Crazy Spice Cake

From inthekitchenwithkath.com

(Adapted from recipes from Sweet Little Bluebird and the Art of Gluten Free Baking blogs, and Walter Waltuck and Melicia Phillips’ recipe in Staffmeals from Chanterelle)

Serves 9, one 8 x 8-inch square cake

Dry ingredients

1½ cups + 3 tablespoons gluten-free flour (236g, if you’re using Jeanne Sauvage’s blend*)

1 cup sugar (I used maple sugar.)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon coriander

½ teaspoon salt

Liquid ingredients

1 cup cold water

1 Tablespoon white vinegar

½ teaspoon vanilla

5 tablespoons oil

Glaze (optional)

2 tablespoons honey (Substitute agave syrup for a vegan cake.)

1 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoons unsalted butter (Substitute a vegan margarine for a vegan cake.)

For serving if you don’t use the Glaze

Powdered sugar to sprinkle on the cooled cake (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Stir the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

3. Measure the liquid ingredients into a 2-cup measuring cup.

4. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir quickly to blend it together. (It’s OK if there are still a few streaks of flour in the batter.) Quickly pour the batter into an ungreased 8x8-inch square cake pan and get it into the oven.

5. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool completely in the pan before cutting.

6. If using the Glaze, heat the honey, sugar, and butter together in a small saucepan, stirring constantly until it is hot and the sugar is dissolved. Poke holes all over the cooled cake with a fork and brush the hot glaze over the cake.

*Jeanne’s Gluten-Free Flour Mix (found on her excellent Art of Gluten-Free Baking Blog)

Jeanne says that 1 cup of her blend is 140g. So if you use this blend for the cake, you need 236g if you want to measure the blend by weight. Be sure to stir the blend together before measuring.

Mix together and store in the refrigerator:

1 1/4 cups (170g) brown rice flour

1 1/4 cups (205 g) white rice flour

1 cup (120g) tapioca flour

1 cup (165g) sweet rice flour (Mochiko)

2 scant teaspoons xanthan gum