Blessed are the hungry, for they shall be filled.

Recipes

Ninety-Nine Random Facts About Me

Friday, September 12, 2008

Unbelievable Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

My dear friend, Ms. Janna, invited my family over after church one Sunday. She took the time to ask what to fix so that it would be all good for my boy. Bless her heart! She also happens to live down the street from a woman who cooks gluten free. Talk about friends in the right places! Her friend supplied her with the dry ingredients for a gluten-free chocolate cake. This recipe calls for any gluten free flour blend and she happened to use some amaranth - not really my personal favorite as it gives me a strange aftertaste. Besides that though, the cake was really good and it was beautiful also.

I made sure to get the recipe, thank her and her friend for their kindness, and I have since made this chocolate wonder many times. In fact, it was the cake mix for my son's last birthday party. This is a recipe from Carol Feinster PhD. I've never made it with the strong black coffee as the primary liquid, only hot water. I can only imagine that coffee would give it an even more fabulous flavor. My friends who are familiar with gluten free cooking (their kids have other food issues) were in disbelief at how good it tasted.

The wonderful thing about this cake is that it has always come out of the pan with absolutely no problem, no cracking, etc. I've put it in the freezer for super easy frosting and no crumbs. While I do love refrigerated cake, I have discovered that this one does best when freshly baked or allowed to come to room temperature (take out of the freezer or fridge in plenty of time). I've fixed this with a variety of frostings, but the one I've included is absolutely wonderful with it. I'm not sure the original source for the frosting, but only wrote it down from Ms. Janna's recipe card.
Please make some soon!!

Unbelievable Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
****I double this recipe for 2 - 9" cake pans and 6 cupcakes. The chocolate frosting recipe is enough to frost all of this without doubling.****
1 1/4 cup flour blend (I use 1/2 cup rice flour, 1/2 cup tapioca starch and 1/4 cup millet)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1 large egg
3/4 cup hot water or coffee
Combine all ingredients except water in large mixing bowl using an electric mixer. Add hot water and carefully mix until blended. Pour into cake pans and muffin cups that have been sprayed with cooking spray. (Make sure it is GF).
Cook at 350 degrees.
35 minutes for cake pans
20-25 minutes for cupcakes
****I double this recipe for 2 - 9" cake pans and 6 cupcakes. The chocolate frosting recipe is enough to frost all of this without doubling.****
Yummy Chocolate Frosting 1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup baking cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla

4 comments:

Maureen "Hold The Gluten" said...

Wow!! This sounds amazing! I love the idea of adding coffee. I have a weakness for anything chocolate and/or caffeinated, so this is right up my alley! Great post :)

Debbie said...

Maureen,
Let me know how this works with coffee. I don't dare put caffeine into anything my son eats - he is already stimulated enough:)

Chrissy said...

I just wanted to leave you a comment... I make this recipe of yours quite often for myself and to take to gatherings where I have to bring a dessert! Its WONDERFUL with coffee! My kids even have it and have never suffered ill effects (bouncing off walls) from the caffiene... I think once I divided out 3/4 cup into their portion size they would get more caffiene from the chocolate than the coffee! ;)
Anyway... I made it tonight - - huge chocolate cravings! I was out of butter, so I substituted Hellmans real mayo for the butter AND egg. IT worked GREAT!
Thanks so much again! I love it!

Debbie said...

Chrissy,
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! I love this cake also and usually always make it for a birthday or event because it has been so reliable. One of these days I'm going to make it for myself with the coffee in it instead of just hot water.
Debbie