Lemon Creme Fraiche Cake
Takes 1.5 hours. Serves 12.
No dry gluten free cake over here - this cake is big, moist, delicious and it won't sink! Perfect for a birthday, or special occasion - or just to share with your neighbours My great inspiration behind this was that I accidentally bought a tub of creme fraiche instead of clotted cream. That's it. Anyway, I was determined not to let it sit in my fridge for 6 months. So naturally, I decided to put it into a cake, and luckily it worked out incredibly well. If you are a little over lemon drizzle cake, and want to try something a bit new - this is the cake for you!
Creme Fraiche
Creme Fraiche translate literally to 'fresh cream' in French however in the U.K it's not that at all. It's actually a cultured cream, similar to sour cream (although not as savoury), and has a tangy/sour flavour. It can be uses in a variety of ways - in soups. on scones, in baking, in sauces, as dressing etc. If you haven't used it before, I suggest picking up a tub and trying it out with a few dishes, and see what you can do with it!
Candied Lemons
I decorated my cake with candied lemons (as pictured above). If you'd like to give this a go yourself, all you need is 1 or 2 lemons, sugar, a saucepan, and water.
Heat a pan with 1/2 a cup of sugar and 1/2 a cup of water and stir until sugar has dissolved. Slice the lemons thinly, discarding any pips, and poach in the sugar water until the lemon flesh has almost become transparent. Remove from the pan and either dry out over night, or gently cook in the oven on a low heat for 45 minutes. I also sprinkled a bit of lemon rind on top of the cake to give it a bit of colour.
I N G R E D I E N T S
For the Cake
200 grams Creme Fraiche
3 eggs
4 lemons
175 grams butter (softened)
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 cups of gluten free self raising flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of xanthan gum (omit if flour mixture already contains it)
For the icing
1 cup icing sugar
50 grams butter (softened)
120 grams cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla essence
M E T H O D
Cake:
Pre-heat oven to 180° bake, and grease or line a round baking tin with baking paper. The tin I used is 20cm in diameter, and 5cm deep.
Squeeze the juice from the 4 lemons, and grate the rind from one.
In a large bowl, whisk creme fraiche, eggs, and 1/2 a cup + 1 tsp of the lemon juice together until smooth.
In a seperate bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and the rind of one lemon until pale and creamy.
Pour the creme fraiche mixture into the creamed butter bowl and fold into each other until combined. It will look a little lumpy but don't worry!
Sift in the gluten free self raising flour, baking soda, and xanthan gum, and fold together until everything is mixed together.
Pour mixture into the prepared baking tin and bake in the oven for 45 mins or until you can insert a skewer into the middle and it comes out clean.
Turn off the oven and leave the cake in for another 5 minutes to make sure it doesn't sink.
Remove and let it cool completely before icing.
Icing
Beat together the icing sugar, softened butter, cream cheese, and vanilla essence.
Spread over cooled cake, and decorate with lemon rind and candied lemon (optional)
