I was recently invited to a gluten-free potluck to celebrate a friend's birthday. Now, I've expressed my trepidation when it comes to gluten-free baking before, and since I'm known amongst my friends as a fantastic baker, the pressure was really on (probably just inside my own head)! And while I do like challenges, I also had been wanting to try a gluten-free recipe from Cafe Fernando for such a long time, so I took the easy way out and made this cake.
Mine did not turn out nearly as well as his did, though! I was in a rush to get this done in time for the potluck, so instead of letting it cool all the way, I just popped it in the freezer for about 10 minutes and then tried to get it out of the pan. Well, it wasn't cool enough and just came apart on the cooling rack, a ruin of crumbs and a prime indicator of my procrastination.
I was furious with myself! How could I have waited until the very last minute to start making this cake, especially when I didn't have much experience making gluten-free things, and trying a recipe for the first time! But my ingenuity almost completely offsets my procrastination, and I quickly threw the crumbs into a souffle dish, pressed them down so they would stick together, and poured the chocolate lacquer over the top of this, then let it firm up in the freezer for about 20 minutes. This way no one could tell it looked miserable, but still tasted just as delicious!
And I also did not get a picture of my final cake, because I apparently am just the worst food blogger alive! Haha! Recipe can be found at the link above.
When I first started this blog, I had every intention of getting into gluten-free baking as well as vegan. I somehow wandered too far over to the vegan side and now I have no desire to do gluten-free. I mean, let's face it; it's intimidating! There's about a billion types of non-wheat flours out there, all of which are extremely pricey, and the proportions of flours to binders (also equally expensive) blows my mind.
I'm starting to realize, however, that gluten-free is the newest diet craze, and that while vegan is unique, it's not as niche of a market as it was five years ago. Just yesterday, while at a farmers market, I was asked if any of my stuff was gluten-free by about four people! My lame answer was that I was working on a vegan and gluten-free recipe (even though that's a total lie!).
So I've been racking my brain to make something that's gluten-free, vegan, salable at a farmers market, AND somewhat inexpensive and easy to make. This is my first attempt, which I think is pretty good. I'll need to come up with a few more experiments before I start providing the masses with gluten-free goodies, though. If you have any suggestions or references on gluten-free, please leave them in the comments! Thanks!
Recipe below!!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup raw whole almonds 1 Tbsp chili powder 1/4 tsp cayenne 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp black pepper 1 1/2 tsp salt 2 Tbsp olive oil 6 oz. chocolate
Directions:
Mix spices together in a medium bowl. Add olive oil and almonds. Stir until the almonds are coated. Pour into a baking sheet and bake at 350 for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until fragrant.
Let cool completely on the counter. Once cool, spread out on a sheet of wax paper.
In a small sauce pan, melt the chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly to keep the chocolate from burning. Drizzle over the cooled almonds, then sprinkle coarse sea salt over the top, if desired. Enjoy!
