Since yesterday was a holiday, we are posting this a little later than usual. Never having attempted to make Mary Bergin’s recipe in Baking with Julia before, we approached this recipe initially with some trepidation, especially reading words like “gossamer”, “billowy” and “fluffy.” In the gluten free world, these kind of desserts can certainly be duplicated, but generally not without tremendous amounts of starch. Outside of tapioca flour (which could loosely be considered a type of starch), we are not known for the use of any other starches.Since one of us also has a sensitivity to corn, probably due to an early introduction to a favorite German staple in baking called “Mondamin,” the use of cornstarch is definitely not a possibility. Potato starch does create the desired fluffiness many are looking for, but we feel it not only lacks the flavor and consistency we want, but it is also not a healthy choice, due to the added high glycemic load it presents, especially when combined with sugar. As you can imagine, that leaves us fewer options when desiring to make these more delicate desserts.
Though we have made many gluten free celebratory-type cakes before, Baking with Julia’s recipe demanded a completely new approach, especially since it only calls for one cup of flour. Julia’s favorite motto went something like “try new recipes, be fearless and have fun while doing it.” We are paraphrasing here, but you can get the gist of her meaning. In making this recipe all of these principles were applied.
At this point, we should mention the beautiful contributions by this week’s hosts. You can find the recipe as well as the directions on making it at Marlise’s blog The Double Trouble Kitchen, or at Susan’s website The Little French Bakery. Both have outdone themselves with beautiful photographs and their own unique insights into the making of this recipe. You can also watch a clip of the original PBS series Baking with Julia here, in which Mary Bergin prepares this Upside-down cake together with Julia.
This recipe involves a multi-step process but is very easy to follow. As always, we made a few substitutions, though, this time around there were fewer than most. In the topping ingredients, we switched out brown sugar for coconut sugar and reduced the amount by one fourth, using a 3/4 cup. We also used the coconut sugar in the Streusel, along with certified gluten free oats. This is something to remember, if you are new to eating gluten free, oats, unless certified gluten free, are often cross-contaminated with other gluten grains, and can present huge health problems, if unknowingly consumed.
For the cake batter itself, we reduced the total amount of sugar by 1/4 cup and used organic evaporated cane juice, in place of regular sugar. For the flour, we used primarily tapioca flour with a smaller addition of whole brown rice flour along with one teaspoon of guar gum. It turned out that we didn’t have enough vegetable oil in the house (we were short by 2 Tbsp.), so we added 2 Tbsp. of coconut milk instead. The same thing happened with the lemon juice (the recipe calls for 1/2 cup) and in this case we added 2 Tbsp. of water to the lemon juice to make up the difference.
As many of you know, we are not terribly fond of sugar (for health reasons), but were impressed by how well Mary Bergin’s addition of a little sugar to the whipped egg whites improved their texture and made them an ideal leavening and binding agent for our gluten free recipe. The batter was delicate, light and fluffy, much like the description in the book.
While baking, it rose to incredible heights. However, we began to worry just a little, when we tested it after 45 minutes, and again at 50 minutes, and it still wasn’t done. Still too soft in the middle, yet nicely browned on top. We ended up placing a piece of aluminum foil on top of the cake, to prevent burning and then waited. Finally, after exactly 63 minutes, we tested it again with a skewer, and, at last, it was finally done. We carefully removed it from the oven, and as called for, let it cool for about 25 minutes. To our great surprise it never sank, and we were able to easily turn it upside down onto a platter. The combination of the beautiful color of the fruit along with the spicy aroma of the cinnamon and ginger in the streusel, was a unique surprise.
The cake itself turned out to be light, buttery and flavorful, somewhat reminiscent of previous endeavors in making a similar cake with pineapple (back in the gluten days). This recipe would lend itself to the use of many different types of fruits, should nectarines not be available.
It was a lot of fun making this, especially for us gluten free bakers, since this recipe was a great success.
gfcelebration 
I have wanted a chiffon cake for ever so long. It this going to be in your new cookbook?
I am so impressed at your baking/cooking/creating abilities!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
Thanks Linda. Yes, our own chiffon recipe will be in the book.
I am really impressed too that you were able to make those substitutions and still get a delicious cake. It does look great. Bravo!
Marlise, thanks again for hosting this week. We had a lot of fun.
When I saw the word Gf at yummy chunklet’s blog, I came to see how a gluten free version will look like and it does look great. I have never made a chiffon cake but would love to try soon.
It turns out, chiffon cake lends itself rather well to gf baking. We think the secret lies in the whipped egg whites with the added sugar.
