Gluten-free Chiffon Cake

I’m convinced I lack the gene responsible for allowing one to successfully beat egg whites into a frenzy. Today was the second time in as many months that I dutifully watched Julia Child whip egg whites into peaks. I refused to move my eyes for even a moment, barely allowing myself the right to blink in case I missed the key, crucial moment when the whites went from soft to medium, peak-wise. Julia is effortless. My attempts require much effort. In short, I need to practice.

My practice today came in the form of a gluten-free chiffon cake, this week’s Tuesday’s with Dorie recipe that you can find at The Double Trouble Kitchen and Little French Bakery, our hosts for this challenge. I read through the recipe a few times and didn’t really know where to begin in terms of substituting gluten-free flours. This week’s recipe also involves a layer of oats and gluten-free or otherwise, oats are not my friend. Plus, the recipe’s headnote spoke of the cake’s gossamer lightness; oats weigh me down. Hoping Julia would appreciate my research, I turned to the Internet and found this recipe for a gluten-free chiffon cake.

Created by one of my favorite gluten-free bakers, Elizabeth Barbone, this recipe from Serious Eats includes white rice flour, potato starch and tapioca starch. She also wants bakers to use a tube pan. A tube pan?

Oh dear. After texting a few friends I found what I think is a bundt pan. I also had to borrow cream of tartar from a friend. My pantry disappointed in both the white rice flour and the vanilla extract department – I had to substitute sweet rice flour and lemon extract.

Which was fine by me. The cake, as you can see, turned out beautifully. Fluffy, light and the lemon extract turned out to be a perfect complement to the macerated strawberries.

I think I’m starting to get the hang of this gluten-free baking thing. My little bakers agreed too – the peanut gallery came back with these comments:

• Wow!
• I love this cake so much I’m going to marry it!
• This is so good with strawberries!

Baking with Julia: Bake along with us! Learn more at Tuesdays with Dorie, and pick up a copy of Baking with Julia.