Revisiting the cake

Pretty cake!

Yesterday was my second attempt at a gluten free, vegan, lemon cake.  The first attempt was not exactly what I was hoping for.  It wasn't terrible, certainly wasn't doorstop material, but I wasn't totally in love with it.

I wondered what I could do differently to produce a fluffier version of the cake.  I decided to try borrowing a stand mixer-I really need to buy one of those-and altering how the ingredients are blended together.  The original recipe called for the sugar to be mixed with dry ingredients and the vegan butter to be melted with the non dairy milk.  This was my biggest change.  I know when baking with my usual ingredients I cream the butter and sugar together, so that's what I did.  I creamed those two things together then alternated adding in the flour mixture and the milk.  I also did some reading on Karina's blog and found that she recommends allowing the batter to warm up a bit, letting it rest, before popping it into the oven.  This is particularly important because some of the flours and the xanthum gum  called for in the recipe I keep in the freezer.  I also decided to add some fresh berries between the layers, everything goes better with fresh raspberries! 

Oooey, gooey goodness

My only  complaint was that the crust got a tad over done, which my sister in law Andrea thinks is due to my dark pans, I've heard that can happen.  The cake itself came out much better.  I will try again another day and use different pans to see if it does indeed make a difference.