The wonderful thing about flavor is that there is so much of it in the world. Growing up in rural southern Oregon, I never once had guava, but years later, thanks to friends and travel and happy strangers, I’ve now fallen in love with it. The first time I actually had guava was when I was living in the Galapagos, conducting my undergraduate thesis research with a load of astonishingly patient teachers, principals, and 8th graders on three of the islands (yes, there are over 30,000 people who live in the Ecuadorian Archipelago!). One of the best restaurants on the main street in Puerto Ayora, the town on Santa Cruz Island, had the most amazing juices. I’d stop in for breakfast or lunch and each time would make the waiters laugh as I asked for a brand new blend of two of their remarkable, fresh juices (more like the consistency of a smoothie which I loved). One of my favorite combos was guava y coco – made with guava puree and fresh coconut puree and it was an absolute dream. As a side note – if you ever visit the Galapagos, let me know and I’ll point you in the direction of some of the best sushi you’ll ever have, made by a friend who’s a brilliant young sushi chef, these juices, and all sorts of other fun things to do on the islands.
Which brings us now to San Francisco, where, last year, a friend from Miami recommended I try making a guava cheesecake cupcake (I was in the midst of a cupcake recipe obsession in mid-2020 as you can tell if you peruse the recipes back that far). This was the second guava revelation because wowsers is guava and cheesecake a brilliant combo. And now we’re her with this massive guava cake requested by a friend for a family celebration, reminiscent of the guava cakes they had in Hawaii. There are so many ways to approach the same flavor, from so many seemingly disparate places on the globe. Which is why flavor gets so much richer when shared, and which is why flavor is such a delicious way to travel even if you don’t have the means to actually travel.
So here you go: one absolutley massive guava cake, filled with guava whipped cream and wrapped in silky cream cheese buttercream. If you’re not looking to feed 24 starving party-goers, you can absolutely halve the recipe for a much more reasonably-sized cake, or quarter it and make a four-layer 6-inch round cake instead! A quick guide below on pan sizes for this cake and most others:
For other sizes of cakes: conversions
This recipe makes:
- Four 9-inch round cake layers
- Eight 6-inch round cake layers
- 48 standard US cupcakes
- Two 9×13 sheet cakes
And thus, half of this recipe would give you half of all of the above. Hopefully that helps you make this cake for any and all situations and celebrations, no matter the number of attendees (though I’ve never thought having extra cake was a bad thing – pop it in Tupperware and throw it in the freezer!).
If you’re looking for other flavors that may be new to you (they’re newer to me), try this Vietnamese pandan honeycomb cake, or this ube angel food cake, or these caramelized white chocolate bars, or this pavlova with jasmine pastry cream, or this yuzu tart, or these pistachio raspberry rose cupcakes, or these spumoni cupcakes, or this black sesame and white chocolate cake, or these lavender earl grey cupcakes, or this dark chocolate hazelnut and marionberry Swiss roll!
Giant Gluten Free Guava Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
- Four 9-inch round cake pans
- Cake pan strips (link below)
- Electric mixer
- Cake scraper
- Piping bags and tips
Ingredients
For the cake layers:
- 6 large eggs
- 1 1/2 Cup canola oil
- 1 1/2 Cup sour cream
- 2 Cups sweetened guava puree link below
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 Cups white sugar
- pink food coloring optional
- 3 Cups gluten free 1-1 flour mix with xanthan gum added (if it doesn't have xanthan gum, add 1 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum)
- 1 1/2 Cup packed blanched almond flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
For the guava whipped cream:
- 3/4 Cup sweetened guava puree cold – link below
- 1 1/2 Cup heavy cream cold
For the cream cheese frosting:
- 4 1/2 Cups salted buttere room temperature
- 3 8 oz packages cream cheese room temperature
- 6-7 Cups sifted powdered sugar
- 2 tsp clear vanilla extract link below
For the pink drip (optional):
- 110 grams good quality white chocolate chopped
- 5 grams cocoa butter
- pink gel food coloring oil-based if you have it
For the decoration (optional):
- 1/3 Cup sweetened guava puree
- fresh flowers
Instructions
To make the cake layers:
- First, preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit and spray your four 9-inch round cake pans with cooking spray, then set aside. If you're using cake pan strips, start soaking them now in a bowl of cool water. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, sour cream, sweetened guava puree, and vanilla extract until smooth. Then sift in the gluten free 1-1 flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and whisk in until fully combined. Finally, add any food coloring you want to use for a pinker cake. Then carefully fasten your wet cake pan strips around the outside of each cake pan. Then spoon the batter carefully into the four pans evenly (you can use a scale to make sure each cake is the same weight if you want perfectly-sized cake layers!).
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean. Let the cakes cool completely before turning out. If you didn't use cake pan strips, use a long sharp knife to slice the bump off of each cake top. Then wrap each layer entirely in plastic wrap and return the layers to their pans. Freeze the wrapped cakes (in their cake pans) for at least an hour (I recommend overnight for really-frozen cakes) so that constructing the cake will be easier.
To make the guava whipped cream:
- Once the cakes are frozen, make the fillings and frosting. First, make the whipped cream, in a medium bowl, whisk the cold cream, or beat using an electric mixer, until stiff peaks form, then fold in the sweetened guava puree carefully until fully mixed, then set aside.
