Gluten-free is the Kevin Bacon of the food world: We’re all within six degrees of separation from someone who avoids gluten. That’s why, as we approach graduation party, bridal shower, picnic and barbecue season, it’s good to have a really good gluten-free cake up your sleeve.
Brian Levy’s gluten-free yellow sheet cake is built on a blend of white rice, millet, oat and brown rice flours — you can find that recipe here, if you’d like to batch it — which gives his cake a nutty, vanilla-like aroma and a sunny yellow color.
He tops his cake with a gluten-free vanilla ermine frosting, but there’s no reason you couldn’t do your (or your lucky guest’s) favorite: classic buttercream, chocolate satin, cream cheese? Whipped cream and loads of berries? That’s another argument for keeping an excellent cake recipe close: With the base out of the way, you can get really creative with your extras.
That’s the cake taken care of. (We made it free for you to share — no subscription needed!) Now, let’s dance!
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Gluten-Free Yellow Sheet Cake
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Today’s specials:
Mussakhan (roast chicken with sumac and red onions): Weekdays are for quick, skillet-y chicken; weekends are for relaxed, marinated chicken. This roast chicken from Yasmin Khan and Mayukh Sen, with its marinade of warming spices and lots of sumac, would be a superb Sunday dinner.
Fresh spring rolls: Lately I’ve really been craving these plump, refreshing Vietnamese-style spring rolls (also known as gỏi cuốn, rice paper rolls, salad rolls and summer rolls). Ali Slagle’s recipe perfectly captures that mix of textures — chewy rice paper, snappy shrimp, crunchy carrots. Serve with nước chấm, peanut sauce or both. (I’ll take both.)
Caramelized corn and asparagus pasta with ricotta: I asked my friend and yours, Alexa Weibel, if we could use frozen corn in her recipe. “You sure could!” she replied. “But honestly, I think canned corn is better — more moist!”
Mushroom and tofu sticky rice: Hetty Lui McKinnon is my vegetarian cooking queen, and I cook many of her dishes on repeat. I wouldn’t be surprised if this vegan dish, built on staples that last a long time in the fridge and pantry, joins the rotation.
Quinoa: The other week I made a double batch of Ali’s easy couscous and was delighted by how handy it was for lunches and dinners. So, next up is her basic quinoa recipe, ready for all sorts of salads and grain bowls.
Gheysava (eggs with dates and cinnamon): “It tasted like a super-roasty and dark French toast,” reads one comment on this new Naz Deravian recipe. I can see it — fudgy dates cooked in butter with walnuts and cinnamon circling a runny-yolked egg. Absolutely and yes, please.
Carajillo: I was lucky enough to test this cocktail from Kristina Felix, a sweet and refreshing shaken mix of very strong coffee and Licor 43. My husband and I now refer to it as “special coffee” — it’s what we make after we’ve finished our Saturday afternoon chores and before we embark on our Saturday evening fun.
