Moist Rich Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

it's not the Holy Grail, but people like it

In my experience gluten free chocolate cake, and perhaps other flavour cakes made with gluten free flour, can taste a bit powdery. This recipe from Dove's Farm, produces a beautifully moist springy cake. This one is made with a sweetened ganache (chocolate mixed with cream), but you could use a normal buttercream.

The recipe uses milk and oil in the place of the more usual butter. It doesn't matter whether you're an experienced cake maker or not because this cake is really a doddle. Just follow it and stir everything when it says to in the recipe below.

The cake keeps well. But there isn't really a risk of that. Enjoy.

Chocolate cake

• 75g cocoa powder
• 250 gluten free self raising white flour
• 325g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 200ml milk
• 200ml oil
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 125 ml boiling water
• Oil, for tins

Chocolate filling and topping

• 250g dark chocolate
• 250 ml double cream
• 100g caster sugar

Equipment: Three 20cm/8” cake tins, large jug, saucepan and two mixing bowls

Preparation: 

• Pre-heat the oven at 180 C/ fan 160 C/ 350 F/ Gas mark 4
• Prepare the tins, by oiling them or using a baking liner

Method

Cake

• Sieve the cocoa and flour into a bowl
• Add the caster sugar and stir to combine
• Break the eggs into a large jug, add the milk, oil and vanilla extract and beat together well
• Pour the egg mixture into the mixing bowl and mix everything together with a whisk
• Add the boiling water, beating well – this will make a runny mixture
• Divide the mixture between the three cake tins
• Bake for 35-40 minutes – they’ll be springy to the touch and a skewer will come out clean

Cool the cakes for a couple of minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack.

Filling and topping

• Break the chocolate into squares
• Put the cream and sugar into a saucepan and stir over a medium heat until it’s about to boil
• Pour the cream/sugar mixture onto the chocolate pieces and stir until combined
• Leave to cool, stirring every now and then until you have a thick paste
• Spread the filling over each cake, then stack them on top of each other

Double dark chocolate sorbet

If you want an intensely chocolate experience, then this is the recipe for you. And it's dairy free. I don't know about low calorie since it's got sugar in it, however, the flavour is so good you might be able to just eat a little of it.

There's a debate what to call it, sorbet or granita, sorbet being smoother and having finer crystals. It's a matter of how much you smoosh it up I suppose. I like it with finer crystals. I use the bowl on a stick blender.

If you have any left over, it does keep in the freezer, getting harder and harder the longer it's there, so you will need to break it up again.

The main thing is that this is easy to make and it tastes good. If you want a hit of cold and of chocolate give this a go.

500ml/2 cups/16fl oz dark coffee
65g/2/3 cup/3 oz cocoa powder
150g /2/3 cup/30z granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
85g/3oz of dark chocolate (thats around 4/5 of a 100g bar)

• take a medium sized saucepan, put in the coffee, sugar and cocoa and whisk over a low heat until everything is combined and smooth and the sugar has completely melted.
• add the chocolate broken into pieces along with the vanilla essence and keep stirring until mixture is smooth
• allow it to cool, then pour into a plastic container and put into the freezer, stirring the mixture every hour for around five hours. Then leave the mixture to freeze completely
• take the frozen mixture shortly before you plan to eat it and beat it with a fork to break it up - it will melt quickly
• serve with cream or coffee or vanilla ice cream, it's also good with chocolate sauce

Gluten free chocolate joy - Queen of Sheba cake, Reine de Saba

So chocolate lovers, this cake is for you.
Intense chocolate flavour
in a gluten free cake and a brilliant name. Give it a go

You may have noticed that there isn't a lot of flour on the shelves in many supermarkets. Is everyone baking? Since I'm not walking around the whole area I can't smell the results, and there's no biscuits baking smell wafting over from the McVities factory at the moment either.

I finally got some flour actually, at the Co-op in Cricklewood, thank you Co-op. And I got a bar of basic dark chocolate (43% for those who want detail). And it's my lovely daughter's birthday.. and she loves chocolate. At the same time I found a recipe in Elizabeth David was being shared by a BBC London Radio listener on facebook and since it's called the Queen of Sheba and my daughter is a special person, definitely got some regal stuff going on, I decided to give it a go.

