Friday, April 22, 2011

Amazing Chocolate Cake--Gluten Free

Often when younger and still occasionally to this day, people would suggest careers that I should consider "when I grow up".  In order of most suggested to least suggested these careers have included:
Medical Doctor
Teacher
Veterinarian
Scientist
*Baker**
Psychologist
Counselor
Professional Dominatrix(!?!)
English Professor (!?!?!?!!)
(I really have no clue why those last two were suggested).

Anyways, the point being that when people have suggested I become a professional baker it has always been in response to this recipe.  I guess that means maybe I shouldn't give away the recipe!?  Oh well. :-)

I originally came up with this recipe so that I could make something for my mother (who is gluten intolerant), however, it was so well received I have made it on numerous occasions for many different types of crowds.

This particular time I made it for my Labmate Jodie's birthday.  Jodie likes spicy food and had just gotten back from a trip Ireland, so I changed the recipe a bit to reflect that. Sadly, I don't have pictures of this particular recipe..it was eaten too fast! (I found one picture on a labmates phone from before it was taken out of the pan!)




Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
adapted from epicurious

Ingredients:
cake
1C Water
3/4C Sugar
9tbs Unsalted Butter
12oz Semisweet Chocolate (or Chips), not the cheapest variety
6oz Bittersweet Chocolate (or Chips)
6 Eggs
1tsp Vanilla
2tbs Irish Whiskey
1/4tsp Cayenne Pepper

ganache
1C Heavy Cream
8oz Semisweet (or Bittersweet) Chocolate
1tbs Irish Whiskey
1/2tsp Cayenne (or less for spice averse)

Method:
1. Preheat Oven to 350F and butter a 9-10" springform pan.
2. Bring the water and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan. Once thoroughly dissolved remove from heat and let sit while preparing the rest of the cake. 
3.  Melt butter and 12oz semisweet + 6 oz bittersweet chocolate in a large saucepan over medium heat.
4.  Using a whisk mix chocolate until smooth, the add sugar syrup, again whisking till smooth.  Add eggs one at a time, whisking in between. Finally, add vanilla, 2tbs Irish Whiskey and 1/4 tsp cayenne. 
5. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes.  Cool fully before topping with ganache.
6. For ganache, bring heavy cream to a boil and add remaining chocolate to melt. Once smooth, add 1tbs Irish Whiskey and 1/4 tsp cayenne.  Remove from heat and let cool for 5-10 minutes, then pour over chilled cake.  Chill assembled cake until set.  (It is better the next day!)

Enjoy!

PS.  for those looking for a healthier cake I recently made this vegan apple pancake. It was awesome! Light, fluffy and rich tasting and SUPER good for you. I even preferred it over the chocolate cake. :-)

PPS.  I want to be a college professor when I grow up. ;-)

5 comments:

Jodie said...

It was tasty indeed!

Karla said...

Thanks Jodie :-)

Samantha said...

Thanks for the comment on my blog :)... I laughed at the professional dominatrix, hopefully you don't follow that suggestion ;) hahaha. That cake sounds delicious btw, another gluten-free chocolate cake are black bean brownies that you can make in a cake ... http://flavorator.blogspot.com/2011/03/something-you-may-not-of-thought-of.html (it may not look the nicest, my camera sort of lacks, but trust me it tastes' amazing and you don't need any flour substitutes or anything it's wonderful. Thanks again for the comment and if interested follow me :D

- Samantha

Karla said...

Haha. No worries about that, I'm firmly on the "college professor" track. :-) I'm sure your camera is better than my friends cell phone! ;-)

Angela said...

Hi Karla, what I wonderful blog you have! I really appreciated the Gluten Free chocolate cake recipe. I am gluten intolerant and it is so hard to find desserts you can make that aren't full of very hard to find ingredients!! Yours was very simple! I can't wait to try and make it.
I just started my own blog about my journey of learning how to cook. Please check it out :)
Angela

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