Gluten Free Vanilla Lavender Trans Pride Layer Cake

The great thing about baking, and any food really, is that it can carry messages. We’ve gotten the chance to bake for movements and missions that are so much bigger than ourselves this year, and that chance is worth so much. This cake is another one of those chances: Trans rights are human rights, end of story. Aside from the fact that some of our longest, most wonderful friends are trans women, men, and people, every human being deserves the right to express themselves and be who they are meant to be in the most honest, real way they can, and it’s not any of our place to “correct” them back to what we consider to be our binary normal. Many of our countries currently profess the aspiration that anyone can be whatever and whoever they want to be, and the hypocrisy that sours that dream is denying trans people their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

This cake is a celebration of the freedom that we hope all of our trans friends, and all trans people the world over can experience on a daily basis in the very near future (because that isn’t the case now). We’re hoping that especially trans folx of color can leave their homes without fear of violence (that they statistically experience and fall victim to at a much higher rate) in the very near future. The US claims to be a country of “American Dreams” and right now, so many of our neighbors and friends here don’t have access to the serenity and acceptance that those dreams entail. Clearly this cake will not change the world, but it may provide some support and solidarity to those who are feeling un-justly and cruelly ostracized and made to feel less than they are. For those of you looking for ways to add your support and kindness to the mix, please take one hour and 47 minutes to watch Disclosure documentary (on Netflix if you have access!) if you haven’t already – a beautiful and generous film in which so many trans folx lay bare their hurts and hopes, something that most of us would never imagine doing in such a public way. But, unfortunately, this is one of the only, and most effective, ways for the rest of us to be humbled and realize the deepness of the error we, as a society, have made to not defend and support our trans friends and neighbors.

We hope you make this cake and share it, and its mission, with more and more of your friends and family, to add to the change that is inevitable and necessary in this world. A huge thank you to Hope, a friend back from early high school theater days and a ones of the strongest, most unrelenting advocates for trans rights, black lives matter, and so many other good-trouble movements, who introduced us to Disclosure Doc, and who we wish we could send this cake to (we’ll have to make it again for our next COVID-safe trip to LA). Love you, Hope (check our her music and her advocacy!). If you’re looking for other baked goods to further messages of hope and change, check out our BLM Swiss Roll, or message us with ideas for new mission-heavy baking projects!

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Gluten Free Lavender Vanilla Trans Pride Layer Cake

A gorgeously elegant 7-layer cake with light, floral lavender vanilla layers and lavender buttercream

Prep Time2 hours hrs

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Chilling time4 hours hrs

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Keyword: birthday cake, buttercream, cake, cake decorating, gluten free, lavender, layer cake, trans pride, vanilla

Servings: 20 people

Calories: 550kcal

Author: Amelia Farber

Equipment

• 3-6 six-inch round cake pans
• Parchment paper
• Cake scraper or long knife
• Piping bags and tips
• Freezer
• Three medium-large mixing bowls
• Electric mixer

Ingredients

For the cake layers:

• 1 1/2 Cup gluten free 1-1 flour mix with xanthan gum in it (if your mix does not contain xanthan gum, add 3/4 tsp of it now)
• 3 Cups blanched almond flour
• 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 4 large eggs plus 1 additional egg white
• 1 Cup canola oil plus 2 Tbsp
• 1 1/2 Cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 Cup sugar
• 3/4 Cup hot milk
• 2 tsp dried lavender buds to steep in milk (instructions below)
• 1 Tbsp clear vanilla extract
• Pink and blue food coloring

For the mascarpone filling filling:

• 1 Cup mascarpone
• 1/4 Cup white sugar
• 2/3 Cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2-1 tsp culinary finely ground lavender

For the buttercream:

• 6 Cups salted butter room temperature
• 9-12 Cups sifted powdered sugar
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp culinary finely ground lavender
• 1-3 Tbsp heavy cream
• Pink and blue food coloring

Decoration:

• light blue, pink, and white flowers optional
• blue, pink, and clear sprinkles optional

Instructions

To make the cake layers:

