Almond Flour Chocolate Cake

My guy wanted chocolate cake for Valetine’s Day the other year. With chocolate icing. I don’t care for chocolate icing and was kinda tired of cake after the holidays. This cake has a more distinct crumb due to the almond flour…. the only other flour in it is tapioca starch so it is gluten free which I need. It is easy to make; no tricky process here plus it is dairy free which can be helpful to some folks. I made it but used half peanut butter icing and half chocolate: just made a half batch of each. It was a big it with my man; he took home the chocolate iced portion and I feasted on the peanut butter iced half.

Mine sunk a little in the middle; I think my 4 eggs were all kinda large; there is variation in a dozen eggs; try not to get the 4 largest from the box, live and learn. I did bake it the full time. The center was like fudge; quite yummy if squishy. The peanut butter icing was the bomb!!

So if you need a quick and easy cake this holiday season this one might be the one to please everyone!! Enjoy!

Chocolate cake ingredients:

1 1/2 cup almond flour (not almond meal)

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1 1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup cocoa

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup canola oil

4 large eggs at room temp

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions: mix the dry ingredients in a medium bowl; I used a whisk. Spray a 9 inch cake pan and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper. Heat the oven to 350 degrees, shelf for baking set in the middle. In a large mixing bowl beat the eggs until well blended, blend in the oil and vanilla until smoothly blended. Add in the dry ingredients 1/3 of it at a time; blend in and do the next third and then the final third. Pour into the cake pan. Let stand 5 minutes. Bake 30-34 minutes until tester comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes before turning out onto a drying rack. Ice when completely dry.

Chocolate icing (this is a half recipe)

1/4 cup room temp butter

2 tbsp. cocoa

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

a pinch of kosher salt (about 1/8 tsp)

1 cup powdered sugar

2 Tbsp. milk (may need another tsp)

Beat the butter with your mixer until fluffy, add the other ingredients and beat until fluffy; add extra milk if too stiff.

Peanut butter icing (half recipe)

1/2 cup creamy peanut btter

2 Tbsp. room temp butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar

2 Tbsp. milk (may need another tsp or two)

Beat the peanut butter and butter until fluffy; add the rest of the ingredients and beat until fluffy; add extra milk if too stiff.

Ice half the cake with the chocolate icing and the other half with peanut butter. Enjoy!

Almond Flour Chocolate Cake

My guy wanted chocolate cake for Valetine’s Day. With chocolate icing. I don’t care for chocolate icing and was kinda tired of cake after the holidays. This cake has a more distinct crumb due to the almond flour…. the only other flour in it is tapioca starch so it is gluten free which I need. It is easy to make; no tricky process here plus it is dairy free which can be helpful to some folks. I made it but used half peanut butter icing and half chocolate: just made a half batch of each. It was a big it with my man; he took home the chocolate iced portion and I feasted on the peanut butter iced half.

Mine sunk a little in the middle; I think my 4 eggs were all kinda large; there is variation in a dozen eggs; try not to get the 4 largest from the box, live and learn. I did bake it the full time. The center was like fudge; quite yummy if squishy. The peanut butter icing was the bomb!!

Chocolate cake ingredients:

1 1/2 cup almond flour (not almond meal)

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1 1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup cocoa

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup canola oil

4 large eggs at room temp

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions: mix the dry ingredients in a medium bowl; I used a whisk. Spray a 9 inch cake pan and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper. Heat the oven to 350 degrees, shelf for baking set in the middle. In a large mixing bowl beat the eggs until well blended, blend in the oil and vanilla until smoothly blended. Add in the dry ingredients 1/3 of it at a time; blend in and do the next third and then the final third. Pour into the cake pan. Let stand 5 minutes. Bake 30-34 minutes until tester comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes before turning out onto a drying rack. Ice when completely dry.

Chocolate icing (this is a half recipe)

1/4 cup room temp butter

2 tbsp. cocoa

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

a pinch of kosher salt (about 1/8 tsp)

1 cup powdered sugar

2 Tbsp. milk (may need another tsp)

Beat the butter with your mixer until fluffy, add the other ingredients and beat until fluffy; add extra milk if too stiff.

Peanut butter icing (half recipe)

1/2 cup creamy peanut btter

2 Tbsp. room temp butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar

2 Tbsp. milk (may need another tsp or two)

Beat the peanut butter and butter until fluffy; add the rest of the ingredients and beat until fluffy; add extra milk if too stiff.

Ice half the cake with the chocolate icing and the other half with peanut butter. Enjoy!

Kahlua Cream Cheese Icing on my Chocolate Cake Please!

A year ago I posted on chocolate birthday cake.  So classic, so addictively sweet, you know your mouth is watering right now for a big bite of two layer lusciousness!  This year for my daughter’s birthday I went right to that classic cake recipe, it is the only two layer chocolate gf cake I ever make.  It came out perfect, well mostly; a small chunk came off one layer and a touch on the second.  Gotta love that wax paper circle under the batter for saving my butt…again!  Maybe parchment paper next birthday cake….

This time I updated my timeless and tasty cream cheese icing for adult tastes.  This coffee flavored icing is as easy as ever to whip up but now it is even yummier.  Kahlua icing was the star of the party, champagne colored and coffee flavored, it seduced that chocolate cake right into our mouths with that combination of coffee and dark fudgy cake.   The cake recipe is here at https://myworldwithoutwheat.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/chocolate-fudge-birthday-cake-perfection/ and all you need to do to change it for this spectacular icing is get out that bottle of Mexican Kahlua from the liquor cabinet. Leave out the vanilla in the icing and add a tbsp. of Kahlua and a tsp. of coffee powder.  Coffee powder is simple to make.  I use my electric herb grinder and put in a couple tablespoons of decent quality instant coffee.  Grind it a few pushes of the button until it is a powder.  There you have it; smooth and dark and perfect for adding coffee flavor to any recipe.

kahlua

kahluakahlua

It was hot as heck in my busy kitchen when I went to ice it; baking sweet potato oven fries, baked beans simmering in a cast iron fry pan and 6 people milling around yakking and hugging so I put a thin icing layer over the entire cake and set it in the freezer for 20 minutes to firm up the icing.  Then I finished frosting to even things up a bit.  This trick is wonderful in the summer and your cake is none the worse for a little freezer time.  Heck, I wanted to climb in there for 20 minutes myself!

chocolate khalua cake 001

The little hole in the icing is from a birthday candle! I guess I should have smoothed it over before the photographing!

Next birthday party try this cake; if I can make you can too!  I am terrible at birthday cakes; you will find that out when you read that cake post from November 2014. Birthday cakes are an effort of love, made for those who are so special you are willing to fire up the oven on a 90 degree afternoon just so they can dig their fork into a real cake, a safe for us celiacs cake and a cake so good no one misses the cakes I made years ago. Now, that is the must have cake for my birthday parties. Made with cocoa, melted chocolate, sugar, butter, gf flour mix and a whole lot of love!

PS: It keeps great in a sealed container in the fridge; minimum of a month; ate some I had longer than that and it was still terrific.  If it lasts that long in your house!