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.
I must admit, this cake doesn't even exist anymore. It was made and eaten last weekend, but I'm just now getting to the post! Laziness, I know.
This sloppily frosted, slightly off kilter cake has a very bright surprise inside of it. You see, I made this for my boyfriend's birthday, and he requested a rainbow cake. And while there's rainbow sprinkles on top, the real rainbow feature is hidden until you cut the first slice. Take a look:
Yeah! Legit six-layer rainbow cake! Unfortunately, the weight of the layers ended up squishing down the bottom layers, and each day it sat on the cake stand, the purple, blue, and green layers would get a little flatter. Still delicious though! I flavored some of the layers with fruit zest to match their colors (such as lemon zest for the yellow, lime zest for the green, etc.) but some of the layers just had a vanilla flavor. And while I'm usually against using food dyes, I made an exception this time.
Just look at how happy he is!
And this cake is not just for a grown man's birthday cake! It would also be great for a kids' party or an LGBTQ event! Recipe below.
Ingredients:
For each layer of cake:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegan butter (1/2 stick)
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp plus 1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or any other extract)
1/2 cup almond milk
various zests and/or flavorings
various dyes
For the frosting:
3 sticks vegan butter
2 pounds confectioner's sugar
2 Tbsp almond milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Sift dry ingredients together in a small bowl.
In a medium sized bowl, mix sugar and butter until smooth. Add apple cider vinegar and vanilla. Stir until smooth.
Add flour mixture and almond milk, and stir until combined. Add any zests/flavorings/dyes. Pour into a well greased 8-inch cake pan and bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Let cool in the cake pan for about 15 minutes. Then flip over and let the cake fall out of the pan onto a cooling rack. If this doesn't happen easily, smack the bottom of the pan while it's upside down with the heel of your hand a few times. If the cake still doesn't come out, return it to its upright position and let it cool a little longer. Chances are it just needs to solidify a little more before it will come out.
Repeat all of these steps until you get the right number of layers for your desired cake.
To make the frosting, beat together butter, almond milk and powdered sugar until it takes on a frosting-like consistency.
Once all the layers of cake have cooled, place the first one onto a cake stand or serving platter. Frost the top of this layer, then stack another cake layer on top. Continue frosting and stacking until all your layers are assembled. Then frost the sides of the cake, adorn with sprinkles, and then enjoy!
This is a sincere apology for slacking. I've had it on my to-do list for about two weeks now to make a new blog post, and my boyfriend has even been dropping not-so-subtle hints to let me know that desserts are lacking in this house. Well, I've finally done it, and I made it extravagant so as not to disappoint!
This was my first full weekend off in months, so I took the time to do some fun stuff and a lot of laying around doing nothing. I barely squeezed this cake out in time for the sun to be out on Sunday evening (I try to take pictures during daylight hours to make the lighting better), and even the finished product picture was taken towards the end of dusk. I was just reveling in laziness, a luxury I haven't been able to afford for the last two months.
I unfortunately will not be attending the Haile Plantation farmers market anymore. To anyone who reads this and also goes there, I'm sorry :( For those of you who supported me, I truly appreciate it and hope you will continue to read and/or come see me downtown on Wednesdays. For those of you who are just readers, this is good news for you since my weekends will be free from now on and I can spend that time making posts!
This cake is really, really good when it's fresh, as the chocolate chips are still a bit melty. Recipe below!
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup vegan butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cup almond milk
1 12-oz bag mini vegan chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
1 lb. powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 Tbsp almond milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla extract and apple cider vinegar and mix until combined. Add almond milk and flour mixture and beat until a uniform batter forms. Stir in chocolate chips.
Pour batter evenly between three 9-inch round greased cake tins. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes (this was very variable for me as I used two different kinds of cake tins, and two only took about 20 minutes, whereas the other one took a little over 25, so keep an eye on them!) or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of each cake pan comes out cleanly.
Let cool on the counter for about 10 minutes. Then flip out of the pan onto a cooling rack and let cool completely.
Meanwhile, in another bowl, beat butter, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, almond milk, and vanilla extract until smooth.
Once the cakes are cooled completely, lay one on a flat serving surface, then cover with a thin layer of frosting with an icing spatula. Apply the second layer and repeat, then the top layer and repeat. Then cover the sides of the cake with frosting as well. Then cut and serve!
Up until now, there haven't been any ridiculously extravagant or super rich desserts on here, so you might not have known that I am a lover of over-the-top rich desserts. Well, the secret is out, and this is the cake that outed me.
My best friend is leaving for Texas tomorrow for an undetermined amount of time, so for this reason I decided I was going to make a cake. I may or may not have instigated a going away party for the sole purpose of making said cake, but that is another matter entirely.
