Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake

Chocolate heaven in the form of a gluten-free single layer cake. YUMMO!  That is my fancy-dancy description of this sweet treat.  In fact, the family titled it "The Chocolate Monster".  When you take your first bite you are hit with the smooth creamy fudge frosting then your teeth sink into the moist, chocolatey cake.  A double dose of chocolate and who doesn't love that?

The original source recipe comes from my most trusted gluten-free baking cookbook The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook by Cybele Pascal.

As many of you know,  I LOVE this cookbook!

The original recipe does make a double layer cake but I decided to keep mine to a single layer and then freeze the other baked layer for a later date.   If you want to do the same,  wrap the cake in aluminum foil then put it in a large freezer bag.  When ready to thaw, simply remove the frozen cake from the foil and let it come to room temperature.  Frost as desired.

The recipe also calls for a shortening based chocolate frosting.  Not my cuppa tea as I don't like the consistency shortening brings to a frosting so I made a rich fudgy one instead with butter.

Cybele's recipes are also dairy and egg-free. This is not a concern in our home so I used milk and eggs in my recipe.

You will need to either make your own GF flour blend or use Authentic Food's GF Classical Blend for best results.   If you need to make your own blend then this is the one Cybele uses throughout the book:

• 4 cups superfine brown rice flour  (Authentic Foods brand recommended)
• 1 1/3 cups potato starch
• 2/3 cup tapioca flour

You will need 2 1/2 cups of the flour blend for this recipe

Lastly, I added 1/2 cup of GF mini dark chocolate chips to the batter.  They melted during the baking process to a great degree but there were still pockets of chocolate studded throughout the cooled cake. You cannot see it in the pic but trust me, they are there.  The addition of the mini chips made for an even more delicious treat.  Check the ingredients list first to make sure your chocolate chips are in fact gluten-free.

One word of warning, these cakes peak and crack during the baking process so you will need to level off the tops prior to frosting.

This cake is very rich so a smaller slice does go a long way.

Here we go !

RECIPE:  
* adapted source recipe:  Chocolate Layer Cake,  The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook

WHAT YOU NEED

CAKE

2 1/2 cups GF flour blend (see above)
1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (the darker, the better)
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 large egg at room temperature
1 1/4 cups milk (2% works well)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons canola or grapeseed oil
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups warm water
1/2 cup mini dark chocolate chips

FROSTING (this will make plenty of frosting for a single layer cake)

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2/3 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/3 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

MAKE IT

SPRAY two 8" round cake pans with cooking spray, line bottoms with parchment paper and spray again
PREHEAT oven to 350F

MAKE CAKES

IN BOWL OF STAND MIXER fitted with paddle attachment, stir together flour mix, cocoa powder, xanthan gum, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt
ADD egg, milk, oil, vanilla and warm water
BEAT on MED/LOW speed for 3 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl when needed
FOLD in chocolate chips
DIVIDE batter evenly amongst prepared cake pans
BAKE 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean
LET cool on cooling rack  for  1/2 hr
FLIP cakes onto serving platters
LEVEL off tops with serrated knife ( do not level off the layer to be frozen - do that when you want to use it later)

MAKE FROSTING

N SMALL DOUBLE BOILER, melt chocolate whisking continuously until smooth
REMOVE FROM HEAT and let come to room temperature
IN STAND MIXER fitted with paddle attachment, mix butter 2-3 minutes MED speed
ADD melted chocolate
BLEND until combined
ADD icing sugar and vanilla extract
BLEND slow speed 1 minute, scrape down sides and mix 3 minutes MED speed

FROST tops and sides of cooled cake

ENJOY !