I have a gluten intolerance so am always on the look out for tasty gluten free cakes. This cake looks great, is really tasty and has been enjoyed by everyone.

The recipe is taken from River Cottage Gluten Free by Naomi Devlin.

Ingredients for cake

• 230 g salted butter, softened
• 180 g light muscovado sugar
• 4 tsp rosewater
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 eggs at room temperature
• 160 g potato starch
• 3 tsp gluten free baking powder
• 160 g ground almonds

Ingredients for icing and filling

• 150 g icing sugar
• 100 g salted butter, softened
• ½ tsp rosewater4-6 tsp milk
• Cochineal (optional)
• 50 g pistachio nuts, finely chopped
• edible rose petals
• 225 ml double cream

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C for a fan forced oven). Brush two deep round 20 cm cake pans with melted butter and line the base and sides with baking paper.
2. Cream the butter, sugar, rosewater and vanilla essence in a bowl with an electric beater, until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each egg.
4. Sift the potato starch, baking powder and ground almonds together over the mixture and fold in gently but thoroughly.
5. Scrape the mixture into the prepared cake pans and smooth the surfaces.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and springy to touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
7. Remove from the oven and leave cakes in the pans for 10-15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack; place right side up on the wire rack to cool completely.
8. To make the icing, combine the icing sugar, butter and rosewater in a bowl and mix together. Add the milk, 1 tsp at a time beating well after each addition until the icing is of spreading consistency (you may not use all of the milk). At this point if you want to colour the icing a soft pink, add the tiniest drop of cochineal and mix well.
9. Beat the cream until thick.
10. When the cakes are completely cold, place one on the serving plate, top with the whipped cream. Place the second cake gently on top of the cream and push gently into the cream. Spread the icing over the top of the cake and sprinkle with the pistachio nuts and the edible rose petals.

Tips

• I used large sized eggs
• As the icing contains milk, the cake needs to be eaten within 48 hours.
• Potato starch is available from Asian food stores.
• Edible rose petals are available from speciality food stores.
• Cochineal is quite potent so to just get a spot of pink into the icing, put a little cochineal on the end of a metal skewer to add to the icing mix rather than adding too big a drop from the bottle of cochineal.