I sometimes feel like I need an occasion to make a cake, and this occasions so very special! Last year in early 2020, pre-pando, my sister and her husband were planning for a August wedding. Well, like everything in the last year, those plans were put on pause. She and her husband had asked me to bake their wedding cake and I jumped at the opportunity to bake their cake. My sister and I both have celiac disease and finding high quality baked goods can be hard in remote places.
As family, we love a lemon cake almost as much as chocolate cake. A few years ago, I developed this lemon poppy seed cake for my brother-in-law for his birthday. In similar fashion to this occasion, we were traveling to Oregon for a family friends wedding and brought the cake so we could celebrate him on his birthday. Not unlike that occasion, I will be transporting cake layers to the wedding.
How to size cakes for the number of guests.
Sizing cakes is personal preference on how you want it to look when the cake is cut. I played around with the idea of doing sheet cakes, and cutting them into circles (Milkbar Style) or do larger cakes in tins, to cut into layers. The planning process is crucial for your event because each host may prefer their presentation differently. At our wedding, we decided to do cupcakes and then a mini cake, my sister preferred to have a table full of cakes for the guests. Either way is just as fun, but holds personality with each bride or host.
Although her wedding is small, only 65 guests, our family loves cake so we are planning to provide each guest with a slice of cake. In the planning process we broke down each cake to how we would esthetically like it to be served and my mom, sister and I all agreed that we prefer the cakes to be in slice form. That means, we will be doing 5, 9″ cakes with 3 layers each. The recipe for this cake makes 1 very tall 9″ cake that can be sliced into 1″ layers. I wanted to make sure that this was going to make sense for baking, so I didn’t bake 40 individual layers, rather than 5 cakes that were tall enough to cut into layers.
Transporting Cakes…yikes
Yes, you heard that, transporting these cakes. Transporting cakes is literally the scariest part of cake decorating because one bump could send this cake sliding across your car or jumping right out of your hands. My husband, Moose (my pup) and I will be driving 13 hours to Colorado for my sister’s wedding with these cakes, but I will not be slicing, decorating or really doing anything besides baking the cakes before we leave on our road trip.
Like I said above, I will be using 1 cake for 3 layers, to make sure these cakes stay moist, I will be keeping them in tact and cutting the layers when we get to the venue. One thing that is unique in this situation is that I will be decorating the cakes 1 day before the event. The wedding is on a Friday, and as the Maid of Honor, I have duties to do before the wedding on the day of, so Thursday is my cake prep day. Luckily my sister’s mother-in-law is a food stylist and has all the tools that I might ever need (and dream about) using for the cakes, so I can crank them out in our Airbnb.
Gluten-Free & Dairy Free Raspberry Filled Lemon Cake
- Prep Time: 60 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hours 10 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 beautiful Cale 1x
- Category: cakes
- Method: baking
Description
Gluten-free and Dairy free raspberry filled lemon cake is perfect for a brunch, birthday or just because you want to bake a cake! This cake is fluffy, sweet and subtly tart from the raspberry jam! A great change from your regular vanilla cake.
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 cup of vegan butter
- 1 3/4 cups of granulated sugar
- 2 tsp of baking powder
- 1/2 tsp of baking soda
- 2 tsp of vanilla extract
- 1 cup of dairy free milk
- 1/3 cups of lemon juice
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 3 room temperature eggs
- 3.5 cups of gluten-free flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill 1:1)
Frosting:
- 2 cups of vegan butter
- 9 cups of powdered sugar
- 2 tsp of vanilla extract
- 3–4 tablespoons of dairy free milk
- 1/4 cups of coconut cream (the thick part on the top of the can)
- 1 tsp of salt
Filling:
- 3/4 cups of Fresh Raspberry Jam (not jelly)
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 350°F and grease your 9″ cake pan with vegan butter, tap 2 tablespoons of gluten free flour around the pan to lightly coat the butter, tap the excess out in your sink and set the pan aside
- In your mixing bowl, cream your vegan butter and sugar until the butter looks like a light yellow and fluffy
- Next add in your vanilla extract, baking soda, baking powder and salt, mix until well combined
- Add in your eggs, one egg at a time, beating well after each egg
- Zest and juice your lemon adding both into your batter
- Alternating with gluten free flour and your dairy free milk, add 1 cup of flour to 1/3 cup of dairy free milk to your mixture until each addition is gently combined
