Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

This cake was so much fun to make. It provided two challenges for me, the first being it had to be gluten free, and the second was it had to be cut into a specific shape. I enjoyed taking on both challenges! I found a fabulous recipe on allrecipes.com, and topped it with a yummy butter cream. We sampled a bit of the cake, and I don’t think anyone would ever know it was gluten-free. It was a delicious dense chocolate cake that you could serve to all your friends regardless of their level of gluten tolerance.

This was my first time ever cutting a cake into a specific shape. I have made cakes with shape in the past, but I used an Elmo pan and a heart-shaped pan. I shaped this cake into the Apple logo. I think I was successful in completing the challenges — unless John Henry got sick (I hope not!). John and Denise are both artists and Denise totally rocks at decorating cakes, so I was a little nervous shaping this cake. I am happy how it turned out and hope they really enjoyed it!

GLUTEN FREE CHOCOLATE CAKE
from: All Recipes
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1 1/2 tablespoons xanthan gum
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup butter at room temperature
3/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut parchment paper to fit into two 9 inch round pans. Grease the pans and set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together the sorghum, tapioca, and rice flours with the cocoa powder, xanthan gum, baking powder, and baking soda. In your mixer bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Slowly beat in the sugars; whip until fluffy. Beat in the eggs and egg yolks one at a time. Add the vanilla. On low speed, alternately combine the buttermilk with the flour mixture. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 30 minutes or until cooked through. Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Turn out onto wire rack and cool completely.

BUTTER CREAM FROSTING
1 c Vegetable shortening
1 c butter, softened
8 c powdered sugar, sifted
4 T milk

In your mixer whip together shortening and butter until light and fluffy. Slowly (1 c at a time) add your powdered sugar. Once all the powdered sugar is added the mixture will look dry. Add milk 1 T at a time until butter cream looks soft, smooth and fluffy. Use right away or store covered in the refrigerator. Set out on counter to soften up a bit before using.

Assembling your cake:

Once the cakes are completely cooled place one cake on a cake board, spread about 3/4 c frosting, top with other cake (placing top side on the frosting so the flat bottom is now the top). Cover your cake and place in the fridge for a couple hours or overnight — it will be much easier to cut. Cut your cake into desired shaped. In order to stabilize the apple leaf I inserted a wooden skewer from the bottom side. Dust off all crumbs with a pastry brush.

The leaf part of the apple is shaped from the “bite” part of the apple. 

Cover the cake with a thin layer of butter cream. (I thinned my butter cream with a splash of milk) This is called the crumb coating, which in theory will provide a foundation for your frosting, so you can finish it smoothly. Refrigerate your cake another 15-20 minutes so the crumb coating can set.

Finally using an offset spatula, evenly spread your butter cream over the top and sides of your cake.  ENJOY!!