Vegan, Gluten Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Jess again today!

So, it was Tom's birthday earlier in January. Any UoM students will know this makes him incredibly unlucky as his birthday falls approximately a week before the start of the January exam period. Booooo. Therefore, we postponed his birthday celebration to this weekend, and we are going to Dough for pizza (the most amazing place in the world for the gluten free and vegan people of Manchester). And I have made him a birthday cake. A vegan, gluten free, chocolate cake, with peanut butter frosting. Everything Tom loves, in a cake.

I spent a very long time looking for a good recipe for this. So many GFV recipes contain a ridiculous number of ingredients that would cost me a month's wages to buy, I was starting to get disheartened. I came across a really easy recipe but decided it looked too easy. Basically, I was really picky. And then I found this http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2013/01/peanut-butter-chocolate-vegan-cupcakes.html and knew it was the one. I just tweaked it a little to make it gluten free (and I made a big cake, not cupcakes).

Ingredients
1 cup gluten free flour
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup vegan butter, melted (I used sunflower spread)
1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used praline rice milk because it sounded nice and I lose all sense of cost in the Eighth Day veggie shop on Oxford Road, but soy milk or almond milk would work just as well)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup
1/3 cup hot water with 1 tsp Chia seeds (flaxseed would work the same)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4tsp apple cider vinegar (I don't know how to measure this exactly, I probably used more like 3/4 tsp but whatever, I don't think it made a difference!)
1/2 tsp salt
1tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup blended fruit
Optional - handful dark chocolate chips, cacao nibs

Now where I say blended fruit, I used a whole mashed banana with a handful of mashed blueberries. The original recipe used blackberries, and suggests that any mashable fruit would work - strawberries, other berries, banana, apple...but I decided banana would go best (and I trusted it best) and just threw a few blueberries in for fun. I'd like to try this with blackberries or raspberries, I'll let you know if I do! Also, the original recipe used 1+1/2 cups all purpose white flour, but I substituted 1/2 cup ground almonds in because I think they give a nicer texture in gluten free baking. And the original recipe used just a cup of sugar, but in my experience a bit of golden syrup makes gluten free baking a bit more moist so I tried this.

Heat oven to 190C. First, blend the fruit and add the milk. You could use a food processor but I just did it in a cup by hand. Place all the dry ingredients in a bowl, sifted. Add the blended fruit, melted butter, seed slurry and other ingredients and mix together. Again, I just folded it all in together. At this point I added a handful of dark chocolate chips and a sprinkling of cacao nibs. This isn't needed but I wanted to make it a bit more decadent since it's Tom's birthday. Fold together, pour in your chosen baking tin and bake. Mine took about 30 minutes, but keep checking and go by your oven (if a fork comes out clean, it's done...). Cake done.

Cake mix is luckily not that great licked from the bowl...

 Yes, all my chocolate cakes do look the same...

Peanut Butter Frosting
1/3 cup peanut butter (use whatever type you prefer, other nut butters would work too if you wish!)
1/3 cup vegan butter
2 tsp vanilla
A few splashes of non-dairy milk
1 cup icing sugar
Optional - 2 tsp maple syrup

Basically, blend it all together. Use a whisk or a fork or a spoon or a food processor, whatever you like. Add more milk if its too thick, more sugar if its too runny. Just go with whatever looks best.

What dreams are made of

To decorate the cake, i literally slathered this beautiful frosting all over it, and then added some flaked almonds around the side. Then I spelled H.B. TOM on it with these cute little vegan chocolate chips 

So, this was the final product....

And in all honesty, it was wonderful. Perfect. Glorious. Incredible. I cannot stress how important it is that you make this. Make it into cupcakes, make it into a victoria sandwich with more frosting and some jam in the middle (had i had sandwich tins, this is what I would have done), just make sure you make this. It is vegan, gluten free baking at it's finest, if I do say so myself.


Then, to celebrate Tom's birthday, we ate cake (after our Dough pizzas), dipped fruit and dark chocolate in frosting, drank prosecco and watched Coyote Ugly. He is a man, I do know this, but he embraced his inner woman this day. And I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it.

 You must do this, it is amazing.

 Please make this and please tell me how amazing it goes :)

(Attempt at) Gluten Free Yule Log

Hey, Jess today with what can only be called a work in progress post!

I've been gluten free for about four years now, which is four christmasses without all the nice christmassy things - mince pies, christmas cake, christmas pudding, cheese & crackers, ferrero rocher, gingerbread biscuits...the list goes on. But one thing I've really missed is yule log. Everybody loves that over indulgent, far too rich slice of chocolate cake and chocolate cream and chocolate topping when you've already eaten a week's worth of calories in one sitting and really can't manage any more. How could anyone enjoy a christmas without that sickly addition? So, despite having never made a gluten free swiss roll before, I decided I'd give it a shot this year so that I wouldn't miss out. It came out kind of 'rustic' as we shall call it, but it tasted nice all the same.

A lot of the gluten free recipes I found for chocolate yule log involved just eggs, chocolate and sugar. In my head, this was chocolate meringue, so I found a recipe that contained flour. But having made this recipe, I think I will be brave and try a eggs-and-sugar one next time (although I am spending my next christmas in New Zealand, so I may have to find another excuse to make a chocolate log cake before that..shame...). So anyway, by all means try this recipe, it may just be that I'm really bad at rolling swiss rolls. And I do think it would benefit from some xantham gum, I was just too lazy to buy any as per usual.

