).

6) Now we start to add the dry ingredients. Always add the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time always blending it with the buttermilk so that all the ingredients get incorporated evenly, finishing with the dry ingredients

(you should go: 1/3 dry, 1/2 buttermilk, 1/3 dry, 1/2 buttermilk, 1/3 dry)

7) In a separate bowl whisk 5 egg whites together with a pinch of salt or teaspoon lemon juice until and solid. Carefully fold the whisked egg whites into the mixed batter. Split up the batter into your 2 greased and lined baking cake pans and bake for approximately 30 minutes until golden. (check with skewer, nothing should be sticking to it)

Filling:

8) As soon as the sponge is done and cooled we can even it out with a flat knife (keep the trimmings aside to use for decoration). Line the baking pan with plastic wrap. Now we can start making the filling.

9) Using a hand mixer or kitchen aid robot mixer mix together 250 g cream cheese and 70 g sugar until incorporated. Add 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice and mix again. On the side whip 300 ml of heavy cream into whipped cream.

10) In a smaller bowl mix 2,5 teaspoons of powder gelatin together with 3 teaspoons of hot water. Stir until gelatin is completely dissolved. Immediately add to the cream cheese and stir slowly but thoroughly so that the gelatin distributes evenly throughout all of the cream cheese. Carefully fold in the whipped cream until incorporated evenly. Cheesecake filling is done!

11) Put one of the sponges into the baking pan lined with plastic wrap (best use spring pan) and spread it with 1/2 of the cheesecake filling. Cover it with the second sponge; lightly press it in so that the filling spreads evenly in the bottom part. Cover the second sponge with the rest of the cheesecake filling and spread out evenly so that you have an even surface.

Refrigerate for at least 3 hours (best overnight).

Icing:

12) In a bowl, using a hand mixer or kitchen aid robot mixer mix together 60 g of butter and 250 g cream cheese until combined. Add 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla aroma and 80 g powder sugar and mix again until combined.

13) Take the cake out of the fridge and carefully remove the springform baking pan, remove the plastic wrap and transfer the cake to an even plate or an icing stand. Using a long flat knife spread the icing evenly across the top and sides of the cake (try rather to turn the plate when spreading the icing instead of moving around it. Here’s one good video showing how to do it). Again let cool for about an hour in the fridge before going to the next step.

14) Now it’s time to use the trimmings we’ve saved. Crumble them up and sprinkle them along the edge of the Red Velvet cake to give it the extra wow effect. Fo finish it up you can sprinkle these trimmings with powdered sugar. Keep the cake in the fridge before serving.

Enjoy!

Tips & Tricks:

Be careful about the type of vanilla flavor you are using. First try we did we used a more “liquid” flavor and that was a disaster for the icing. It’s much better to use a more gel like flavor than the watery stuff. Or you can substitute this completely by having a home made vanilla icing sugar which is just a vanilla bean which we save after using the insides and putting it into a sealed container with icing sugar.

In case you didn’t notice until yet, all the ingredients need to be at room temperature to achieve the best result. That is the most crucial criteria for all cake sponges.

Cream cheese like Philadelphia or Mascarpone are truly the best for the icing and filling. They have the best consistency and stay solid which makes the work with icing so much easier.

In case you don't want to use artificial coloring you can try and add red beat. However don't forget to adjust all the other ingredients. This unfortunately we did not try so we can't give you exact directions.