Can gluten-free cakes actually be fluffy? The answer is a big YES. All you need is rice flour. Those who are gluten intolerant, or choose the gluten-free way of life (no-judging..) can too experience fluffy sponge cakes. I’ve always loved my signature soft and fluffy sponge cakes, and am stoked to have cracked the code to a gluten-free version. This recipe is Coeliac certified!
The most rewarding part of baking is certainly not the cleanup. It’s being able to share and bring joy to others! This has become one of my top baking moments. My coeliac friend let out a surprised “HOLY smokes” after the first mouthful of this cake. Surreptitiously slicing bit by bit while we were chatting, it wasn’t long before half of the cake was demolished!
The science:
The best part is, you don’t even need to invest in a bag of gluten-free flour, only rice flour is needed. Rice flour is naturally gluten-free and packets like the above can be found easily in Asian grocery stores. I would recommend buying it from the Asian stores because they tend to be ground to a finer consistency. Essentially, rice flour is made from ground rice grains, which do not contain gluten. Gluten is a type of protein found in grains such as wheat, barley, and rye. When these grains are milled into flour, the gluten is retained, which gives the flour its elasticity and chewiness.
As rice flour doesn’t contain any gluten, this makes it a popular alternative to wheat flour. I use it in my snowskin bunny mooncakes. It is also used to make chewy rice noodles, dumplings or even breading for pan frying.
So let’s not keep yourself or your gluten-free friends waiting. Give this sponge cake recipe a go! Make sure you tag your creations with @ultimateomnoms on Instagram, I’d love to see it and give you a shoutout.
Fluffy gluten-free sponge cake
Ingredients
- 6 egg yolks
- 40 ml oil
- 100 ml milk
- 140 g rice flour
- pinch of salt
- 6 egg whites
- ½ tsp cream of tartar
- 80 g castor sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Whisk the egg yolks, oil and milk together
- Add the rice flour and salt in the batter. Mix until smooth
- Add in vanilla extract and mix until incorporated
- Whisk egg whites with the cream of tartar
- Once frothy, slowly add the sugar in batches into the egg white, being careful not to deflate the egg whites in one big batch
- Beat until medium peaks are formed
- Gently fold the egg whites into the egg yolk batter until combined
- Pour into two prepared 6" pans. Only the bottoms needs to be lined with baking paper
- Bake for 1 hr 5 min at 170°C in a hot water bath
- The cake is done when a skewer inserted comes out clean
- Drop the cake on the kitchen bench to prevent shrinkage. Put a tea towel underneath to protect it
- Rest the cake for 10min in the pan. After that, invert to fully cool on a rack
