{Gluten-Free} Garden Cake with Matcha Whipped Cream, Berries, and Blossoms

Probably influenced by his hours at Earthbound Farm for their Afternoon Tea Party and wandering through their Edible Gardens, to celebrate the Nonni's safe return home from their trip, the Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf wanted to make them a garden cake. He wanted it to have strawberries and flowers; I happened to have both on hand. Sweet!

I suggested a matcha cake. He vetoed that in favor of a regular cake with matcha whipped cream. What can I say? The kid has vision. 

I'm not sure Nonno knew what to think of the cake, but he ate it.

Note: I baked this as two separate 8" rounds that were fairly flat as I was trying to speed up the baking time. I think next time, I'll bake it as one 8" round and slice it in half. Or bake it for less time. The cake layers were slightly overbaked.

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 C organic granulated sugar
• 6 T butter, room temperature
• zest from 1 organic lemon
• 1 C white rice flour*
• 2 T tapioca flour
• 6 T potato starch*
• 1 t xanthan gum*
• 2  eggs, beaten
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 3/4 C organic plain yogurt
• 1 t pure vanilla extract

Matcha Whipped Cream

• 2 C organic heavy whipping cream
• 2 T organic granulated sugar
• 1 T culinary matcha*

To Serve

• 2 C organic strawberries, hulled and sliced
• organic flowers (we used roses, snapdragons, and marigolds)

Procedure

Cake

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line two 8" round pans with parchment paper. Butter the paper and the pan. Set aside.

Using a hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until lightened and fluffy. Mix in the eggs on low speed. Stir in the lemon zest.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flours, potato starch, xanthan gum, and baking powder.

In the butter bowl, beat in the yogurt and vanilla extract. Fold the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until just combined. Spoon the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the top flat.

Bake the cake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and cool on rack. While the cake cools, make the matcha whipped cream.

Matcha Whipped Cream
Place all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Beat with a hand mixer until nice peaks form. Set aside until read to assemble.

To Serve
Place your bottom layer on serving platter. Heap 1/2 of the matcha whipped cream in the center and gently spread it to within 1/2" of the edge. Lay 1/2 of the strawberries on top of the whipped cream. Place the second cake layer on top of the strawberries. Heap the remaining matcha whipped cream on top of the cake, keeping 2 T aside. Gently spread whipped cream to within 1/2" of the edge. Lay the remaining strawberries on top of the cream. Use the last 2 T of whipped cream as a dollop on top. Garnish with flowers. Serve immediately.

Our gluten-free Sugar Pig was so happy!

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