My toddler daughter was having a birthday party, and in order to include one of her wee friends we wanted the cake to be gluten free. As she loves eating strawberries and as British strawberries are at the height of deliciousness in August, I came up with an adaptation of Nigella Lawson's apple and almond cake (which is short and squat but very lovely) to come up with a gluten free, dairy free strawberry Victoria sponge (which is tall, light and moist).
Consensus among the parents was that the cake was even more delicious than a traditional Victoria sponge. The kids also loved it. Several people went back for thirds. I would actually make this in preference to a normal gluten-full sponge in future, even ignoring particular dietary requirements. A real hit.
Details:
1. Oven to 180 degrees.
2. Peel, core and chop three eating apples, add to a pan with the juice of half a lemon and two teaspoons of sugar, and cook gently for ten minutes with the lid on until you can mash to a rough puree with a potato masher or fork. Spread thin on a dinner plate to cool down.
3. Oil and line two Victoria sandwich tins. Be sure to line the sides as the mixture can stick. Ideally use non stick paper rather than parchment.
4. Separate six of eight eggs in total.
5. Put six egg yolks, two eggs, 325 grams of ground almonds, 275 grams of sugar and the juice of the other half lemon into a food processor, mix to a batter and then in three batches mix in the Apple puree (in batches so there's not too much concentrated heat being added, as it won't be wholly cool yet). Scrape batter into a large bowl.
6. Separately, whip the egg whites into soft peaks. Fold a tablespoon of the egg whites into the batter to loosen, then fold the remainder in a third at a time.
7. Divide between two sandwich tins (fill to the brim if you like, the mixture is already light and won't really rise much) and bake for 25-30 mins. A test knife should come out fairly clean, if not cook for 5 minutes more until it sets. With all those almonds the cake won't easily dry out, so overcooking is only a problem if you leave it so long you burn the top and sides (which even then adds a nice, bitter biscuity note).
8. Remove from tins ten minutes after leaving the oven, then cool completely on a rack.
9. Fill as you please. I whipped up ~400ml of double cream until soft and holding its shape, then filled the cake with jam and cream and topped it with cream and fresh strawberries. This worked very well.
... I imagine you could put lemon or orange zest in the mixture for a different sort of cake, or any other flavouring really. The base cake tastes buttery and moist, and holds its shape really well. I've never known a gluten free cake made without those shop bought, fairly artificial gluten free flours to sit so tall and light, so this is really a good base recipe to work from.
It may also help that the cake is dairy free, but that didn't matter to me this time round.
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