I have finally gotten a lot more comfortable in the kitchen again. I have a stack of handwritten recipes and other printouts with scribbles edits on them-about 70 so far. I have hundreds that are just not printed/written out yet, still stuck in the electronic stage. My standard Betty Crocker cookbook has post-its stuck to the pages of it with the proper GF edits throughout the book. 

Switching to gluten-free cooking was a hard reset in how to eat, how to cook and kitchen chemistry. It takes me hours to grocery shop because I read every food label to make sure the manufacturers haven't changed the recipe, to make sure that soy sauce isn't a hidden ingredient (aka MSG), to get ideas for my own mixes (srsly-not paying 3.50 for a box of rice-a-roni, no roni!).  To offset the amount of time it takes to shop, I have my shopping down to one big trip every two weeks-requiring about 4 hours of my time, and two smaller trips to get milk and bananas in between trips.  About every 8 weeks, we drive to a Whole Foods type store to stock up on GF basics like frozen pizza crusts, cereal, pasta, pre-made bread, tortillas and pretzels.  That trip is 4.5 hours (cartime only) roundtrip, with about 2 hours spent between two stores. 

I've been doing a food unit with the kids this week, showing them how to eat well-balanced according to the food pyramid, but doing it gluten-free. Rice, potatoes, cornmeal, sorghum, GF oats... They all have places on the pyramid, and a person can eat fine without the wheat filler-if you have the patience to shop that way. 

So today, Samuel is 7 years old. Its his birthday, and he can have whatever he wants as his cake. He wants a lego-cake. Le sigh. A white cake with white frosting and sprinkles Lego cake. As of 10 o'clock last night, i still hadn't figured out a *good* GF white cake. I have made a really dense, pound-cake type Chocolate chip cake, and figured out a deep chocolate cake (also very dense), but not the light, airy white birthday cake that Sam wanted. It's a good thing I perform well under pressure. 

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So, without further ado, my Gluten-free White Birthday cake recipe.  

1/2 c. White Rice Flour
1/2 c. Sorghum Flour
2/3 c. Tapioca Flour
1/3 c. Potato Starch
1 c. White Cane Sugar
2 teas. Baking Powder
1/2 t. salt
1 t. xanthan gum
3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) softened butter or margarine
3 eggs
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 c. milk-any type 

Pre-heat oven to 350.  Grease pans-this recipe makes 16-18 cupcakes, 2 6-inch round layers, 9-inch square, or a 10-inch round.  

Throughly combine the first 8 dry ingredients in a separate bowl. 

Place softened butter in mixer bowl and beat until fluffy.  Add flour mix to butter, blending on lowest setting until combined, then changing to setting "2" on the mixer until mixture is crumbly, about 1 minute.  

In small bowl, lightly whisk eggs and vanilla together.  Add eggs to mixer and mix until smooth and thick, about 1 minute.  Add milk and mix for 1 more minute.  

Pour into prepared pan and bake until toothpick is clean.  Time will depend on the shape of your pan, but should be about 24 minutes for cupcakes, 45 minutes for a loaf pan.  

Allow to cool in pans for about 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack.  Frost when cool.  I am using Pillsbury French Vanilla Frosting, which is now GF.  

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We couldn't wait last night.  I had to know if I was going ot have to try again first thing this morning, so we were eating cupcakes at midnight last night.  I ripped it open to find perfect air bubbles, a perfect golden-brown outer shell, and a perfect homemade cupcake taste.  This is definately NOT the icky Walmart-variety cupcake with the mile-high frosting on it.  No, it is soo much better!  Tapioca and sorghum are naturally sweeter than wheat, and bake up wonderfully.  

In the coming weeks, I will be publishing some of our favorite recipes so I can share them with my other GF mommy friends.  For the record, if you are GFCF, most of the recipes can be made CF by using the proper dairy replacements.  Please be patient with my updates--I homeschool three kids ages 7 and under, I am trying to run a home-based business and have a hubbie that needs some occasional attention too.