Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

Please ignore the chipped plate.  What?  You didn't even notice, well then forget I mentioned it.  Focus on the cake, it's good.

  So a few things to mention before this post.  Firstly, we have some answers about our van.  It is being written off, which I am really really hoping turns out to be a blessing in disguise.  We are on a really short time frame and budget, so I hope that by this time next week we are all back to normal.  Well our normal anyway.

 Secondly, I had to share a funny comment I got on my last cake pop post.  I deleted it, then I thought about it.  The comment was anonymous, which I am not surprised, people seem to have a lot of nerve behind a computer screen.   I know I say some things I would never have the nerve to say.  Anyway the comment was "These look like crap."  So I just laughed then deleted it.  Then I thought about it, technically there was a picture where the cake balls sort of look like crap, literally.  And then I though " this must mean I have made it, I got a hate mail comment."  So that sort of made me happy, so I promise to publish all the comments I get, even the bad ones, unless they are rude. And if they upset me I will leave a response, but please if you have the "guts" to make those helpful comments, put your name to it.  That is all.

My alien coffee maker, which I use at least once a month, don't tell hubby.

  And lastly, this cake, oh man, it is good! I have read many posts from others showing their gluten free treats and I have been curious about them.  Not curious enough to really make them, because I am super lazy.  But when I was doing that desert table for my friend she requested something Gluten free, and she even sent me a recipe.  She had to go find the special flour mix as I had no idea or time to get it.  As it turns out, this cake is go good, that you could not tell it was gluten free.  It is that good.

This is the flour blend and it is perfect for this as it is 3 cups in the box.

Action shot of my super amazing new mixer.  Too bad it's not a new car right?

  So to start this cake has no butter, which I was surprised at, but the batter was so silky and smooth it was just perfect.   Also another thing this cake uses is coffee.  Now I don't drink hot coffee, but I love me an iced coffee.  But I was making it a la Pioneer Woman and making my own base.  As it turns out, I don't drink it much at home, I love me my Tim Horton's.  So I stopped making it, and we found this coffee maker at a store for under $30.  It uses pods, and it is not one of the super high end ones, but it lets me brew my coffee cold and I like it.  So I used it to make the coffee for this cake, I needed 1 1/2 cups, so I brewed two pods.

All ready to go, please ignore the empty wine bottle that my sister in law left at our house after they were over for diner.  And please ignore the fact I totally didn't notice it in the picture until this very second.

  The recipe is so easy, basically you mix all your dry ingredients together, then you mix all your wet ingredients together.  Then you mix both of those all together.  Super easy people!

 Gluten Free Cake

This makes a bunch, like 36 cupcakes at least

And it was found on a TV show site, which I cannot find as I just copied it, sorry

-3 cups gluten free flour blend *

-1 1/2 cups cocoa powder

-3 cups sugar

-1 TBSP baking soda

-1 1/2 TSP baking powder

-1 1/2 TSP salt

-3 eggs

-1 1/2 cups butter milk **

-1 1/2 cups coffee***

-3/4 cups oil

-1 1/2 TSP vanilla****

Pre heat oven to 325, mix all dry ingredients together, and mix all wet ingredients together and then mix the whole lot together.  Then place in pans or cupcake liners and bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  

*My friend got hers at a health food store, but she said you want the flour blend as it helps the cake to be nice and fluffy

**I just added a bit of white vinegar to milk and let sit for 5 minutes

***I used brewed coffee but  I bet instant would work too, the coffee really brings out the chocolate flavor

****I used vanilla bean paste because I was feeling fancy, you don't have to

I just used what I had, bendy straws and left over fudge frosting.

So I wanted to make this for my family for our diner at my parents.  I decided to be brave and make a layer cake.  I was going to make it three layers as I had lots of batter, but I only had two pans and was in a rush.  So I did two layers and the rest as cupcakes.  The cakes bake up nice and flat, so there is no need to level them.  

Oh my gosh, I sort of want to dive into this. Hubby said the best part was the fudge frosting, then tried to cover himself by saying "but the cake was really really good too!"  Smart man. I will share this fudge frosting soon, I need to make it again and put it on brownies as it was intended.

See it was nice and level, I guess since it did not rise very much it was just perfect.

So this is how you cut the straws, put it in where you want it, all the way down. Then pull it up a bit to cut it level and then push it back in.

  After they baked and cooled for about 20 minutes I put them in the fridge, we were running late so I had to rush it.  I had some left over fudge frosting from the brownies I made a few weeks back.  I had kept it in the fridge so it was still great, hard though, so I had to warm it up a bit in the microwave.  Anyway I made a simple butter cream.  I have shared it here many times.  And I set to work assembling it. 

See you cannot even see the straws here.

My "rustic" icing job.

  First I smeared a bit of frosting on the cake plate and placed the bottom layer.  Then I pipped a dam of frosting around it, to hold in the fudge.  I spread the fudge out, not too thick a layer and then put the second layer on.  Now as I hate making cakes, and we had a long drive ahead of us, I had to be smart.  So I used some plastic straws to hold the layers together.  I just took four and put one in the middle and three around the cake.  You push the straw in, pull it up a but and cut it so it will be level.  Then you frost the cake.  

Sprinkles make everything better!

  Now real cake decorators would make a nice smooth cake, but this was for family and I wanted a rustic look.  At least that is what I am telling myself, less disappointment that way.  So I iced it and then sprinkled on some bone sprinkles because nothing says fall like bones right?

And these are the poopy cupcakes my co workers got,  but they ate them anyway.  The just wanted the sugar.

  I also really quickly piped some frosting on my cupcakes, and have made the choice that from now on when using a chocolate frosting I need to use a fluted pipping tip, this poopy looking icing is just wrong.   But it tastes so right.

  So We were in a rush so we headed out and my cake stayed nice and level, and we ate it for desert then we went home and had to lay down, too much food!  But it was good, and I don't know about you, but even if this is gluten free, I will be willing to make it again.  And again.  It was that good.

And I have come to terms that I will never get a really nice cake slice picture, so just be happy with this.

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