For the love of chocolate cake (and it's gluten free)
I have to admit to being a recent convert to chocolate cake. Chocolate brownie yes, but a cake...I just never found one I was bowled over by.
Over the past couple of years I have fallen in love with a Lily Vanilli recipe which is now my go to chocolate cake. People often ask me for a recipe of something or other and when it comes to chocolate cake, this is the one I always recommend, it's just brilliant. The only box it doesn't tick is being gluten free. Not a problem for lots of us, but when you love cake and are gluten intolerant life can seem limited on the sweet options.
I found this recipe when I was trying out cakes for my twin brothers wedding last year. My wonderful sister in-law (now) is a coeliac and it was so important to me that she enjoyed their wedding cake as much as any bride should, so the hunt for perfect gluten free cakes commenced. Chocolate being top on the list!
I tested many a recipe, swapping in different flours, trialling a prescription GF flour, but this was a stand out winner.
It's from Victoria Glass and I make it just the way she has written the recipe. I wanted to include this cake on here as I think great food should be shared so more people can enjoy it!
It's getting easier today to find delicious gluten free recipes and especially when it comes to baking there are some really wonderful bakes that are simple to put together at home. So I hope you try this cake and enjoy it as much as the Rees family and friends do.
Ingredients
Chocolate fudge cake
100g of dark chocolate, 70%, broken into pieces
225g of light muscovado sugar
200ml of whole milk
75g of unsalted butter, soft
2 large eggs, beaten
vanilla extract, 1 generous splash
25g of cocoa powder, good quality
125g of rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 pinch of salt
Rich chocolate buttercream
100g of dark chocolate, melted and cooled
100g of unsalted butter, soft
175g of icing sugar
1 dash of milk
Method -
Grease and line two 8” sandwich tins and preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4
For the cake, place the chocolate, 75g of the light muscovado sugar and milk in a saucepan over a gentle heat. Stir until the chocolate and sugar have melted and leave the mixture to cool slightly
Whisk the remaining sugar with the butter until pale and creamy. Gradually beat in the egg before adding the vanilla, salt and whisking in the chocolate milk. Sift the dry ingredients over the liquid batter and fold in
Divide the batter between your two sandwich tins and bake for 25 – minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool in their tins on top of a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning out to cool completely
For the buttercream, whisk the butter for a few seconds until pale and creamy, before sifting over half of the icing sugar and whisking again until everything is combined
Add the chocolate and whisk through before sifting over the remaining icing sugar. Whisk for a few minutes, adding a splash of milk to slightly slacken the buttercream if you need to
Sandwich the cakes together with half of the buttercream and use the remaining half to spread over the top of the cake.