Queen of Sheba cake

Ingredients

the cake dusted
with icing sugar

125g butter

125g sugar

125g dark chocolate

100 g ground almonds 

3 eggs, separated
1 tbsp coffee and spirit if you like

Set your oven to 160C

Method

• separate the eggs, into yolks and whites 
• melt chocolate (in bain marie, microwave or oven)
• add butter to melted chocolate, beating it until smooth
• add in the egg yolks one by one, beating to combine, following with the sugar and ground almonds, beating until everything is properly combined
• whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks
• fold the fluffy egg whites through the chocolate mixture, in cutting motions to keep as much air as possible
• pour mixture into prepared 8"/20cm lined tin
• bake for 45m

allow to cool before removing from the tin - be careful, it's fragile cake, dust with cocoa or icing sugar to servev.

You need a strong arm or an electric whisk or equivalent. I use an old fashioned hand held electric whisk. I don't have a big machine, just a lot of bowls. I realised that I would need a gadget garage to fit one in the kitchen, or it would have to sit on the side and I don't find it very attractive, so I got the hand held whisk. There's no flour or baking powder, the raising agent is beaten egg whites. 

20cm tin prepped
with butter and cocoa

melt the chocolate

stir the butter into the melted chocolate
 then stir in the yolks, sugar and ground almonds

beat together and leave to cool

whisk the egg whites
until they make soft peaks

stir the whites through the chocolate
mixture until combined

you can see a bit of unstirred
egg white

reverse crumble chocolate dessert

Raymond Blanc’s reverse crumble chocolate dessert is something I've come across while cruising the interweb for chocolate cake recipes, because who doesn't? It looks pretty good. Overnight chill needed, and not much flour, so the current shortage of the stuff might not put you off, so long as you can get cream, butter, milk and eggs.

If you substitute gluten free flour in the crumble, you have a gluten free dessert. 

Method

Grease an 8”/20cm cake ring, line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and sit the ring on it

Set the oven to 160 fan oven 170 normal oven

For crumble

35g butter unsalted, cold

35g sugar demerera

pinch of salt

30g flour (gf if you like)

1/5 tsp cocoa powder

Combine to a breadcrumb texture to make a crumble and bake in oven 170 for 10-12m

for choc cream

90ml whipping cream

150ml full fat milk

155g 70% choc broken into pieces

1 egg

• heat the milk and cream together to almost boiling
• start beating the egg gently then slowly pour hot milk into the beaten egg continue beating to combine.
• add the chocolate to the hot egg/milk mixture and keep beating slowly until the chocolate has melted completely, which may take a few minutes.
• allow the mixture to cool then pour over the crumble base and leave to chill in the fridge overnight

Just before serving

• slip the cake onto a plate
• loosen the edge of the cake with a hot knife and remove the ring before serving

Chocolate sorbet - vegan

Whether you're vegan or not, this chocolate frozen dessert is for you if you're a chocolate lover. It would work brilliantly as a ripple through a vanilla ice cream if you aren't vegan. 

It is very easy to make, using one pan and a freezing receptacle. If you have an ice cream maker it's an absolute doddle.

If you would like it a bit softer, add two tablespoons of alcohol after the chocolate, vodka or other flavour of your choice. If you want it lighter with bigger crystals add another 1/2 cup of water at the beginning of the method.

Chocolate sorbet

Ingredients
300g caster sugar
350ml / 2 cups strong coffee
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup cocoa powder
150g dark chocolate - that's about 1/2 bar

Method

You'll need 

• a saucepan
• a whisk 
• a large shallow fridge container (or an ice cream machine)

• break the chocolate into small pieces and set aside
• put water, coffee, sugar and cocoa powder into a saucepan, put over a medium heat and whisk until the sugar has dissolved
• add the vanilla and chocolate, as they melt into the hot liquid beat together until smooth
• let the mixture cool before freezing - if you're using a fridge container take it out of the freezer every 20minutes until it has the consistency you want

get the sorbet out of the freezer 20 minutes before you want to eat it

It's great with:

• cantucci biscuits
• orange segments
• vanilla ice cream or yoghurt
• banana bread

biscuits on a hot day - choc chip and wholemeal?

