The Best Gluten Free Chocolate Cake... ever, no joke

So Dear Readers, there I was after one of my historic baking projects (read about it here) with a can of Hershey's Cocoa Powder to use up. On the back of the can was a recipe for Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake and Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Frosting. On a whim I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 conversion Flour and gave it a try. "Perfect"... that's a mighty big brag.

Many gluten free cakes go crumbly and dry after a day or so. On days four and five we were remarking that the cake tasted fresh and was only just beginning to go dry and crumbly.

Here's the recipe with my tweaks for gluten free baking:

2 cups sugar

1-3/4 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 flour

3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two pound loaf pans

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks.

Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. Makes 12 servings.

For Roomie's Birthday Tea, I used a peanut butter frosting. Further tweaks are needed, but here it is if you want to try your hand.

1 stick of butter-softened

1 tsp Vanilla

1 pound confectioner's sugar

16 oz. peanut butter

 Milk

Soften the butter and blend in the peanut butter and vanilla.

Add the confectioner's sugar by bits.

Add milk by the spoonful to desired consistency. Use little bits, it goes runny fast.

Once again we were enjoying chocolate goodness for almost a week. So, our friends at Hershey aren't just egotists, their Perfectly Chocolate Cake is the best gluten free chocolate cake EVER. 

Battenberg Cake for Roomie's Gluten Free Birthday Tea

What's an Afternoon Tea without the classic almond tastes of Battenberg Cake?
     Something we can't say in polite company.

Battenberg Cake is the one Tea-time treat Roomie insists upon and I knew I couldn't leave it out of her special day. One lament of those who maintain a gluten-free diet is that one doesn't just buy treats off the shelf from the local importers. So... off I went to find the perfect recipe to convert to gluten-free.

Here's the one I'm working from (with US measurements):

Butter: 1 1/2 sticks

Sugar:  1 cup

Gluten Free 1-1 conversion Flour:  1 1/8 cup

Gluten Free Almond Flour:  1/2 cup

Baking Powder:  2 teaspoons

Salt: 1 1/2 teaspoons 

Eggs:  x3

Vanilla Extract:  1/2 teaspoon

Almond Extract: 1/4 teaspoon

Apricot (or raspberry) Jam:  3 tablespoons

Gluten Free Marzipan: about 14 oz.

Oven at 350*

Mix all ingredients except extracts.

Separate batter into two bowls.

In pink, add vanilla extract and pink coloring.

In yellow, add almond extract.

Pour into greased baking pans, either square or loaf pans work best.

Batter ready to bake

Bake 25-30 minutes.

Cool 10 minutes in pan, 30 minutes out.

 

Cake pieces ready to trim

Trim the cake.  Quarter the cake lengthwise.

Roll out marzipan to 1/8" thick on a powdered sugar dusted surface.

Heat apricot jam in the microwave at 30 second intervals until thick liquid.

Brush marzipan with jam.

Covered with marzipan

Add one pink and one yellow cake piece, with jam between.   Brush with jam and add one yellow and one pink cake piece.

Bring marzipan up to cover, smooth sides.  (The ends get trimmed open so the checkerboard is seen.)

Use the remaining marzipan for decorations to your taste.

Trimmed ends and marzipan animals

Marzipan Animals

Roomie likes cats, so I tried my hand at cats for decoration. On one side is a standing oriental cat with the huge satellite ears. On top is a crouching cat stalking a tiny mouse. On the final side is a rose that somewhat fell apart.

Please NOTE: Some commercial marzipan is produced in factories with gluten products, so mind the ingredients list if cross-contamination is a concern. 

Cheers!

Roomie's Annual Gluten Free Birthday Tea

It is fitting, Dear Readers, for the first post to detail the second annual Gluten Free Birthday Tea. It was the first Roomie's Birthday Tea that suggested a place to detail my non-historic adventures was needful.

Read about the first Roomie's Birthday Tea at The 19th Century Foodie

A quick menu:
Lemon Scones
Cheddar Garlic Scones
Salmon Corn Cakes
Crab Bake
Chicken Pie
Battenberg Cake
Hershey's Best Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
A collection of Chocolate Confections from Halloween
The Special Chocolate Chip Cookies recently found
Assam Tea in Roomie's favorite pot, Brown Betty.

Today, at just after 7:00am, I began clearing the kitchen and preparing for what will be a long day.
First on the list was "Chinese Buffet Crab Bake". This ambrosial dish of imitation crab and cheddar cheese in a cream sauce is a favorite feature at buffet restaurants featuring Americanized Chinese food. There's nothing Chinese about it, but we love it. It will serve as one of the savories.


Of course, in any major cooking project, there will be the one item that sends the Foodie fleeing to the grocers in a panic. I discovered this early. One bag of shredded cheddar will not suffice for both the crab bake and the cheddar biscuits. Roomie's great husband agreed to do a grocery run so I could continue.

8:30am- The Crab Bake is in the oven and I begin the Battenburg Cake. I really need to do a post on the cake this year. Last year I was praying it would come together in some fashion. This year, practice makes ...well, "better", if not Perfection.

Crab Bake, combine and bake

Battenberg Cake, ready to bake

9:00am- I take a break to have some breakfast, allow Roomies to get their breakfast, and update you.

Salmon Corn Cake Mixture

Making Marzipan Kitties

Cooling Salmon Corn Cakes

Cooling Chocolate Cake

Scones, ready to bake

Scones, being shaped and cut

2:00pm- I take another break for an update, and wait until the cheese gets here.
I have assembled the Battenburg cake, made my famous salmon corn cakes, and made the chocolate peanut butter cake and scones.
The puff pastry is taking an age to thaw. I may need to search out how to speed up that process.

Peanut Butter Frosting

Frosted Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Puff Pastry for Chicken Pies

Cream cheese sauce for Chicken Pies

Chicken Pies, add the chicken

Cheddar Garlic Scones

Just before 4:00pm, the baking is complete, the table (and counter and improvised sideboard) is groaning with goodies, and we sit down at table for High Tea (from the dining table, so yes I am using the term correctly).

Here's the spread:

The Scones:

Lemon Scones

Plain Scones

Cheddar Garlic Scones

The Savories:

Salmon Corn Cakes

Crab Bake

Chicken Pies

The Confections:

Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

Battenberg Cake

Introducing the 19th Century Foodie Today

A number of years ago I started a blog to detail my explorations in historic foodways. Like most history enthusiasts, history influences my foodways today. Also like most history enthusiasts, not everything I cook, bake, eat, or serve is historic. This is a place to share modern foodways, many of which will be inspired by my historic journeys. Dear Readers and Fellow Foodies will likely find gluten free and vegetarian adaptions of traditional foods, new twists on homestyle favorites, and elegant entertainments focused on FOOD. 

Stick a fork in, I'm ready!