- Using a rubber spatula, scrape the bowl down and then beat one more time to make sure all the batter is combined
- Scoop all your batter into your prepared baking pan and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean
- Remove your cake and let it cool on a cooling rack in the pan for at least 30 minutes
- When the metal is cool to the touch, using a knife slice around the cake and then release it from the pan and place on the rack until the cake is completely cool roughly 1 hour
- To prepare your frosting, place your 2 cups of vegan butter in your mixer with the whisk attachment, and whip your butter with your coconut cream
- Next add in your vanilla extract and salt and combine
- Add the powdered sugar to your butter mixture one cup at time whipping on medium high until combined
- Next add in your dairy free milk, you might need more according to your frosting, and whip until light and fluffy
- To frost your cake, take your cooled cake and cut your cake into 3 even layers
- Using a serrated knife, gently turn your cake with the knife horizontally to gently cut your layers
- Place your bottom layer on a cake plate, and fill your piping bag with frosting
- Pipe a thick layer of frosting around the edge of the cake, and using 3 tbsp of frosting cover the center of the piped area
- Over the frosting in the center of the cake, place 1/4 cup of raspberry jam (this is up to preference, if you like less, do less
- Next, add your “top” of the cake in the middle repeating the piping and the jam
- Lastly, place your “middle” slice of cake on the top, flat side up and frost about 1/3 cups of frosting on the top
- Place your filled cakes in the fridge for 30 minutes until the frosting is firm
- Remove from the fridge and using a thin layer of frosting, cover the sides of your cake with your crumb coat
- Place your cake back in the fridge for another 30 minutes
- Remove your cake after the frosting has set and cover the sides and top with the remaining frosting
- Eat and enjoy!
Notes
*you can change your filling to any jam you want to use! I love to use the Bonne Maman Jam
My day of prep + frosting
My day of frosting plans will go as follows:
- Wake up and start prepping the frosting (I will need a lot of frosting for the fillings and the outside)
- Slice the cakes into 3 layers
- Create my simple syrup moisture mixture (sugar + water to ensure the cakes are super moist during their stay in the fridge for a day)
- Start frosting – lay out all the sliced layers and start with each cake one at a time for the internal layers of frosting and jam
- I will start with the internal layers of frosting and jam
- Place each cake in the fridge after they have been filled
- Once they have chilled, I will apply a crumb coat to each cake, placing back in the freezer each time to chill the frosting together
- Then applying the outside layer and smoothing the frosting
I have been practicing on cakes so I can get the flow down, and I am no where near an expert at all, but I am really enjoying the process of getting better. Cakes have scared me in the past because I want to be good but it takes a lot of work to get them right! And I am a perfectionist! I have learned so many skills from people on social media, my friend Kaitlin from Sweet and Tarte. If you are looking for a great cake recipe, this one is so delicious and worth the work – trust me!
I can’t wait to share pictures from the wedding and share how the cakes turn out! Make sure you follow me on Instagram and TikTok for more!
17 Comments
Chrissy
December 18, 2022 at 4:44 pmHow much salt goes into the cake? Step 3 says to add salt but the ingredient list doesn’t list salt.
Paige
December 21, 2022 at 2:18 pmHi Chrissy! Thank you for catching that! I’ll add it in right now! I use 1 teaspoon of salt! Happy Baking – Paige
Lois
February 11, 2023 at 8:20 pmHow deep is the 9 “ pan? I’m wondering if I should double the recipe and make 2 cakes, and cut them to make 4 layers.
Paige
February 11, 2023 at 9:37 pmHi! I use a standard baking dish and it’s about 2” deep and for my sisters wedding I made this recipe and cut each cake ( 2, 9” pans) into 2, leaving me with 4 thinner layers!
Lois
March 23, 2023 at 7:06 pmIf I were to adapt this to make cupcakes, any idea how many it would yield? If not, I’ll try it out and let you know!
Paige
March 23, 2023 at 7:41 pmHi Lois! I’m not entirely sure but I would guess about 18-20 regular size cupcakes! Let me know what you find out 🙂 happy baking!
Lois
March 26, 2023 at 8:26 pmI halved the recipe (by beating the second egg and using half its volume), and baked the cupcakes for 23 minutes. It made a dozen, but I probably overfilled a couple of them because I was feeling lazy! This was a test run for my daughter’s wedding as a GF, DF alternative for those with food sensitivities. The bride and groom’s favourite cake is lemon poppyseed. I think I might add a little lemon extract, as I didn’t find the lemon flavour really came through. Nice texture though, for a GF cake. I was thinking of making a divot in the top to add the raspberry jam, chill, then ice. More experimenting to come. Thanks Paige.