To make the cream cheese frosting:
- In a large bowl (and I mean large), beat the butter by itself for 4-5 minutes until whiter and fluffy (this is how you get really-white frosting). Add in the cream cheese one pack at a time and beat to combine. Add vanilla and one cup of the powdered sugar beat until smooth, then continue adding powdered sugar one cup at a time until the frosting is thick and fairly stiff (it won't get as stiff as regular all-butter American buttercream but it will b close). Then scoop some frosting into a piping bag, cut a 1/2 inch tip, and prep your cake decorating materials.
To construct the cake:
- Finally, construct the cake! Remove cake layers from freezer and place one cake layer on a plate or cake board (I recommend using a cake turn table with a cake board) and then spread a thin layer of cream cheese frosting on the cake. Pipe a thick ring of frosting around the top edge of the cake, creating a barrier to fill with whipped cream. Fill the ring with about 2/3 cup of whipped cream, spreading it to fill the empty space in the center of the cake. Then place your second cake layer on top and repeat the frosting/filling until you've placed the final layer on top. Then carefully crumb coat the entire cake (apply a thin coat of frosting, using your cake scraper to scrape off the excess), then freeze the entire cake for at least an hour to set.
- Once the cake is set, remove and apply the final coat of frosting. Then decorate! Make your pink drip. Combine the chopped white chocolate and chopped cocoa butter in a heat-proof container or large measuring cup and microwave in 10 second bursts, stirring in between, until it's entirely melted and combined. Carefully add a small amount of pink gel (oil based if you have it) food coloring and stir to combine. Add more if needed. Then pour into a piping bag, let cool for a couple of minutes at room temp, then cut a small opening in the piping bag and carefully apply your drip around the top edge of the cake.
- Finally, spread the extra sweetened guava puree in a circle on top of the cake inside the ring of the drip. Then pipe decorative frosting around the top edge and freeze the entire cake to set for another hour. Add flowers if you want and then serve! To cut the cake, I recommend keeping the cake in the fridge up until serving, and dipping your cutting knife in a pitcher of very-hot water (then drying it) in between slicing.
Tag @sisterssansgluten on Instagram if you snap a photo of your cake!
Food photography and styling by Amelia Farber
7 Comments
Rashmi
Can I do this cake with all purpose flour if yes is it the same amount
Amelia Farber
Hi Rashmi! Gluten free flours have very different densities and water absorption than non-gluten-free flours so I’m not sure if it would work but hope you give it a try!
Lisa
I found guava puree (no water or sugar added) and two guava nectars (water, 25% juice, corn syrup and water, 15% juice, sugar). Thoughts on recreating Jungle Pulp? What’s its consistency?
Pingback:
JO
I’ve had my fair share of gluten free desserts, and this has to be one of my favorites! The cake was absolutely gorgeous, everyone gasped when it was unveiled. The flavor was decadent but not overly sweet, which I really loved since I’m not big on sweets. It was a huge hit at our party and despite there being gluten cake options, the vast majority of people wanted the gluten-free guava cake!
Amy
This is the best cake I’ve ever had. I’ve been dreaming of it since we had it a couple of weeks ago. It was even a hit with some family members who wanted nothing to do with anything gluten free! Everyone loved how you could really taste the guava.
Laura
Ok. Are you ready for this review? Because you’re not ready for this cake, that’s for sure. I wanted something extra special for my grandma’s surprise Mother’s Day/ birthday/ anniversary with my grandpa party, so I reached out to Amelia to discuss options. My family isn’t into chocolate or overly sweet flavors, so we discussed fruit options. We agreed upon guava (with some input from my aunts, cousins, and sisters). I shared Amelia some photos of cakes I thought were cute but let her know I trusted her judgment in selecting the rest of the details to make the cake delicious and beautiful.
Day of the party, we have my massive cake and a couple smaller gluten cakes. I encouraged everyone to try the gluten-free guava cake and promised they’d love it, especially when they wrinkled their nose and asked “it’s gluten-freeee?”
Now the taste. The cake party was soft, fluffy, light, airy, and bursting with guava flavor. Fresh guava flavor. The color of the inside was a muted mauvey-pink—4 layers, and had layers of creamy, lightly sweetened cream cheese frosting and guava jam/purée that sort of blended together to make the softest, buttery smooth accompaniment to the cake. The slices were tall, larger than your hand from wrist to the top of your middle finger. The topping was a thicker layer of whipped cream cheese frosting, a layer of bright red guava purée, and on the edges and sides, a ballerina pink drizzle of white chocolate. The cake was filling and decadent, but didn’t give a sugar high like most sweet cakes will do. Everyone ate their entire slice and some came back for seconds—the highest compliment from this crowd who rarely eat anything sweet. And like I said, this was only slightly sweet. It was perfect for a hot summer day. One note, definitely keep it refrigerated until just before you’re ready to serve. We left ours out and it got a little soft and became slightly difficult to cut. But it was still delicious! 🎂🍰 I will forever and always order my cakes, cupcakes, cookies, sweets from SSG. 💗😘