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| really horrid phone camera pic of some seriously awesome cake. please don't judge the book by it's cover on this one... trust me... you want to make this cake! |
I've missed you. I've missed blogging... but I'm ready to come back!
My Dad is very, very, very slowly on the mend. We are still traveling every other weekend to see him in the hospital. And it's been a joy to see him slowly progress. Some days are better than others both physically & mentally for him. He has a very long road ahead with many, many steps of recovery along the way... and we pray the end result will eventually be a heart transplant. It will be quite a journey to that point.... but I believe in him.
In lighter news... I'm also a fan of cake. Densely, richly chocolate cake. My friend Jaime W. makes this amazing gluten-free, flour-free chocolate cake. She brings it to local gluten free potlucks and I might as well forget about portion sizes, sugar intake, or my calorie content for the day. It's all out the window if she brings that marvelous cake.
But I decided to give it a go. I didn't want to use as much butter or eggs as the recipe called for... so I played and came up with the following version. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as we have... it's definitely better cold (it's AWESOME cold! Richly dense and super delicious!) but almost like a sponge cake when warm... so you can pick how to enjoy it...
(Additional Note: This cake is EXTREMELY rich, fudge-y, and not very sweet. It almost has a coffee overtone (which we loved!)... but I don't think it would appeal to children because of the lack of sweetness and due to the hint of bitterness from the intense dark chocolate.)
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| and another really awful phone camera pic of this marvelous cake... I probably need to apologize to the cake... she's truly much more stunning in person... and strangely enough I rather like the retro feel of these sort of 70's orangish pictures... moving on... :-P |
Gluten-Free, No-Sugar-Added, Chocolate Fudge Cake
Adapted from the version in Paleo Comfort Foods
Free of gluten, grains, soy, and added sugar
Printer-Friendly Recipe
The Good Stuff:
1/4 cup butter or coconut oil, melted
1 bag (11.5 oz.) 60-75% dark chocolate chips
Wet Ingredients:
5 large eggs (preferably at room temperature)
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup almond milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients:
1/4 cup coconut flour
* 1/4 teaspoon corn-free baking powder (optional)
* 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (optional)
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Using a double broiler on the stove or a glass bowl in the microwave, melt the chocolate chips and butter together. In another large bowl whisk together the eggs, applesauce, almond milk, and vanilla. Very, very slowly & gently whisk in a small stream of the melted chocolate and butter into the egg mixture. If you add the hot melted chocolate too quickly it will cook the eggs, so do it very slowly and gently. Mix the melted chocolate, butter, and egg mixture until it's thoroughly incorporated. Whisk in the dry ingredients. Pour cake batter into a greased pie plate or cake pan. If you want to serve the cake on a platter make sure to line the cake pan with parchment paper so you can remove it easily. Place in 325 degree oven and bake for 20-30 minutes. The time can vary depending on the temperature of your oven and how wet the batter is. The cake will be completely done on the edges and a toothpick inserted in the middle should come out MOSTLY clean, there will be some crumbs. Allow cake to cool completely on the counter (the edges will pull away from the pie pan and look as if it's shrinking a bit -- that's okay!) before transferring to the fridge to chill overnight. Slice and serve!
Carrie's Notes:
- I have no idea what you can use in place of coconut flour, sorry I can't offer a substitution! If you would like the full sugar version that doesn't use coconut flour, try this cake recipe.
- I have no idea what you can use in place of the eggs in the cake... the eggs are very important here. For a dense egg-free gluten-free chocolate cake, try this one.
- The baking powder will help the cake rise a little more, but it's not necessary if you choose to leave it out. For a homemade version of corn-free baking powder, check out this recipe.
- Also the chili powder adds just a hint of kick to the cake, which is awesome... but if you're not into awesome, you can leave it out too!
- I just baked the cake and served it out of a glass pie pan, which I think works well! And it's pretty!
- I recommend refrigerating the cake overnight before serving. It will be a dense, rich, dark chocolate-y cake.
- If you prefer it warm, it will have more of a sponge-cake type texture and is still quite good... but I personally prefer it cold!
