Does anybody have a recipe for a gluten free cake? Do you know if gluten free flour can be bought at a regular grocery store?

I don't have a gluten free recipe, but I just bought a gluten free mix for my cousin's birthday tomorrow. It uses rice flour. It was in a larger grocery store in the health food section. I haven't tried it yet, so I'm not sure how it bakes or more importantly, how it tastes!

Ooooh, beachcakes, a MIX! That's even easier! I'll look in the health food part of my local store! Thanks!
The buttercream frosting is OK? I don't really know what gluten is! I just know I have a friend who is alergic!

Not an expert, but I think gluten is a protein in wheat, rye, barley and oat products. A friend of my aunts was even saying that certain types of vinegar are wheat based, so be careful. You might do an online search and see what you can find under gluten free recipes.

Editing to add that a regular buttercream recipe should be gluten free. Can't think of any ingredient that you'd use that would be a problem. Someone do correct me if I'm wrong. Just don't add flour like some do.

some flavorings also have gluten in them. You have to be really careful, you'd be SURPRISED at the things we use that do. It is really easy to miss them if you don't know what youre looking for. Anything that has modified food starch can have wheat gluten in them also. To be safe you really need to call the companies and confirm they are gluten free. I also cannot have gluten.

psm89, welcome to cake central!
Is this an alergy you developed or always had? So, you make cakes but can't eat them?
Is gluten an ingredient found on ingredient lists of products?

HI, Hope I can help u out a bit. I found out about 3 years ago I had Celiac. I struggled for about 3 years before that not knowing what was wrong. Some Dr.'s said lupus others suspected the start of M.S. since auto immune diseases are very prevelent in my family. As far as we can tell I developed it after a miscarriage. I carried the gene and it usually takes some kind of health crisis to activate it.
If I followed all the "Rules" of celiac I should have nothing to do with any types of wheat or grains. As just handling them has been known to cause symptoms. I try to be very careful when I make cakes, washing hands and counters down, not using my utensils for wheat products and such. It's a pain but I enjoy making cakes so much I don't think I could give it up.
I definately don't eat them!
With the new laws that have been passed most food makers will have to list anytime they have wheat in them or even if they come in contact with equipment that has been used for wheat. This could take a while though and until then we have to watch for tons of additives that "hide" wheat. (like modified food starch and lots of vinegars and even "natural" flavors)

Any way I guess that tells you how much I love making cakes.And PM me if I can ever help out with yor friend.

PSM89: OK! Thanks! Your story is interesting!

So to check if something has gluten in it, I must look on ingredient labels for wheat, modified food starch, and natural flavors. And avoid vinegar?

Beachcakes ... did you have a piece of the cake you made for your cousin? How was it? Honestly.

Hi Linda. I just baked it tonight and haven't given it to her yet. I hope she likes it, but I'm not sure I'll use it again. It was very, very soft and broke apart easily. I couldn't get it off the cooling rack. That could be because I substituted 2T water, 1T oil & 2 t baking powder for each egg (she's also dairy-free), but I'm not sure if it was the mix or the egg substitution. It also kind of fell in the middle after it came out of the pan and it was completely cooked. I had to put a big dollop of icing on the top to even it out. It smelled like cake after it was baked (the batter smelled like rice baby food ). Sorry, this is probably too much info for you LOL! I covered it in fondant, so I hope it can hold up the weight. I'll let you know tomorrow night how she liked it. If she can't have wheat, there aren't too many cake options out there!

I made a gluten free cake from a cake mix - very pricey though (I think the mix cost $7). Anyhow, I had leftover batter and made cupcakes. YUCK, I didn't like it at all. The client like it though, she ordered another cake from me.

As I recall from the olden days when my girls were little and I decided we all needed to go off wheat for a while ... any pasta/bread/cake/cookie made with rice flour was yucky-tasting. It fell apart in your mouth like a piece of gum you'd chewed for 7 days straight.

Gluten is what gives elasticity to baked goods. Without that elasticity, the end product just literally falls apart in your mouth when you chew it, 'cause there's nothing to chew. Nothing holds together without that elastic 'gluten-gum.' Not a pleasant mouth-feel when you're not used to it.

My heart goes out to any of you with celiac disease. But I know when your life literally depends on it, you can darn well get yourself used to gluten-free products of all kinds. More power to you all. I just wish the gluten-free products didn't cost 7-10 times more than those containing the stuff.

Ok Linda, I'm on a mission now... I googled gluten free cake and came up with a few scratch recipes for you. These two got five stars:

http://cake.allrecipes.com/az/GlutenFreeYellowCake.asp

http://cake.allrecipes.com/az/FlrlssChcltCkII.asp

And this site has a ton of them...

http://www.celiac.com/st_main.html?p_catid=53

I notice alot of the recipes have xantham gum. I'm not sure what that is.

Hi Linda,

Yes if your carefully with the ingrediants listed you shold be ok.

You can get Xantham gum at health food stores and it helps add elasticity and structure to the cake. You definately don't want to leave it out.

Beachcakes: Mission well done! I printed out a yellow, white, & chocolate.

Psm89: Thanks for clarifying what Xantham gum is and where to get it.

Just an update - my cousin LOVED the cake. She said it tasted great. I haven't tried it though.

Sorry - I threw it out. I'm pretty sure it was Arrowhead Mills or something like that. Beige & blue box.

OK, I'll look for something like that. Thanks!