It was a wondrous night full of fantastic flavors, including but not limited to hot cider, a block of cheese the size of my head, snickerdoodle cookies, homemade Greek yogurt dip, and of course, this cake.
For how crazy it looks, it didn't take much time to prepare. And if you like desserts that look pristine, I wouldn't recommend this one. Because it is so rich, i skipped icing it for fear of overdoing it, and just poured melted chocolate all over the top and let it run down the sides. This proved to be a success, albeit a messy one.
Recipe below!
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup vegan butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cup almond milk
About 16 ounces coconut cream (not milk)
1/4 cup sugar
1 pint strawberries, quartered length-wise
3 1/2 ounces dark chocolate
2 Tbsp vegan butter
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla, apple cider vinegar, and almond milk. Mix until combined.
Add the flour mixture and stir (or use an electric mixer) to combine until the batter is smooth.
Pour equally into three very greased 9-inch cake tins. Smooth batter out so it is evenly distributed over each pan. Bake for about 22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out of the center of each cake tin cleanly.
Let cool on a cooling rack in the cake tins for about 20 minutes. Then flip cake tin upside down and let cake fall out onto a smooth surface. You may need to bang the bottom of the pan (which is now the top since it's upside down) to get the cake to come out without crumbling.
Let cool completely.
Meanwhile, in a medium sized mixing bowl, pour coconut cream and sugar together. Beat with an electric mixer on a medium speed until soft peaks begin to form, about five minutes. Store in refrigerator, covered, until you're ready to assemble the cake.
Then, in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, combine chocolate, cut into small pieces, and the butter. Melt together over low heat, stirring constantly to keep the chocolate from melting. If you have never melted chocolate on the stove top before, you may want to use a double boiler, since burning chocolate is so easy to do, and is also irreversible. (You can tell chocolate is burnt if it starts to look grainy instead of smooth.) Let this mixture cool to room temperature.
To assemble the cake, lay the first layer of cake on the platter you will be serving the cake from. Make sure it has a flat bottom big enough to lay the cake on entirely, and some room around the sides for rogue chocolate and coconut cream to slide onto. Then spread on about half of the coconut cream. Bring it right up to the edges of the cake. Then take half the strawberries and arrange so they cover the cream one layer thick. Try to keep them fairly level since your next cake layer will be balanced on them. Place the second cake layer on top of the strawberries and repeat.
Once the strawberries are on the second layer of coconut cream, place the last layer of the cake on the very top, then top with any remaining coconut cream. Then spoon the chocolate sauce onto the top and let it slide over the sides. If there's excess chocolate on your platter, spoon it up and pour it back on top.
Ta-da! Your cake is ready and probably looks delicious. Enjoy it with friends!
Let's play a game before we start. The owl in this post was actually an accident, so let's see if you can find him!
Sorry for the delay in posting! This cake was actually consumed by my family last weekend, but I've been in the process of packing up my entire house because I am moving next week. Thus, I have put off posting (and now, sadly, must put off baking until I get unpacked) for lack of time/energy. But I will finally have hot water in my kitchen! Woohoo! So excited.
I made this cake as a dessert to our family's early Christmas dinner this year. We celebrated the weekend before because our entire family was actually together. This is more rare than a natural food at McDonald's.
Perfection from the oven!
Came out beautifully. I was very worried about this part! It's so nerve wracking.
Here's the final product. Nothing glamorous, but really delicious nonetheless. Recipe below!P. S. Did you find the owl?
Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup (2 sticks) vegan butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups almond milk
4 medium-sized Bartlett pears
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup water
1/2 sugar
2/3 cup powdered sugar
4 Tbsp pure maple syrup
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl, sift dry ingredients together. Set aside.
In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar together until smooth. Add apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract, and molasses. Mix until well incorporated. Add the flour mixture and mix until combined. Add the almond milk. Mix until there are no lumps left in the batter.
Liberally grease a bundt cake pan. Pour the batter into the pan, up to about 1/2 inch from the top. I like to put the pan on a cookie sheet just in case the cake pan overflows. That way you won't have a mess in your oven. Bake for about an hour and 15 minutes, or until a long toothpick comes out clean from the center of the cake.
Meanwhile, peel, core, and dice the pears. In a heavy sauce pan, combine pears, sugar, water, and cinnamon. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat and let simmer until the water has turned into a thicker syrup. Remove from heat and let cool.
Also meanwhile, in a bowl, prepare the maple glaze by combining the powdered sugar and the maple syrup until smooth. Add more syrup by the teaspoon if the mixture seems dry, lumpy, or too stiff.
Place on cooling rack still in the pan for 15 minutes. Then flip upside down and take the pan off the cake. Let cool completely. Once the cake is cool, drizzle the maple glaze over it. Cut slices, and serve with pears on top.
