Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake

   Hello, hello, hello! It's Friday! Ok, well, in the summertime, Friday means little, unfortunately. Especially when my husband is on a weekend of night shifts. :(   Still, for the sake of those who feel elation by their Fridays, then happy Friday to you! 
   Today I am going to share with you the recipe for the chocolate cake I used for Caleb's birthday, as well as show you how I made his cake.
   When making gluten-free recipes, usually using a regular recipe and adapting it doesn't always work out. In fact, it's often a complete flop! But here's the thing: If you have a great gluten free flour blend, then add a little extra "glue" (like xanthan gum, guar gum-if your blend doesn't already have it), you can tweak at it, and make it into something delicious! 
   That is the case with this cake. The original recipe is from the back of a Hershey's Cocoa Can. It's really an old recipe, but it seemed tried and true. 
   With a few personal tweaks like using sour milk instead of regular, and coffee instead of water, then of course, using gluten-free flour, this cake turned out moist, super tasty, and  
was really easy to make!

Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake
*As with many baking recipes, this turns out better if the milk & eggs have come to room temperature *

I'm sorry I don't (can't) offer a "PRINT" button, but you can click on and download the document if you'd like!  :) 

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Ingredients:

• 1  1/2 Cups white sugar
• 1/2 Cup brown sugar
• 1  3/4 Cups gluten-free flour blend
• 1 Tsp xanthan or guar gum (omit of your blend has it)
• 3/4 Cup cocoa powder 
• 1 Tsp baking powder
• 1 Tsp baking soda
• 1 Tsp sea salt
• 3 Eggs
• 1 cup sour milk (place 2 tbsp of lemon juice into your measuring cup, then fill with milk to 1 cup. Let sit until curdled, about 5 minutes)
• 1/2 cup oil (light tasting olive oil, avocado oil, or melted butter or coconut oil)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup hot (decaffeinated) coffee

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease two 8-inch cake pans with cooking spray, and dust with cocoa powder. Set aside (for this cake I used a 6 inch pan, and a 9 inch pan)
3. Combine the sugars, flour, xanthan or guar (if using), cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine
4. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, sour milk, oil and vanilla, then add this to the dry ingredients, blending well
5. Now carefully whisk in the hot coffee (this will make the batter runny, that's ok!)
6. Evenly distribute the cake batter between the two prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean
7. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 5 or more minutes, then turn out onto a rack to finish cooling completely. The best way to turn out a cake for cooling is to place the cooling rack on top of the cake pan, then gently flip the pan and cooling rack over so that the rack is now on the bottom, and the cake pan on top, upside down. Gently tap the cake pan to loosen the cake if it hasn't already come out 

Making a Checkered Cake

   So, in looking for ways to make a checkered cake, the only suggestions on the www were to cover the cake in white, then cut out black squares and stick 'em on. Seriously. Who wants to do that, and who could make their squares perfect, and stick them on perfect? Not me, that's for sure! 
   I decided instead to make the checkers like I would a lattice top for a pie. It worked out really well, and was not too difficult. I started by putting skewers onto the cake pan, and setting the cake onto it. I used the skewers as a "just in case" for lifting the cake off later. I didn't really need them, as it turned out, but I wanted to explain why they were there in the photos. :) 
   I used a vegetable shortening fondant (instead of marshmallow fondant) this time because marshmallow fondant can dry out faster and I knew I'd be fussing with the fondant for a while and needed it to stay soft and workable. Also (if you follow the recipe in that link), make some of the fondant with 1/4 cocoa and 3/4 icing sugar as a base for making black fondant). As a general rule, keep your shortening handy and keep rubbing it onto your hands as you work to help keep the fondant from drying out. Start by applying a layer of buttercream to the top of the cake as "glue" for the fondant. 

1. In the first photo, you see the black fondant rolled out and cut to fit the top of the cake. I used the cake pan to measure the size I needed. I then cut it into (approximately) 1 1/2 inch strips. I did the same with white fondant 
   
2. I started with the white fondant, and placed it onto the cake. Then, taking alternate strips, I folded them over at the centre
3. Now, take a black strip of fondant and lay it over the white fondant, just tucked up close to the strips you folded back
4. Lay the folded white strips over the black strip you just placed down
5. Now, take the opposite white strips from what you just had flipped, and carefully pull them over the black strip you laid down
6. Take another black strip of fondant, and lay it down, tuck up close to the folded back white strip
7. Fold the white strips down over the black
8. Continue this every other white strip and laying down a black strip until you have the top finished. You can carefully trim around the edges a bit once you've got the top done

   This is not a difficult method, but you do need to be a little focused to make sure you're paying attention and actually pulling back every-other strip, and alternating strips properly.

   Making the side checker uses the same process of folding every other piece back (photo 2), laying down the black, then folding the pieces back up (photo 3), and repeating with the opposite pieces (photo 4 and 5).
   Once you've got that finished, apply some buttercream to the sides of the cake for "glue". Cut the long checkered piece you've made into sections of about 4 (moving the whole, long strip of checkered fondant was too fussy), and attach to the side of the cake, pressing each section into the buttercream to make sure it's well attached (photos 6 and 7).
   The final photo shows a little trim I added (by rolling out some black fondant)
   Wrap this top portion of the cake in plastic wrap as you work on the bottom of the cake, you don't want it drying out!

   The bottom of the cake was just covered in buttercream for "glue", and then green "grass" fondant, and a little black fondant "track". Then I added a little more buttercream to the spot where the top layer would be sitting.
   Now to put the 2 cakes together I left the plastic wrap on top of the top-layer cake, I then put my hand onto the top of the cake, and carefully flipped it over (onto my hand), and set it down onto the base. Oh, uh, remove the skewers (if you were using them) before you place the top of the cake onto the bottom.  
   After this I added some details like using the leftover checker I had from the sides and added them, and also adding a little yellow dotted line on the "road", and I also added some more trim with rolled out fondant. Then I added Caleb's favourite (and throughly cleaned) cars and candles to it. Oh, and don't forget to wipe off your serving plate/tray/whatever. See the photo above and all those greasy little smudges I made?  

   I'll share next week how I made the other car for Caleb's party! 

   Sometimes it's so difficult to come up with an "ending" for a post! How about "the end"? Perfect!

The End   :)  Oh, and have a great weekend!