A Family Tradition: Caterpillar Cake

I have a lot to post about: this past weekend was my bridal shower and I have some awesome gluten-free vendors to write about. Also, on Friday night my family and I went to a local Chinese food restaurant that has a large and extensive gluten-free menu with food that was quite tasty. But first, I have to get to a family tradition: the caterpillar cake we made for my niece's first birthday, made gluten-free of course.

I'm now going to share with you all an embarassing photo, but one that proves the legitimacy of the caterpillar cake:

That's me on the left, looking like a complete punk. Notice the popped collar under my awesome sweatsuit? The pursed lips? The "yeah, I made this cake -- so what" look that I'm giving? Of course you do, but don't let it distract you from the cake that my sister and I are holding. Many, many years ago, in the mid nineteen eighties a tradition was born in my family: the caterpillar cake. I have no idea where my mother got the idea, but basically you bake a cake in a bunt pan and cut it in half to make a "S" shape, then you decorate it to look like a caterpillar. It was a fun, simple baking project that my sister and I loved to partake in, until we became bratty teenagers and were too cool for it. But now, with a new generation in our family, we decided to bring it back, gluten-free, dairy-free style. And so I present you the caterpillar cake of 2009:

We attempted to replicate the photo: me looking like a punk, Kate looking like the older sister that was forced to hang out with her younger sister, except this time Kate's smiling and has a baby snuggled up to her (notice the legs hanging near her hips). The caterpillar legs are made from swedish fish and the cake is decorated in M&M's (which contain dairy, so I just didn't eat them). And my niece, the Birthday girl, had a field day with the frosting:

Caterpillar Cake (gluten-free, dairy-free)

serves 6 for dessert

for the cake (adapted from Annelise Roberts Cookbook: Gluten Free Baking Classics):

1/2 cup Earth Balance
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 cups brown rice flour mix (1 cup brown rice flour/1/2 cup tapioca starch/1/2 potato starch)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup rice milk

Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour a bundt pan. Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. Then, add the flour, salt, vanilla, rice milk and baking powder and mix until combined. Pour evenly in bundt pan and cook for 25-30 minutes until a knife comes out clean when piercing the cake. Let cool and take out of pan and cut in half. Place the two pieces of cake on a platter to create and "S."

for the frosting:

1 cup of shortening
1 box of confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
3 tablespoons rice milk (or more if needed)

In a stand mixer, beat the shortening until creamy and slowly add in half of the confectioners sugar. Then add the vanilla and rice milk until combined. Add the rest of the sugar until the mixture has a frosting like texture, adjust with more rice milk if too dry.

to frost the cake:

24 swedish fish
M&M's
other colorful candies of your choice

Take one tablespoon of the frosting and frost the cut halves of the cake, sticking the cake together. Then frost the entire cake and decorate as you please: giving the "caterpillar" eyes, legs and spots.

Next time I think I'll try making avocado frosting (you simply use avocado in place of the shortening in the frosting recipe) to make the caterpillar green.