• First, heat your milk for the cake batter in the microwave for about 45 seconds (don't let it foam over). Once hot, pour in the dried lavender buds and let steep for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit and grease your six-inch round cake pans with butter or cooking spray. You can line the pans with small circles of parchment paper as well (and grease the paper) but not required. Then, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, baking powder and soda, and salt until combined, then set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, sour cream, sugar, and vanilla. Strain the cooled, steeped milk to remove the lavender buds and then add the milk to the batter and whisk to combine.
• Prepare two other medium-large mixing bowls, and separate the cake batter evenly between the now three bowls that you have. Once separated, add drops of pink food coloring to one bowl, and blue food coloring to another (leave the third bowl plain). Dye batter as dark or light as you'd like. Each bowl of batter will make 2 six-inch round cake layers, so spoon the cake batter of each color into two separate pans. You should end up with six cake layers (I only had 4 pans so baked the pink and blue layers first and then washed, dried, greased two pans and baked the white layers last).
• Bake cake layers for 25-35 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean (they will be dark golden brown on the edges/top). Let cakes cool completely before turning out and preparing them for cake construction.

To make the mascarpone filling:

• In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the mascarpone with the sugar, vanilla, and culinary finely ground lavender for 10-15 seconds, then add the cold heavy cream and beat on medium until the mixture is thick and spreadable (this will happen fairly quickly). Then scoop into a piping bag and set aside.

To make the buttercream:

• You'll be using three medium-large mixing bowls for this. In each of the three bowls, place two cups of the salted, room temp butter.
• For the white buttercream, beat the butter on high for 4-5 minutes until the butter is a few shades lighter/whiter. Add in the vanilla and a pinch of culinary lavender and beat, then add 3-4 cups of the sifted powdered sugar, one cup at a time, and continue to beat until smooth. If the buttercream is too stiff, at 1 Tbsp of cream and beat to combine. Scoop filling into a piping bag with a 1/2 inch opening.
• For the blue buttercream, beat the butter with 3-4 cups of the sifted powdered sugar (added 1 cup at a time), then add the vanilla, a pinch of culinary lavender, and blue food coloring (a little goes a long way) and beat until smooth. Add cream if the frosting is too stiff like above. Scoop some frosting into a piping bag with a 1/2 inch opening.
• For the pink buttercream, beat the butter with 3-4 cups of the sifted powdered sugar (added 1 cup at a time), then add the vanilla, a pinch of culinary lavender, and pink food coloring (a little goes a long way) and beat until smooth. Add cream if the frosting is too stiff like above. Scoop some frosting into a piping bag with a 1/2 inch opening.

To construct:

• First, turn out all of your cooled cake layers, and carefully slice off the bump on the top of each cake so that each layer is flat (you can eat the extra bits). Slice one of the white cake layers in half to make two thinner cake layers, and place one on a cake board or plate. Pipe a ring of the white buttercream around the edge of the top of the cake layer, and fill in with a thin layer of more buttercream. Then pipe a 1/4 inch layer of the lavender mascarpone filling within the buttercream ring, and spread. Place one of the blue cake layers on top, and repeat the buttercream + filling process, this time with the blue buttercream. Continue with cake layers + buttercream + filling (for the Trans Pride flag remember it's blue, pink, white, pink, blue) until you get to the top, extra white thin cake layer.
• To crumb coat the cake, pipe the buttercream in rows around the outside of the cake, corresponding to the colors of the cake layers, and then use a long knife or cake scraper to smooth/coat the cake. Freeze entire cake for at least an hour to set the layers/frosting.
• Once frozen, pipe buttercream in corresponding color rings around the cake again, and carefully smooth frosting on top and sides per photo above. If you want to press sprinkles onto each color ring, do it now before freezing it. Freeze entire cake again for at least 30 minutes to set this final frosting layer.
• Then decorate! You can add both the blue and pink buttercream piping bags to one large piping bag to pipe dual-colored florets around the base and top, adorn with flowers, etc.
• Freeze entire cake one last time, for at least an hour, before serving. Let cake sit at room temp for about an hour to defrost before slicing. You can leave the cake in the freezer or fridge overnight if needed.

Tag @sisterssansgluten on Instagram if you snap a photo of your cake!

Food photography and styling by Amelia Farber