Despite the Great British Bake Off being back on the TV for a whole week, there has been a dearth of baking in this house. With Kitty's first day back at school, there is a call for biscuits, so I am revisiting this recipe, and I'm going to mess with it.

Although many of us hanker for one of those chewy chocolate chip cookies you see in speciality cookie shops as we nurse a cup of tea at home, somehow when you have them to hand, or you follow the chewy chocolate chip cookie recipes those biscuits deliver too powerful a sugary hit. Even when eaten with coffee. Hence the logic of adding wholemeal flour, and some milk powder. Why milk powder? Because it adds a bit of chewy without too much extra sweetness, after all, some biscuits use condensed milk. Also the powdered stuff is easy to store and doesn't add liquid to the mix.

So, the questions fly, how to get an even biscuit in terms of mix and measure? I like this mixture, which is quite easy to handle, even with two spoons. I have yet to buy myself an ice cream scoop, but I think it might be the way to go. I saw someone using one for biscuit mixture, dolloping out even mounds, and I have to concur: the logic is good. The scoop works for ice cream, it works for the more solid mash, and it works well for biscuit mix. Alright, cookie dough, if you insist on going all American. Add scoop to the shopping list.

Set the oven to Gas Mark 4/350F/180C and line several baking sheets with baking parchment.

Ingredients

• 150g butter
• 50g vanilla caster sugar approx. 2 tbsp
• 90g soft brown sugar approx. 3 tbsp
• 1 egg
• vanilla essence
• 100g plain white flour
• 75g plain wholemeal flour
• 2tbsp powdered milk
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 150g plain chocolate chopped into pieces – I like them the size of a large square pea

Method

1. Beat together the butter and the sugars, adding the vanilla essence.
2. Beat in the egg.
3. Add the flour and keep beating.
4. Add the chocolate pieces.
5. Use two spoons and drop large teaspoonsful of mixture onto the sheet, allowing plenty of room to spread. 

Cook for around 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool before removing from baking sheet, or you may lose most of the chocolate.

Makes around 18 large biscuits.

the chocolate chunks are still warm...

chocolate and vanilla sponge marble cake

one of two cakes, and this is all that's left after a day

Marble cake, the mingling of vanilla with chocolate in random swirls. It looks fancy, tastes great, and is easy to make. Which is just as well, because I keep getting asked to make it. You need a little bit of organisation and two mixing bowls. I like making it in loaf tins, it's easier to slice, and I don't add any icing, there's enough going on without it. Maybe a light dusting of icing sugar, if you must.

I make a large batch, three good sized bread tins, lined with baking parchment. You spoon in some vanilla, followed by some chocolate and maybe a bit more vanilla, then you run a knife through it in a figure of eight. Don't stir it too much, it's nice if the two flavours aren't muddled up too much. The chocolate has a little spike of coffee, that makes it the perfect partner for a demitasse, or something longer if you prefer.

Recipe

makes 3 large loaves - line three large tins with baking parchment (crumple it up thoroughly to make it sit into the tins, or use pre-shaped parchment

vanilla sponge
150g sr flour
50g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
200g fat, marg or butter
150g castor sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp warm water

chocolate sponge
150g sr flour
50g pure unsweetened cocoa (sieved) including 1 tbsp instant coffee
1 tsp baking powder

200g fat, marg or butter
150g castor sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

3tbsp warm water

• put all the ingredients for each sponge into two separate bowls
• beat together the vanilla spone, until well mixed (I use an electric whisk), adding the warm water at the last moment
• beat together the chocolate sponge until well mixed, adding the warm water last
• put three spoonfuls, spaced apart in each tin of the vanilla mixture
• fill the gaps with three spoonfuls of the chocolate mixture
• keep adding more spoonfuls alternately, until the mixture is all used up
• swirl a knife through each tinful of mixture in a figure of eight
• cook for around 30m at 160 degrees, or until a skewer, inserted, comes out clean

choc and hazelnut biscuits, or cookies if you like

Hazelnut and Chocolate Cookies

I've been looking for a good cookie/biscuit recipe for some time, and then I came across this one. Rave reviews all round, along with much overeating on the biscuit front. The secret ingredient, because I don't usually keep it in the house, is condensed milk.

