ULTRA-MOIST GFCF STRAWBERRY CAKE

WHEN I WAS YOUNGER AND DUMBER I felt so very sorry for the one gluten-free kid in my entire little elementary school. I felt a woeful despair for his deprivation from all things baked and cringed over the solitary gluten-free cupcake that he brought to school for birthday parties. Poor thing.

Fast forward 23 years, and my first child was diagnosed with allergies to wheat, rice, barley, rye, egg, milk, soy, peanut and tree nuts (he has recently outgrown the rice allergy). Also having an intolerance to gluten, he was not able to eat oats because of its gluten-like protein. Following years of botched baking, I seriously wanted that elementary kid's gluten-free cupcake recipe.

What does the one-fourth, ultra-moist strawberry cake pictured above have to do with this? Free from traditional ingredients to make it rise and stick together, it defies the law of gravity, challenges the moisture migration theory and confounds the minds of gluten loyalists who postulate that gluten-free eaters must be in a state of woeful despair. In other words, it's moist, it's delicious and chances are, our little elementary friend was glad he never had food to spare.

Here's the recipe

ULTRA-MOIST GFCF STRAWBERRY CAKE

1/2 cup light buckwheat flour (from www.ployes.com)
1/2 cup Superfine brown rice flour (by Authentic Foods)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup evaporated cane juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 frozen strawberries, thawed, drained and cut into small pieces
1/4 cup corn or canola oil
1 cup water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir until blended. Add the wet ingredients, including strawberries and stir with a rubber spatula until blended. Pour the batter into an 8-inch square baking dish. Bake 20-25 minutes. The cake should be bouncy when pressed on the center. Remove from oven and place the pan over a cooling rack. Cool completely and frost with GFCF Strawberry Frosting or Strawberry Glaze from The Autism Cookbook Paperback, pages 209-210