chocolate

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

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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!

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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!

Chocolate Shortbread Cookie Madness

These simple but delicious chocolate shortbread cookies are amazing: crisp, light and very flavorful because of the double shot of chocolate: cocoa and mini chocolate chips.  They are a great way to go when you want to impress company with something understated but totally chocolaty.  Great with a cup of hot tea, coffee or better yet cold milk.  I saw the recipe in my favorite Annalise Roberts cookbook over a year ago but hadn’t tried making them until this week.  I now wish I had baked them long ago as they are addictive!

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No forming needed for these easy refrigerator cookies.  You plop the soft dough onto a piece of wax paper, chill 30 minutes and then scoop the cold dough onto a long piece of plastic wrap, press it into a roll, close the plastic and roll on the table to shape.  Chill well and cut the dough into slices, onto the baking sheet, sprinkle with sugar and into the oven.  Simple to make and they are perfect for many festive occasions.

Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

¾ cup brown rice flour mix; recipe below

2 tsp. sweet rice flour

¼ tsp.  xanthan gum

1/8 tsp. salt

½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1-2 tbsp. granulated sugar

Beat together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, add the vanilla and mix.

Mix flours, xanthan gum, cocoa, and salt in small bowl; add to butter/sugar mix.  Mix until a soft dough is formed and add the chips; mix in briefly.  Place the dough in a flat rectangle on some wax paper; chill 30 minutes. oat muffins 003oat muffins 004

Place lumps of dough in a line along a big sheet of plastic wrap; from it into a 1 ¼ inch log of dough.  Twist ends shut, smooth into a round long by rolling it on the table top.  Chill it at least an hour; until firm.

Heat oven to 350 degrees, move the racks to center of oven.  Lightly spray 2 baking sheets with cooking spray.

Carefully slice into 1/3 inch rounds. Place 1 ½ inch apart on sheet, sprinkle with a touch of plain sugar.  Chill in fridge on cookie sheet for 10 minutes.

oat muffins 005Bake 10-14 minutes until set. Mine all took 13-14 minutes; I think I cut them a tad thick.  Let cool on the cookie sheets 3-5 minutes so they solidify; really delicate until they cool some.  When they will hold together, transfer to a cookie cooling rack.  Store in airtight cookie jar once cooled.oat muffins 007

My recipe says the dough can be kept in the fridge for a week or in freezer for up to two months.  It made about 25-30 cookies.

They are delicately crunchy; if left out in the air unsealed they will get soggy and lose their crisp texture.

Brown Rice Flour Mix base mix
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch

1/3 c tapioca flour

This recipe is out of Annalise G. Robert’s great cookbook: Gluten Free Baking Classics, second edition.

Chocolate Fudge Birthday Cake Perfection

Okay, I have to confess something.  I am a terrible cake baker, under pressure, that is.  I call it the birthday cake curse.  Really.  I actually took a personal vow like 8-9 years ago to make no more scratch birthday cakes as they always get screwed up.  I can make a great cake the rest of the time but birthdays…not so much.  Once I baked a birthday cake for my sister Margie at my mom’s house and unbeknownst to me there was a second bottom on her cheesecake pan; my pear ginger cake was all goopy in the middle because of that! And then there was that fancy three layer cake I baked for my birthday long ago; the top layer was a sort of raspberry gelatin and it slid mostly off! Disaster at the party… Any number of cakes that didn’t rise properly or cracked as it baked or broke as I tried to get them out of the pan. I could go on and on.  The curse continues!

Now I am gluten free and there are very limited and expensive options as to making gf cakes.  Perhaps I should mention that I enjoy baking and it is a challenge I accept in my new gluten free life.  So I persevered and several birthday cakes have been created since going gf and all were totally yummy.  A few glitches but on the whole, I am pleased with my new gf birthday cake record.  Today I baked my three year old grandson’s cake.  Not so good in the perfect department but it sure was tasty when we ate it at the party.  When it came out of my oven the layers sank some in the center.  Re-reading her instructions at the start of the cake chapter I discovered that she does not recommend using a Kitchen Aid mixer; it is too powerful and always overbeats gf cakes.  Now I know.  I just flipped one layer over and used it as the bottom. I put extra cream cheese icing in the middle.  The top was level and the flavors were out of this world.

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This is the third time I have baked this cake for a birthday; time to share it.  It is from my go to cookbook; Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise Roberts.  Get a copy if you haven’t already.  This cake is incredibly yummy, no one will ever feel cheated by the gf nature of it.  And it isn’t that difficult to make, just don’t use that big powerful mixer! I like that it is make with low fat milk and canola oil; less fatty than many cake recipes. I used half the vanilla in the cake and it tastes perfect.  I also measure the oil and milk and remove that tablespoon from each before mixing; she does it after mixing.  I think oil and milk are hard to blend so I do it first.

I iced Aiden’s cake with a frosting from the Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor cookbook by Anne Byrn; vanilla cream cheese frosting and the contrast is perfection with this decadent chocolate layer cake.  This icing spreads easily and the cream cheese makes it smooth and less sweet with a tangy undertone; it is addictive. It’s a perfect combo for a birthday celebration once you poke a few candles on top.  This cake gets its deep chocolate flavor from two sources, unsweetened chocolate and unsweetened cocoa powder.  You will need a fair amount of sugar to make it sweet enough.  And you will need some of that brown rice flour mix I often use.   Recipe for that is below.

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Not the prettiest looking cake but one of the tastiest chocolate birthday cakes ever!