Depending on how long you cook these biscuits they can either be crunchy on the outside with a chewy centre or crunchy all the way through. If you can't wait for them to cool you'll get gooey chocolate too.

This recipe makes about 40 biscuits, if you make the roll about two inches/5cm in diameter. If you don't want 40 biscuits, keep a roll of the dough in the fridge, and eat within a week.

Ingredients

225g butter or margarine

not very round dough...

225g caster sugar

6 tbsp condensed milk

350g self-raising flour

100g dark chocolate

100g hazelnuts

Prep

Chop the roast hazelnuts and chocolate to a size that suits you. If you leave them too large, they will make cutting the dough into slices harder.

Beat together the fat, sugar and condensed milk, until well mixed and pale

Add in the flour and mix thoroughly

Stir through the nuts and chocolate

Divide the dough in two, and make two rolls about 5cm in diameter – using baking parchment will make this easier – and chill for around an hour

Cooking

20m before you are going to cook the cookies, heat your oven to 180C

Cut into slices slightly less than 1cm, say .6cm (joke)

Lay onto baking sheet lined with baking parchment, leave some space between them for spreading

Cook for around 15m or until golden brown

delicious, and soon gone

not so elegant, but tasty, easy to make and can be cooked from frozen, here's the recipe

Hot chocolate pudding with a fondant centre

This is a rewrite of Gordon Ramsey’s recipe for Chocolate Fondant Pudding, from the Channel 4 programme The F word. I followed this recipe and they were perfect. The chocolate flavour was seriously intense, the gooey centre was seriously gooey and the only problem was that they were a bit too big! Perhaps it would have been better to have just one course before. Hey ho. It took dedication, and a fair bit of greed to finish off those puds.

I’ve done a rewrite, making it slightly less bossy, and, I hope, easier to follow.

Gordon says this amount is enough for 9 puddings, either ramekins or foil cases, but I think the size that would suit the eater best is somewhere a little bigger than a small coffee cup, which would make more. Otherwise the puddings are more suitable for sharing, which is nice. They are delicious with ice cream or crème fraiche, and a short strong coffee.

Preparing the moulds is the fussiest bit of this recipe, but don’t stint on it, otherwise your puddings probably won’t turn out.

A rough calculation, per two pots is 50g each of dark chocolate, butter, sugar and flour, one egg and one egg yolk plus butter and cocoa to line the pots.

To make Hot Chocolate Fondant Puddings

Ingredients

·          50g melted butter, for brushing

·          cocoa powder , for dusting

·          200g good-quality dark chocolate , chopped into small pieces

·          200g butter , in small pieces

·          200g golden caster sugar

·          4 eggs and 4 yolks

·          200g plain flour

Method

o    Prepare the moulds, brushing them with melted butter and chilling them, once cold do it again,  shaking off excess and rolling cocoa powder around to coat them

o    Melt the butter and broken up chocolate together over a pan of barely simmering water – the bowl must not touch the water, stir the melted chocolate and butter together until it is well mixed, then set it aside

o    Whisk the eggs and egg yolks briskly (I use an electric whisk) adding the sugar in a slow stream. The mixture will thicken, turn pale and bulk up with bubbles, and you’ll see a trail left as you drag the whisk through the mixture

o    Sift the flour onto the eggs and stir it into the mixture quickly

o    Pour the melted chocolate mix into the eggy mixture a little at a time, beating well as you go, until you have a dark chocolatey batter

o    Transfer into a big jug and pour into the pots, almost to the top and chill or freeze the pots

To cook, preheat the oven to 160C – remember cooking times vary according to the size and shape of the container you are using. The puddings are ready when they have a crust that bounces back when you give it a gentle nudge

From frozen – cook for 17 minutes

From chilled – cook for 12 minutes