Graham Cake (or just graham, as we call it) is a dessert that gives you the perfect blend of sweet, creamy, and refreshing with a wonderful mix of textures. I am OBSESSED with this dessert! I could eat 1-2 servings of gluten-free graham cake at every single meal and never get tired of it (though this would probably not be healthy 😆). The way that the gluten-free graham crackers adopt a cake-like texture after soaking up the cream is just to die for. The best part about this recipe is you can’t even tell it’s gluten free!
Whenever I make graham cake, I always start with the cream. The first time I made this dessert, I actually tried whisking the cream by hand since I did not own a mixer. Do not do this! I ended up mixing for over 20 minutes and the cream was still a liquid. Save yourself some time and arm soreness and buy a mixer. You can even use a cheap handheld mixer, you don’t need anything too fancy.
I have also previously attempted a vegan version of this dessert by using coconut cream instead of heavy cream. The main challenge was that coconut cream does not whip as nicely as heavy cream due to lower fat content. But, it still works and tastes great! So, if you’re vegan you can definitely adjust this recipe and use coconut cream.
What fruits should you use?
One of my favorite things about graham is that you can put in whatever fruits you want. I love using mangos and strawberries, but bananas are good too. Canned fruit cocktail is probably the most common, but fresh fruits are better if you have them. With that being said, it’s not always possible to get fresh fruits. I have used mangos from prepackaged mango cups a few times, and it’s also very good.
This graham cracker cake is best served cold and pairs well with coffee (if you like coffee ☕️)
Gluten-free graham cake
Ingredients
- 4 cup fruit
- 1 pint heavy whipping cream
- 1 can condensed milk
- 1 box gluten-free graham crackers Pamelas brand are good, and so are the Schar brand. You could also try this with the Simple Mills crackers, but they might add more of a cinnamon flavor which wouldn't be bad!
Instructions
- Clean and cut your strawberries into small, bite-sized pieces, or any other fruit that you would like. Mix together all the fruit and set aside.
- Put the heavy whipping cream into a mixing bowl and mix with a hand mixer for about 8-10 minutes until you reach "stiff peaks". Believe me it will happen, it just takes time! You can also use a kitchen aid or other stand mixer if you have one.
- Next, mix in the condensed milk. This will make the whipped mixture sweet and delicious.
- After you have a fluffy whipped mixture, we're ready to assemble the cake. Grab any dish you want (we think a long bread dish works fine), and put a layer of gluten-free graham crackers at the bottom.
- Add a layer of the whipped cream mixture on top of the gluten-free graham crackers, then add a layer of fruit
- Repeat these layering steps until you reach the top of you dish. You can add a layer of fruit at the top so it looks nice!
- Refrigerate overnight. You can also get away with refrigerating for only a few hours, but it's definitely better overnight. Enjoy!
