In lieu of a birthday party, my littlest guy opted for a trip to Disneyland, which was an absolute blast (there was no one there… the day after Halloween is a great day to hit up Disneyland, especially if it falls on a weekday). We still made sure that he had a special birthday cake though, or in his case, cakes. Every year we let the boys decide what kind of cake they want and how they want it decorated. Past cakes have included Sesame Street, Spiderman, and Winnie the Pooh just to name a few. When we asked our birthday boy what he wanted this year, he said that he wanted Max and Ruby cakes. We asked if he wanted a cake with a picture of Max and Ruby on it but he said no. Instead, he wanted the cakes that he sees in episodes of Max and Ruby; Ruby’s raspberry angel surprise cake with rainbow sprinkles and Max’s worm cake topped with cherry marshmallow gushers. What he got was an angel food cake with strawberry buttercream frosting and a gluten-free cake with chocolate frosting topped with gummy worms and red Dots candies. Judging by the look on his face, I made the right choices. Both cakes were good (and gluten-free), but the angel food cake was exceptional (Thank you King Arthur Flour for an awesome recipe!). You could not even tell that it was gluten-free! It is definitely a new family favorite! The strawberry frosting recipe is a new one that I developed. When I was little, there was this one store bought strawberry frosting that I absolutely loved, but they have since changed the recipe (not to mention loaded it with trans fats… gross) so I set out to create something similar to my memory and I ended up with something even better! I hope that you’ll like it as well as we did.

Oh, and here is a picture of David and me on Halloween. This year we decided to go as Margot and Richie Tenenbaum from the Royal Tenenbaums (one of my favorite movies).

And now for the part you’ve all been waiting for… the recipes:

Gluten-Free Angel Food Cake

From King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup King Arthur Gluten-Free Multipurpose Flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 3/4 cup Baker’s Sugar (superfine sugar)
• 1 1/2 cups egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons Baker’s Sugar (superfine sugar)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and make sure that your oven rack in its lowest position.
2. Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, and 3/4 cup sugar and set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat together the egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar until foamy.
4. Add the vanilla and almond extracts.
5. Gradually increase the speed of the mixer and continue beating until the egg whites have increased in volume, and thickened.
6. With the mixer still running, slowly add the in the 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar in batches (I used a 1/8 measure), until the meringue holds soft peaks.
7. Turn the mixer speed to low and add in the flour/sugar/cornstarch blend ¼ cup at a time until just incorporated.
8. Spoon the batter into an ungreased 10″ round angel food cake pan.
9. Gently tap the pan on the counter to settle the batter and remove any large air bubbles.
10. Bake the cake for 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until it is a deep golden brown and it has started to pull away from the sides.
11. Remove the cake from the oven and (while it is still hot) invert the pan onto the neck of a heatproof bottle or funnel, to suspend the cake upside down as it sets and cools, about 2 hours. (I actually skipped this part and cooled it right side up because in Max and Ruby, Ruby’s cake always looks a little lopsided and deflated… it won’t affect the taste, but the cake won’t be quite as fluffy).
12. After the cake has cooled completely, remove the cake from the pan by running a thin spatula or knife around the edges of the pan, and turning the cake out onto a plate.
13. Either eat the cake as is or frost with your favorite frosting.

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 pound confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar), sifted
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup milk
• 2 teaspoons strawberry extract
• Pink food coloring, optional (I used Wilton’s gel coloring in burgundy)

Directions:

1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, confectioner’s sugar, salt, milk and strawberry extract.
2. Add the food coloring until desired color is reached.
3. Frost your favorite cake.