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I have become coumnist in Aftenposten’s new magazine “Bake”. The column’s name is of course “Free cakes“, and readers of this blog will probably recognize some of what I’m going to write in this column. But this also gives me the opportunity to go the other way. “Bake” aims to introduce many new recipes in each issue, and what is more natural for me than to bake some of the same cakes my way?
The lavish Snickers cake on the front page of “Bake” was tempting to begin with. This chocolate cake was made with cocoa and baking soda, which gives a very dark chocolate cake with a distinctive taste. It gave me exactly the push I needed to test how “Crazy Cake”, the classic milk-free, egg-free chocolate cake that I included in “free cakes” works in gluten-free version. I have seen online that many are making this gluten-free too, so it should work. I chose to use more water than the classic recipe in “Free cakes” since in my experience less gluten free flour than wheat flour is required in cakes when everything else is equal.
When fresh, the cake was yummy, and it stood up well also the next day. But peanutbuttercream I created is so soft that the cake did not tolerate much handling. If you want to bring it somewhere, I recommend that you finish up the two cake parts separately, and then put the cake together only when you have arrived. The recipe is enough for a cake of about 22 cm in diameter or 10-12 people.
Dark chocolate cake (Crazy cake):
225 g fine gluten-free flour mixture (here Toro light flour mixture)
225 g sugar
40g cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
125 g cooking oil
325 g water
1 tablespoon vinegar 7%
Preheat the oven to 190 gC. Grease a baking tin 25 x 35 cm or two spring forms at 22-24 cm with oil. Mix well in a baking bowl all the dry ingredients. Mix water, oil and vinegar in a measuring jug. Put the liquid into the dry and mix well until everything is evenly mixed. Do not stir too much, the vinegar will react with the baking soda and cause the dough to rise immediately. You want to keep this air within the cake. Pour the dough into the pan or the two spring forms. Bake the cake (s) for 30-40 minutes at 190 gC till a knife comes out clean the cake. Cool.
Peanøttsmørkrem:
150 g peanut butter (preferably a fine ground type)
150 g icing sugar
75 g milk-free margarine or Crisco
100 g apple sauce without sugar
Whisk together peanut butter, powdered sugar and margarine until it becomes a fluffy cream. Stir in apple sauce. (Applesauce without sugar is made by boiling pieces of apple in a small amount of water until tender. Puré the apples by passing them through a sieve. Apples contain complex carbohydrates that have the ability to bind both fat and water, and therefore serves as an emulsifier).
Coconut Caramel:
100 g coconut milk
50 g sugar
50 g syrup
20 g peanut butter
40 g milk-free margarine or Crisco
Mix together the coconut milk, sugar, syrup, peanut butter and half of the margarine or Crisco and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes until the mixture has thickened slightly. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the rest of the margarine or Crisco. Cool to room temperature.
Chocolate Sauce:
70 g of chocolate powder (Nesquick, O’Boy or similar)
20 g water
Mix the chocolate powder and water until it becomes a thick sauce. Alternatively, add in a little more water if necessary.
50 g salted peanuts for garnish.
Assembling the cake: Divde the cake baked in roasting pan in two halves. Place one cake part on a suitable cake stand. Cover the cake with slightly less than half of the peanutbuttercream. Spread some of the caramel sauce and chocolate sauce on the cake and sprinkle with some peanuts. Place the other cake on top. Spread the remaining peanutbuttercream on top of the cake and spread the rest of the caramel sauce and chocolate sauce on the cake. Sprinkle with a handful of peanuts.
This cake is egg-free, milk-free and gluten-free. It is therefore also vegan if you choose vegan margarin or Crisco. If you tolerate wheat flour, you can substitute the gluten-free flour with wheat flour. But NB, then it is enough with 250 g of water. If you tolerate milk, you can use butter and cream instead of milk-free margarine and coconut milk.
Blog post by Anne Spurkland, published on www.friekaker.no 1. december 2013