Happy first day of national poetry month! In honor of the grand occasion that the country notices poetry a bit more than usual this month, I’m making cakes, the poem of the culinary world. Time consuming (well some are, not this one in particular), requires finesse, the fine art of condensery (one with flour and sugar, the other with words), can be decorated or not, tall or short. Cake and poetry.

NaPoWriMo is on. I will post cakes here, not every day, and the poems I’ll keep in my notebook until one shakes out that I feel like sharing.

This cake is a variation on the easy breezy buttermilk cake I make all the time. Why strawberry? Because I live in Austin Texas and that’s what’s on our farmers’ tables right now.

Gluten-free Strawberry Buttermilk Cake Recipe

1. Grease an 8- or 9-inch baking pan of any shape. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Combine your dry ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl:

1/2 cup white rice flour

1/4 cup arrowroot or tapioca starch

2 Tbs millet flour

2 Tbs sweet rice flour

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

—or instead of all of the above, 1 cup gluten-free flour mix (that doesn’t contain leaveners, baking soda/powder)—

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3. Combine your wet ingredients in a separate bowl:

1 egg

1/2 cup sugar (I use this same amount of coconut palm sugar with great success)

1/2 cup buttermilk (I used 1/2 cup goat milk with 2 tsp fresh lemon juice)

1/2 stick (or 1/4 cup) butter, melted

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

4. Add wet to dry, and mix to combine so there are no more dry flour-y patches. Pour into prepared pan and top with five or six hulled and sliced strawberries.

5. Bake for 25-30 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when a toothpick poked in the very center comes out without doughy goo.

Serve with whipped cream or ice cream. Store at room temp, sealed in a parchment bag for up to 3 days or freeze.