Chocolate Fudge Birthday Cake

4 oz unsweetened chocolate chopped up

1 ¾ cup brown rice flour mix

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

¾ tsp. xanthan gum

½ cup canola oil

1 ½ cup low fat milk

2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Line two nine inch cake pans with parchment paper; spray the inside of the pan lightly with cooking spray.  You need the paper for safe removal from the pan. Do not use dark cake pans; light ones are far better for this cake. Heat the oven to 350 degrees, oven rack in the middle.

Melt chocolate, stir often.  I used the melting feature on my microwave and did a lot of stirring until the last bits were liquid. You can do it in a double boiler if you are into that sort of thing.  I went for the easy way.

Put all dry ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk well to combine.

Measure oil and milk, remove 1 tbsp. from each and discard.  Mix together.

Beat sugar and eggs in a large mixing bowl.  Do not use your kitchen aide. Beat until light and fluffy.  Blend in melted chocolate and vanilla, blend well.  Add the dry and wet ingredients alternating half at a time, low speed on mixer.  Mix at medium speed for one minute.

Pour into the prepared pans and bake immediately.  Any delay is not going to help so have the oven ready to go.  Bake 30-35 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in pan 5 minutes, run knife around edge, tip out onto a cooling rack.  Flip upright so the top of the cake is on the top.  Let cool completely before icing.

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You could make cupcakes out of it but no 8 inch pans; I tried that once and it overran the pan in a crazy “I love Lucy” manner!

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Brown Rice Flour Mix
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch

1/3 c tapioca flour

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Cream cheese Icing

1 8 oz package light cream cheese, room temperature

1  8 oz stick salted butter, room temperature

3 ¾ cups powdered sugar, sieved

2 tsp. real vanilla extract.

Blend the cream cheese and butter in the mixer (yes I used my Kitchen Aid for this recipe!)  Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, blending on low speed.  Do not skip the sieving.  Add the vanilla and blend a bit more.  This recipe will frost one 9 inch layer cake perfectly.

Cowboy Cookies to Crush On!

My freezer is empty of cookies.  This is Not good.  Cookie baking was a priority for this week.  I saw this recipe a while ago on a favorite website; Gluten-Free on a Shoestring.  I saved it and made a mental note to put it at the top of my “gotta bake sweets” list.  Tonight I finally had time to throw it together.  These cookies are created just like that; dump and blend and then there is a bit of stickiness in the shaping of them but no matter, just wash those sticky fingers and hands before you put on the oven gloves!

I revised her recipe just a bit.  I like to use all dark brown sugar, I added walnuts, less vanilla and one batch I didn’t have quite enough Better Batter flour mix so I used a brown rice flour mix for the last ½ cup.   I sometimes don’t bother to beat the eggs; added them one at a time though. I got the coconut chips at Freys Better Foods here in Hellertown, on sale this week!

coconut chips

Cowboy cookies have been around a long time.  Popular with cowboys I assume! I have provided the recipe revised by it was published by Nicole Hunn in her fabulous blog, a great resource for gf baked goods.

They are sturdy and yummy.  The flavor is a mixture of semi-sweet chocolate chips, cinnamon, brown sugar and oats with a healthy dose of butter.  Totally. nummy. good.

cowboy cookie

I never heard of them before my first batch although apparently they have been around for decades. I read today that Laura Bush baked a version of them in her smack down with another First Lady wanna be.  Whatever.  They are hearty and really big so I am guessing they might well be from Texas!

cowboy cookies

My batch made 24 cookies, the recipe said 20….  So mine were a tad smaller than suggested but still really large.  I ended up baking mine for 14 minutes so I suggest you do likewise.  If you bake them one sheet at a time they should be done in 12 minutes but I would rather bake 2 sheets simultaneously.  Some of the sets of six cookies were done on the parchment paper and one sheet was just on a cooking sprayed non stick cookie sheet.  Both ways worked fine.  They spread some but not a lot; leave some space between them.

I plan to freeze most of them so they last a bit.  I am guessing success will be my ability to pull one of these big boys out of the freezer and snack down after work next week!

Cowboy Cookies, GF

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all purpose gluten free flour (Better Batter works great)

1/2 tsp xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it) *BB does!

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp kosher salt

8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 1/2 cups coconut chips

2/3 cup chopped walnuts

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 eggs at room temperature, beaten

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat your oven to 325°F. Line rimmed baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper and set them aside.

In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, and whisk to combine well.

Place about 1 teaspoon of the dry ingredients in a separate, small bowl and add the chocolate chips to the bowl. Toss to coat the chips, and set the bowl aside.

To the large bowl, add the granulated sugar and the brown sugar and whisk to combine, working out any lumps in the brown sugar. Add the oats and coconut chips and mix to combine. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the butter, eggs and vanilla, mixing to combine. Add the chips and reserved dry ingredients, and mix until the chips are evenly distributed throughout. If necessary to bring the dough together, knead it with your hands. Divide the dough into 20 pieces, each about 2 ounces. Roll each into a ball and place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten each ball into disk about 1/4-inch thick with your palm or a big spatula.

Place the baking sheets in the center of the preheated oven, two at a time, and bake until lightly golden brown all over (about 14 minutes). Remove from the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes or until firm before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy these fat and tasty big cookies; no one will ever guess they are gluten free!

Postscript: these freaking cookies are addictive! They are subtly flavored by the combination of the above named ingredients.  My grandson loves them too.  He and I shared 2 this evening. I ate another one after I took him home.  Trust me, they are the bomb!

Post script: I made a new batch today.  Note to self; follow recipe exactly and they are even better….  I make sure to beat the eggs first before pouring them on top of the softened butter and the vanilla.  I also remembered to add the chips last and watch them closely in the oven.  This batch is so  yummy I had to put most of them in the freezer to keep myself from eating more cookies.  Perfect warm out of the oven.  OMG: I am in love with these cowboys!