Health & Food

Strawberry and Lemon Cake Bars (Gluten Free)

I get giddy with excitement when my husband tries something I make, and truly loves it. He enjoys most of the foods I make, but very seldom does he tell others about it (that’s when I know he wasn’t just telling me “oh yeah, it’s tasty!” to make me feel good). I know I’ve got a truly delicious recipe on my hands when he likes it even after I tell him that it’s “low FODMAPs” or “Gluten Free” or “Vegan”. That was the case with these strawberry and lemon cake bars. I made them gluten free, and he knew it. He took one bite and simply couldn’t resist finishing the gluten free masterpiece.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Strawberry and Lemon Cake Bars (Gluten Free)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter, room temperature
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • Zest of 2 lemons (2-3 tbsp)
  • Juice of 1½ lemons (about ¼ cup +2 tbsp), divided
  • 2¼ cups white rice flour
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 cup fresh strawberries, chopped
  • 1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°. Coat an 9×9” glass baking dish with baking spray.
  2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Add egg, lemon zest, and ¼ cup lemon juice. Stir until combined.
  3. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Gently fold in strawberries.
  4. Press dough into the bottom of the pan. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool.
  5. For the glaze, combine the powdered sugar and remaining 2 tbsp lemon juice. Pour over cooled bars. Cut and serve.

Notes

These bars are low FODMAPs and Gluten Free.

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 1/9th of recipe Calories: 380 Fat: 21 Carbohydrates: 52 Sugar: 30 Protein: 2.5

When I started preparing the batter I thought it was going to be more like cake; ie: runny. This batter is very doughy, almost like a pizza dough. I literally had to press it down with my hands and allow it to mold to the dish. And, yes, I do have a pizza stone underneath the pan, because I was too lazy to remove it (don’t judge). This was probably why they didn’t cook very fast. Hint; don’t do this!Strawberry and Lemon Cake Bars 1

I let the cake bars cool for a while before adding the glaze. Basically I let them cool to room temperature. I didn’t cut them until they were completely cool. They did get a little crumbly, just a warning, but this had no effect on the flavor. They were just delicious. When I served these I put them in a bowl to I could scoop up any scrumptious crumbs.Strawberry and Lemon Cake Bars 2

Perfect cake bars for a Spring or Summer cookout (graduation party??). Speaking of graduation parties, my brother is graduating soon and heading to college. I feel like just yesterday I was torturing him with my girlfriends as we made him say funny things like, “I’m a sexy thing!”. You see, he’s thirteen years younger than me (do the math and you’ll figure out my age) and wen I was in high school he was at that cute age where he started talking and repeating everything we would say. Such a cutie. I’m so proud of him.Strawberry and Lemon Cake Bars 3

I wouldn’t dare bring these to his graduation party. High schoolers (ahem, college students) these days are just so picky!

See you next week for a simple chia jam recipe (a great recipe for summer snacks and especially for little ones who are starting to eat solids!).

Enjoy this Memorial Day.

About author

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Hi, my name is Rebecca Houston and I am a writer. I write about health, healthy food and daily meal plan for various websites.
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