Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

Cake Magic! was one of the first books that I read through NetGalley. It was a terrific book: it had gorgeous pictures, well-written technique sections, and easy to follow recipe instructions. Most significantly, each of cake recipes could be made gluten free, which is important to me because one of my favorite dinner party guests cannot tolerate gluten.

The Method

The method used in the book is very simple: each flavored cake batter is built upon a basic “mix and match” dry mix. Therefore, the gluten free dry mix can be used interchangeably in any of the eight or so different cake batter recipes. Each cake batter is prepare and baked in pretty much the same manner. While still hot from the oven, each cake is further enhanced with a flavored syrup. Depending on the final flavor profile desired, the syrup can be the same flavor as the cake or a complementary flavor to it. Once the cakes are cooled, they are frosted and decorated, if desired. It seemed simple reading the book, but when it came to execution, would it actually be simple?

Yes, it really was simple to craft a lovely layer cake – even for someone like me who cannot tolerate the exactitude of baking. The most challenging part for me was marshaling all of the ingredients for the gluten free dry mix. I was able to buy tapioca flour and coconut flour at my local supermarket, but I had to travel a few towns over to the Whole Foods to find the white rice flour. Unfortunately, Whole Foods did not have the required millet flour; fortunately, the other chain grocery store in that town did carry millet flour, so I was in business! My first chocolate layer cake came out pretty well, as did a vanilla olive oil cake. So I decided that the recipes were keepers.

The Cake

The late October dinner party marked the third time that I had prepared this cake batter recipe. I originally tested the Cake Magic! gluten free cake batter recipe in February 2016, for a chocolate themed dinner party. This time, the cake went like clockwork. First, I buttered my nine-inch pans and then dusted them with cocoa powder – an innovative gluten free way to keep the cakes from sticking to the pans. Then I whisked together the gluten free dry mix in the largest glass bowl I could find in the house. Once I was satisfied that all the ingredients were well combined, I started with the specific chocolate cake batter recipe. This entailed both melting butter and melting chocolate. While I probably could have saved myself a bowl and melted them together in my makeshift double boiler, I didn’t. I opted to melt the butter in the toaster oven (I don’t have a microwave) and then melt the chocolate separately in my makeshift double boiler (basically a cast iron enamel pot set over a 1½ quart saucepan with an inch or two of boiling water in it). While these ingredients were melting and cooling a touch, I stirred the cocoa powder, additional baking soda and the wet ingredients – yogurt, water, eggs – into the dry mix until smooth. I did it all by hand with a wooden spoon primarily because I was too lazy to break out my hand mixer for it. Also, overmixing cake batter yields a tough cake so best to do it by hand. After a few strokes to moisten and combine, I poured the cake batter into the prepared pans and baked for 35 minutes at 350F.

The Syrup

This time, I didn’t start the syrup until I had put the cakes in the oven, which gave me about 35 minutes to marshal the ingredients, prepare the syrup, and let it cool to room temperature. Marshalling the ingredients was simple enough: all I needed was white sugar, whipping cream, vanilla paste, and cocoa powder. The first step was to combine the sugar and whipping cream in the saucepan over medium heat. I used the 1½ quart saucepan that I used to create the double boiler to mix the syrup. The recipe called for a pinch of salt at this step, but I skipped it. After the sugar was dissolved in the heavy cream, I whisked in some vanilla bean paste (because I had no vanilla extract). Then I whisked in the cocoa powder until it seemed smooth to me.

Once the cakes came out of the oven, I immediately moved them over to a cooling rack. Then I perforated the cakes with a toothpick at approximately one inch intervals so that they would absorb the syrup. I broke out the silicone marinade brush (which I only seem to use for this operation) and painted the tops with the somewhat cooled milky cocoa syrup. This time I didn’t use anywhere near all the syrup, so I poured some syrup on top of each cake and brushed that over the cake. After that operation, I refrigerated the leftover milky cocoa syrup for use in my morning coffee at some point. The cakes were left to cool while I worked on other dishes for the dinner party.

The Frosting

A few hours after coating the cakes with the milky cocoa syrup, I attempted the buttercream frosting. This time, I was smart and took the butter out of the refrigerator to soften when I started the milky cocoa syrup. So the butter was good to go when it came time to start the buttercream frosting. I was a good girl and washed the large glass bowl from the cake batter, so I was able to use that to mix the buttercream.. I melted the unsweetened chocolate in my makeshift double boiler and then set that aside while I worked on the buttercream frosting. I broke out the hand mixer and whipped the softened butter with half a box of confectioners’ sugar until smooth. It started out crumbly at first, and then eventually came together into a smooth mass. Then I added the second half of the box of the confectioners’ sugar and beat until the mass was light and fluffy. Then I added the slightly cooled chocolate and beat again until light and fluffy. It was a gorgeous mass!

Getting the cakes out of the pans onto a plate was a chore; I had to use a butter knife to not only loosen each cake around the edge but also lift each cake slightly around the edges. When I got the first cake out onto the plate, I dumped out half of the buttercream frosting and spread it evenly over the cake using a butter knife (because I don’t own an offset spatula). Then I coaxed the second cake out of its pan on top of the frosting layer, and carefully centered it. For the finale, I coated the top of the cake with the remaining half bowl of frosting and spread that evenly overly the top of the cake. Since it was
finished several hours before the party, I covered it with a layer of saran wrap to protect it until it was time to serve.

The Verdict

Surprisingly, my guests pronounced this to be the best gluten free cake that I’ve made yet! It was moist, thanks to the minimum stirring and the syrup soak. And the frosting was just enough – two batches of frosting would have been too much! Across the eight of us, we ate a little more than a quarter of the cake. The rest of it went home with my guests for later consumption.