Gluten Free and Dairy Free Vanilla Sponge Cake

A close friend of mine asked me to make her 5 year old daughter a Dairy and Gluten free princess cake. I can't lie I was a little apprehensive making this particular birthday cake as I have never made a cake that doesn't have gluten and dairy in. However, I think I may have cracked it with this recipe.

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Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

450g Dairy free butter (Stork in Foil/Vitalite whichever is of preference)

450g Caster Sugar

450g Gluten Free self-raising flour (I personally used Doves Farm, make sure that there is Xantham Gum, if not this will need to be added in separately approximately 3/4tsp)

5 Large Eggs

4tsp of Vanilla Extract

Jar of good quality Strawberry Jam (Optional)

Buttercream Icing

500g Dairy Free Butter (Stork in Foil/Vitalite)

700g Icing sugar

2tsp Vanilla Extract

Food colouring of your choice (I used Colour Splash from Hobby Craft)

Sprinkles

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Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 180C/160C Fan line two 8 inch cake tins with parchment paper. Due to the large volume of cake batter this will need to be baked in two batches.

2. In a large mixing bowl add the 450g of dairy free butter and 450g of caster sugar, mix until light and fluffy. Gradually add 450g of gluten free self raising flour mix until fully combined. Mix the eggs into the mixture one by one. Add the 4tsp of Vanilla extract.

3. Split the mixture into 3 and pour into two of the cake tins. Save the last third of the batter for the second batch. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes test the batter is cooked all the way through by use a knife to check if the cake is completely cooked, if the knife comes out clean the sponge is cooked all the way through. Bake the last batch of cake mixture

4. Whilst the cakes are cooking we can move onto the buttercream icing. In a large bowl add 500g of dairy free butter to a bowl gradually add the 700g of sifted icing sugar. The buttercream should be light and fluffy. Add the 2tsp of vanilla extract and add the food colour of your choice. The more food colouring added the brighter the colour.

5. Once the cakes are cooled level the tops of the cake before assembling. Add a layer of the buttercream onto the sponge pipe the buttercream around the edge onto one of the layers use it as a barrier for adding the strawberry jam (optional) repeat on the second layer. Assemble the three layers of the cake and begin to crumb coat the cake. Add buttercream around the edge of the cake and on top start of with thin layers to encase the crumb. Leave to set in the fridge for an hour. Add a second thicker coat of buttercream all over the cake. Decorate as you wish. As you can see from the photos we added sprinkles and piped detailing onto. Piping nozzle used was 2D Wilton,

And that is a Dairy and Gluten free Vanilla cake, I have to say I will be making this again it was a real success and enjoyed by everyone who ate it. If you try out this recipe don't forget to take me in your creations @yourebakingmyheart.