Impressive cake! I had to bake for additional time, but my center fell. Yours stayed nice and even!
We never made this particular chiffon recipe before, and since we are baking gluten free, dreaded it. It turned out, that this unique recipe works very well, probably due to the added sugar with the eggs. We also had to bake ours for an additional 18 minutes. It was all worth it at the end. Thanks for stopping by.
What an accomplishment. I’m impressed with your cake. It was delicious.
Cindy, thanks for stopping by. We loved making this recipe, since it was easily converted to gluten free.
Oh my, gluten free?!? It looks amazing. Your substitutions would be worth a second try. Thanks for the inspiration!
Hi Margeret, Thanks for the compliment. This recipe is a keeper and well worth the effort. Thanks for visiting.
very impressive.. love all the substitutions.. very commendable!! would love to try your version one day!!
Yes, the coconut sugar works very well in this recipe, without overwhelming the flavor of the fruit. If you do attempt our version, let us know how it turns out.
The second picture with the layered cake is beautiful! Using coconut sugar is such a great idea – thanks for sharing.
Glad you liked it.
Gorgeous cake (and photos)! Ours took a little longer to bake, too.
Thanks so much. It turns out, the extra baking time was a common problem for everyone, even though initially we blamed our high altitude for the discrepancy. We love photographing these posts, as much as making the recipes.
Mine took a little longer to bake, too. Your GF versions always amaze me. The photos are lovely:)
Glad you liked it. This recipe turned out to be one of the easier ones to convert to gluten free.
Beautiful cake! I have some gf friends who would love this–I will definitely keep it in mind.
It is a great recipe to convert to gluten free. Glad you liked it.
Thanks for sharing this post. I plan to share a link to your website for my readers that are looking for more Gluten-free recipes. Blessings, Catherinehttp://praycookblog.com/2012/09/twd-bwj-nectarine-upside-down-chiffon-cake/
Thanks for linking back to our site. This recipe is a keeper.
Stunning photograhy…and congrats on your book…makes anyone want to eat gluten free. I can feel the care that went into it. Nicely done.
Carmen
Hi Carmen,
Thanks for stopping by. Since we were able to upgrade to better cameras, photographing our gluten free experiments has become that much more fun. We loved this recipe.
well I can certainly say that you got some of the best pictures of this one! 🙂 Great job!
Thanks, Alice. Food photography has added a new dimension to our website. We are still learning and growing everyday. By the way, these pictures are straight out of the camera, without the assistance of Photoshop.
I love that! I’m looking at getting a really nice camera (other than my point and shoot) for next year and photoshop (if necessary) so that I can improve the quality of my photos … I know its certainly something that can be improved on my blog 🙂
For years, we only had a point and shoot, not the upper end kind either, lacking any ability for manual adjustments. We finally purchased used older dSLRs (Canon), and are loving it. Photoshop isn’t everything. We, so far, have never used photo shop for any of our images. They have all been created using natural light with the use of a white foam board to bounce back light. By the way, your website is beautiful.
hmmm theres an idea! well thanks! I have been working on it – although its a bit harder these days with a newborn again… 🙂
Your cake looks wonderful. I would never have guessed it was gluten free. My niece is gluten free and when she visits we bake gf together and a lot of times things are heavy and gluey. I have sent her the link to you site. Thanks for stopping by my blog. I will be making those matcha brownies when my niece visits. Wendy
Wendy, thank you for visiting. It is so nice to hear that you are baking with your niece, and trying out gf recipes. Let us know how the matcha brownies turn out.
I am always impressed by your GF revisions of these recipes. You didn’t even have the sunken wet center several of the cakes had.
I think this recipe had the advantage of the gluten free flour blend, coupled with the egg-whites whipped with the sugar. Like most of the others, we also had to bake the cake a little longer than planned, but it only seems to have benefited it.
Wow, that’s one beautiful and fluffy cake. I never would have guessed it was GF. Looks delicious!
Thanks Melissa. We had fun with this one.
Beautiful cake! Gorgeous photos! Glad to hear this worked for you.
Thanks.
Wow – bravo on what looks to be a very successful conversion to GF!
Beautiful job
Thank you. This was one of our favorite conversions.
You have done a great & tasty job! the cake looks just stunning & even fabulous too! 🙂 Yummy yum!
Thanks. The Nectarine Chiffon Cake was our favorite so far.
What an absolutely stunning and light cake, just picture perfect and the presentation is beautiful – once again, an amazing post!