Gorgeous gluten-free “naked” raspberry cake

When you’re avoiding gluten and sugar, it can be hard to find a truly delicious cake for a special occasion. Gluten-free cakes are often quite dry and insubstantial, but this fabulous recipe changes all that.

If you have two 18cm cake pans, you can speed up the baking process by baking both cakes at the same time. After that, it really is a case of cutting them in half and slapping them together with the sour cream filling.

Sprinkle with raspberries, a superfood in their own right, and you have a show-stopping cake that ticks all the boxes.

SERVES 6-8

Ingredients:

• 5 eggs, separated
• 150ml pure maple syrup
• 400g light sour cream
• 1 cup (150g) gluten-free flour
• 2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
• 250g raspberries, plus extra, to serve
• Basil leaves, to serve

Icing:

• 500g light sour cream
• 2 tbs pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

 Method: 

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease an 18cm round springform cake pan and line the base and side with baking paper.
2. Place the egg yolks and maple syrup in a large heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water and, using handheld electric beaters, beat until light and fluffy.
3. Remove from the heat and stir in the sour cream. Sift over the flour and baking powder, then fold until combined.
4. Place the egg whites in a clean bowl and, using a balloon whisk, whisk to stiff peaks. Fold one-third of the egg white into the egg yolk mixture to loosen, then fold in the remainder.
5. Spread the base of the prepared pan with 2cm batter, then scatter over 50g raspberries.
6. Bake for 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
7. Repeat the process with the remaining batter and raspberries, re-lining the pan each time, to make 5 cakes.
8. For the icing, place the sour cream, maple syrup and vanilla in a bowl and beat until combined.
9. Place one cake on a serving plate and spread with icing, then top with a second cake. Repeat process with the icing and cakes, then thinly spread the remaining icing around the outside of the layered cake.
10. Top with extra raspberries and basil leaves to serve.

Recipe from delicious.Feel Good Food by Valli Little (ABC Books) $39.95 

Feel Good Food, the new cookbook from delicious, is not about a diet, not about fads, not about restrictions. It is about our desire to embrace food that is better for us, yet still delicious.The book is available here.