Paige
March 27, 2023 at 10:12 amI love this and your zest for testing! I do find that if my lemons aren’t super fresh the lemon flavor can fade when you bake it and adding lemon extract is a great way to add some flavor! I have a lemon poppyseed cake on my website if you are interested in that as a good jumping off point for your testing! keep on baking! https://frontpaige.net/2019-5-21-gluten-free-vegan-lemon-poppy-seed-cake/
Bella Lovinggood
April 7, 2023 at 2:54 pmI’m planning on making this cake for Easter, and I will need to make it the day before. Do you know if the cake will soak up the jam in that amount of time??
Paige
April 9, 2023 at 12:04 pmHi Sorry for the delay! The cake should be fine to make ahead of time, I would make sure the layer of frosting under the jam is a little thicker to maintain the structure so the jam doesnt absorb!
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Abby
June 6, 2023 at 4:30 pmHello!
I love this recipe, thank you so much for providing it for others to use! Your cake looks amazing!
I’m wanting to make this cake for my husband’s birthday that’s right around the corner and I’m hoping to do a small tiered cake, (I am insane… I have never made a tiered cake before or much cake in general, haha!), and I have one 6-inch round cake pan and one 4-inch round cake pan. How should I convert this recipe to fit the cake pan sizes in terms of the amount of ingredients to use and the time to bake? Thank you so much for your help, I know you would be an excellent resource for me to help out with this!
Talk soon!
Paige
June 6, 2023 at 4:46 pmHi Abby! What a great way to celebrate the birthday! A few things I would say off the bat, you are awesome for jumping into a cake with tiered levels, secondly it’s all about prepping and not rushing when it comes to a tiered cake. Baking should be fun, so enjoy each process and give yourself plenty of time, you can even make the cake the day before and frost the day of the birthday!
Prepare for your cake correctly: Make sure you both butter and lightly dust the cake pan with flour before you pour your cake batter into each pan. Your 6″ layer will require more batter but fill each tin about half to 3/4 full. I tested the recipe with an 8″ cake, but I think you could 1.5x the recipe and it would be perfect or even just use the recipe as is and your layers might be a little smaller.
After Baking: After you bake your cake, let your cakes cool for about 30 minutes before you remove them from the pans, and when you do using a knife cut around the edge between the pan and the cake to release it from the pan. Tip the pan over onto a cooling rack to let the cake fully cool. Once your cake is fully cool, you will want to cut each layer in two (just do two your first time around) layers. So now you have 4 pieces of cake, 2 for each size. Place these cake layers in the freezer before you start frosting, this will solidify the cake and make it easier for your “crumb” coat.
Icing your cake: Remove your bottom layer from the freezer and add frosting to the top, repeat with your other cake slice of the same size. Put those two back in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes to harden. You want the frosting hard that will give you a structured surface to build upon. A soft cake and soft frosting in between layers will fall. When you think of the cake as a whole think of it as a 6″ cake, and a 4″ cake that you are then combining. Finish each cake before you put the 4″ on the 6″. Repeat with the 4″ size cake. After each is frozen, do a crumb coat (thin layer of frosting on the outside of each cake to hold in the crumbs) and pop back in the freezer or fridge between cakes. After those are frozen and or firm, you can do your final layer of frosting thicker. When you combine the 6″ and 4″ cakes, you can just place them on top of each other.
Another option is to not do the 4″ cake and do two 6″ baking pans of cake batter which will result in a cool, 4 layer 6″ cake! I love 6″ cake size, it’s so fun and really fun when they are tall!
Happy Baking and sorry for the long response! hugs, Paige
Lisa
August 31, 2023 at 7:55 pmHi there!
I’m wondering if you’ve ever tried to make this recipe with an egg replacer or a flax egg? Lemon raspberry is one of my favorite flavors, but I just recently learned I have an egg sensitivity. Any thoughts you have would be appreciated!
Paige
August 31, 2023 at 11:22 pmHi Lisa, I haven’t but I would suggest giving it a try! The liquid and the egg yolk help in the batter, but I think it would work if you kept the ratio similar to a medium egg!
Emi
March 9, 2024 at 8:30 pmHi, my kids loved the flavor of the recipe but it turned out harder than I expected. I did the single recipe and split it into 2 x 9in pans and baked it in the oven for 40 minutes. Any advice on how I could make it lighter and fluffier? Thank you,
Emilie
Paige
March 11, 2024 at 8:01 pmI really appreciate the feedback! I would recommend whipping the butter and the sugar more before including the other ingredients. The color of the butter and sugar should be light like a pale yellow.