Cake
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup gluten free flour blend
4 large eggs
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
(Your desired quantity of your favourite) Liqueur

The original recipe suggested to use a 9 1/4" x 14" x 1 pan to bake the cake in. I just used what was in my Mum's cupboard. It may well be that size, but I don't know for certain and I'm not getting a ruler out to check. But it needs to be square/rectangle shaped and be suitable for cooking a thin layer of cake, obviously. Anyway, line the pan with foil and preheat the oven to gas mark 6. 
Sift the caster sugar, flour, baking powder and cocoa together. This is probably where the xantham gum should be added too.
Beat the eggs, salt and vanilla in a food processor (or by hand if you're not lazy) for about 5 minutes. Gradually add the granulated sugar, then the flour-cocoa mix, folding and beating it all together until the dry ingredients are wet. Don't over mix it.
Pour the cake batter into the tin and bake. Now, the original recipe suggested 13 minutes, but mine was done in 10. So check it after 10, but leave for longer if it needs it. All ovens are different.

I'm not really sure why it looks kinda wrinkly, but it tastes nice anyway

Once baked, leave the cake to cool for about an hour or so. Once cool, dust the top with caster sugar and turn out onto a clean piece of foil, removing the original foil. Brush the cake with your chosen liqueur with a pastry brush. I used Cointreau, as christmas is a time for chocolate orange flavoured things (and my mum didn't have Baileys in - I know, christmas without Baileys hurt me too, but the Cointreau was actually amazing. Particularly when added to everything, ever). Let this soak in for a little while, i left it to soak whilst I made the filling for the cake...

Chocolate Fudge Buttercream
200g icing sugar
50g butter
2-3 tbsp cocoa powder
Some milk (or Baileys/Cointreau/both)

Melt butter in pan. Add cocoa powder and cook for a couple of minutes. Leave to cool. Slowly add icing sugar until everything is added together. Add a little bit of milk (or your desired liquid) slowly, and keep mixing until you eventually have a glossy, chocolate fudge cream.

Use a whisk to remove any icing sugar lumps if you have the patience...

 I haven't specified the amount of milk needed because these things just need to be added until they are ready, and despite following the other quantities to the gram you will still probably end up needing a different amount of liquid here. I added too much, then had to add more icing sugar, and then I ended up with waaaaaay too much Cointreau chocolate fudge buttercream (again, such a shame). So anyway, once you have a thick chocolate fudge, spread it over the cake, leaving a little gap at one end. 

And then roll it up like a swiss roll. I used cling film. But the cake broke. And it ended up with a big mush of chocolatey fudgey Cointreauey cakey goodness. Which tasted beautiful with a little icing sugar dusted on top. But didn't really look brilliant. As you can see. But my family enjoyed it, including my extremely picky brother, so I'm happy with the overall outcome. 

Now, no more chocolate cake recipes. Everyone is on a diet for the first month (or week, or day, or hour) of the year, so in the new year there will be some more healthy recipes to try!

Hope you had a lovely christmas and have a great new year :)

Gluten Free Chocolate Baileys Cake

That's right guys, the highly anticipated full fat chocolate cake post.

I made this to go with my flat christmas dinner. Nobody likes christmas cake, or christmas pudding. Or stollen. Or cheeseboards. Or anything other than chocolate cake, right? I have been waiting for an excuse to make a chocolate cake for ages, because I really can't justify making one for myself, so I figured christmas dinner was the perfect time. I jumped at the chance to make dessert and forced chocolate cake on my flatmates once we'd all already eaten a disgusting amount of food and drank our body weight's in wine. This cake is quite light, and stays fresh for a good few days afterwards. The original recipe contained a teaspoon of xantham gum, but I didn't have any. It would probably improve the texture but it can be made without. Don't ask me for nutritional information, I refuse to acknowledge the fat, sugar or calories in this. It will make me cry. But it's good, and calories don't count in December, so just don't think about it.


200g gluten free flour
2tsp baking powder
200g demerara sugar
175g unsalted butter
4 eggs, beaten
50g cocoa powder
75g ground almonds
1-2tsp vanilla extract
200ml milk
50ml Baileys

For the topping
Some butter
Some icing sugar
Some dark chocolate
Some baileys
Some milk

Heat oven to 180C and grease a cake tin (I used a 20cm one). Sieve the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into one bowl. In another, cream together the butter and sugar (I used an electric hand whisk). Beat the eggs, and gradually add the eggs and vanilla to the butter and sugar mixture. Alternating between a tablespoon of each, fold the flour mixture and milk into the mixture, until you have a smooth mixture. Add the Baileys. Then fold in the ground almonds. By this point, you should have a smooth, chocolately mixture that falls off the spoon. Spoon this into the cake tin, and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes. It may take longer, the original recipe said 50 minutes but mine was definitely ready in 40 so check then and judge by what yours looks like.

Baileys buttercream

Melt about 50g butter with 100g dark (at least 70% cocoa solids) chocolate in a saucepan. Keep the heat low, you don't want it to burn. Add some icing sugar, add some milk, add some Baileys, add some more icing sugar, add some more Baileys....keep going until you have buttercream. I didn't measure quantities, I was drinking wine at the time, sorry. But it doesn't have to be precise. Just keep adding and tasting until it seems right. Once the cake has cooled, pour the buttercream over the cake and leave to set. And there you have it, gluten free chocolate baileys cake. Beautiful.

Look how pretty it looks with cherries on top...

And yeah, I smudged the icing when I put more on top because I'm greedy.

PS - I apologise for the imprecise nature of some of these recipes. Wine takes over...