Happy Independence Day Finland! Gluten free cake and yet another pie.

Today it is Finland's 93rd Independence Day. We celebrated it yesterday along with my husband's 35th birthday. We had friends over and served Karelian pastries, Strawberry cream cake and blueberry pie.

In Finland you can't get fresh strawberries in December (a benefit you have in California, although the strawberries might have been Mexican) so it felt slightly absurd to have the cake topped with fresh strawberries this time of the year. But the strawberries looked almost like little elf hats so it turned out to be very appropriate for December. We made the cake gluten free since my son has wheat allergy. Here is the recipe.

Gluten Free Traditional Finnish Birthday Cake

1 cup (we used a coffee mug as a measurement for all ingredients) eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour (we used gluten free potato starch)

To moisture the baked cake:
apple juice or pineapple juice

Filling:
whipped cream, quark (rahka), strawberries, bananas...

My filling:
whipped cream (whipped yourself of course, not from a spray bottle :))
quark (can be bought from Wholefoods or make yourself, see the blueberry recipe below for a link)
frozen thawed mashed strawberries
mashed bananas
stevia to sweeten
vanilla extract

Topping:
whipped cream (again, whip it yourself for best results)
fresh strawberries

Whisk the sugar and eggs to white hard foam with an electric mixer (might take 15 minutes with so many eggs), gently mix in the potato starch through a strainer to avoid lumps. Pour in a round cake pan you previously buttered (we put also some gluten free bread crumbs to avoid sticking) and bake in 390 F for 30 minutes of until the cake is golden brown.

Let the cake cool down, cut in half horizontally to make two layers. Moisture the bottom part with a 1/4 cup or so unsweetened apple/pineapple etc. juice, spread the juice with a spoon evenly. Add filling that could be anything like whipped cream and mashed/sliced bananas or strawberries (I mixed together the ingredients above in the ingredient list's filling part), add top layer of the cake and moisture it like the bottom part.

Top with whipped cream and strawberries.


Gluten Free Blueberry Pie

A stick of butter
8 oz of quark (can be bought from wholefoods 4.49 a jar... or make yourself follow this link, I have also substituted it sometimes with thick greek yoghurt or ricotta cheese)
A generous cup of flours (I used gluten free all-purpose flour)

Topping I used:
About half a liter frozen wild blueberries (Trader Joes, half a package or a bit more)
2-3 tbsp potato or corn starch
Half a cup of sugar or other sweetener
Mix the topping ingredients together in a separate bowl.

Dough: Mix everything together (first quark and butter, then flour), put it in a baking dish, top with the topping - use also for other kinds of pies, salty or sweet and bake in 390 F for 30 minutes or until it looks ready.