The Gluten Free Edge

This month there has been more excitement and much less blogging, but still cooking, baking and thinking about nutritious, delicious, gluten-free food. And a recipe for a dark, rich chocolate cake – I thought about that a lot

Super Chocolate Fudge Cake

Some of the excitement:
#1 Son came for a visit – Mom {me} was thrilled and Don and I both cooked up a storm.

Granddaughter Megan is graduating this month, I’ve been doing sewing and alterations for post-college wardrobe. The graduation celebration and Christmas gift exchange are being combined to reduce family holiday travel.

Rita is moving back to Texas mid-month and staying with us until she locates a new apartment. I had to finish the sewing, get it delivered to Megan, and put away the sewing machine and ironing board.

My sibs and I are selling some of our Grandpa’s farm property – much nostalgia involved and so far, over 100 emails. It is amazing that we will be able to complete this with two of us physically present at closing and the other two mailing and/or emailing the required documents.

Don and I spent some time cutting back shrubs in preparation for the exterior of our house to be painted. It was scratchy, itchy, tedious work. We did it ourselves because we wanted it done our way.

Freshly Painted Plant Stand

My tall metal plant stand for the front porch needed painting. I placed it out in the yard, away from the house, so the paint spray would be carried away by the breeze. Almost as soon as I completed spraying the stand was caught in the middle of a mass ballooning baby spider migration.  Many of the spiders and their silk strands landed on the plant stand. Fortunately they were so tiny and the paint had dried so quickly that none of them became part of the finish.

Finally I had time to think and plan and was able to put together a modification of the Pumpkin Bundt Cake  to create this Chocolate Fudge Bundt Cake. This creation was intended to just be a dark, intensely chocolate cake. It came out so moist that I kept apologizing for it while everyone was saying ‘moist is good!’ Finally I stopped apologizing. It tastes like a blend of cake and fudge. I may tweak it but maybe not. Since it is so good I wanted to go ahead and share it. You will see from the ingredient list that it is not going to send you into sugar shock unless you are way more sensitive than I am. And since it is grain-free it does not trigger me to keep eating more and more – thank you to the dark lords of the chocolate underworld!

Chocolate Fudge Cake – Up Close

Wet Ingredients:
1/4 cup coconut oil, unrefined
1 cup pumpkin
1 square unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup full-fat coconut milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients:
1/4 cup coconut palm sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons chia seed
1/4 cup Truvia
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder {update 12-11-2012}
2 tablespoons coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (112g) almond flour
Optional: but highly recommended
1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips

1. Set the oven at 325*F – gluten-free bakes better at lower temperatures and a little longer than gluten baked goods. Oil your pan(s) using a pastry brush and coconut oil. Alternately use a 7” Bundt pan, 12 cupcake molds, or 2 mini-loaf pans. Set aside.
2. Melt the coconut oil and the unsweetened chocolate together; allow to cool. Grind the coconut palm sugar and chia seed to powder. For sugar-free, substitute the sugar with more Truvia. You can use all Lakanto or your preferred baking sweetener. Measure chocolate chips and set aside.
3. Measure and sift together the dry ingredients, except almond flour, into a large bowl. Add the almond flour without sifting. It will not pass through a sieve.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin, the cooled chocolate and oil, coconut milk, vanilla, and vinegar until blended.
5. Fold the pumpkin mixture into the dry ingredients. Continue folding just until the mixture comes together. Quickly stir in the chocolate chips. When using soda and vinegar for leavening it is essential to get the cake in the oven quickly.
6. Pour the batter into prepared pan(s). Smooth the top with a spatula.
7. For the small 7” Bundt bake for about 40 minutes and turn the heat off for 5 more minutes. Bake about 25 minutes total for cupcakes or muffin tops, and about 25-30 minutes for small loaf pans.
8. Cool the cake in the pan for 5-10 minutes.
9. Remove from pan and move to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Choosing the ingredients:
I used canned pumpkin and have used it for years. It is one of my preferred pantry staples. I recently tried an organic brand but the consistancy is different. We will eventually become accustomed to it.

Unrefined organic coconut oil has a sweet note to enhance the sweetness of the cake without adding coconut flavor. Refined will work just as well.

You may use full-fat or light coconut milk. You may also dilute full-fat coconut milk half-&-half with unsweetened almond milk.

Coconut palm sugar tends to be very coarse. I grind it in a coffee bean grinder along with the chia seed so that both will dissolve and distribute better in the batter.

I use Bob’s Red Mill brand for the tapioca and coconut flours. Honeyville blanched (ordered online) is my choice for almond flour. Bob’s would probably work just as well but I don’t know for sure.

I hope others enjoy this just as much as we do!

Gretchen @gfedge

This post is linked to:
Wellness Weekend December 6-10, 2012
at Ricki Heller’s Blog – Diet, Dessert, and Dogs