American Style: Devil's Food Cake (Wheat Free)

Every year, for his birthday, my brother Paddy asks for the same kind of chocolate cake: chocolate sponge sandwich with chocolatey icing. Every single year for at least 10 years; in fact, the first photograph I ever took of one of my own cakes, back in 2006, was one of Paddy's super duper chocolate heart attack cakes.

Each year, I try to find a way of making a nice moist cake that's still airy and not too dense. Of course, it's quite tricky when the cake is so richly chocolatey. So, how does one maintain moisture and airiness at the same time?

1. Sugar
I'm all for trying to make cakes with the least sugar possible, but sometimes inordinate amounts of the stuff are necessary. Sugar retains moisture, and also adds structure to capture the little air bubbles, meaning you get that delicious moist crumb and a nice airy texture. Turns out you can have your cake and eat it, too (pardon the pun).

2. Creaming
Usually in my cakes I go for the good whisked eggs and sugar base to make them light and airy, but that approach is far too delicate to hold air in a rich cake such as this (or indeed a fruit cake). Butter offers a far superior structure as a solid fat: I cream the butter and sugar together until it's almost white and super light, before whisking in each egg one at a time, making sure to completely whisk in each egg.

3. Baking soda and baking powder
This cake batter is quite thick, so in order to keep it light and airy it needs two kinds of lifting power: a fast acting, and a slow acting. The baking powder begins to work as soon as it hits the oven, and once it's been used up, the soda kicks in and continues to raise the cake slowly but surely until it's fully cooked.

There are many nuances to this cake, but I'm not going to bore the knickers off everyone with science stuff. I'll just explain how to make the cake.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Eggs
☒ Dairy (dairy substitutes can be found in italics)
☒ Gluten
☒ Refined sugar products


INGREDIMENTS
For one large 8 inch (22 centimetre) round cake

• 7 ounces (200 grammes) white spelt flour
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) baking powder
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) baking soda
• 6 ounces (170 grammes) butter, at room temperature
• 6 ounces (170 grammes) caster sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) vanilla essence
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) brown sugar
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) cocoa powder
• 6 fluid ounces (180 millilitres) hot water

For the filling and icing,

• 12 ounces (340 grammes) chocolate
• 6 ounces (170 grammes) caster sugar
• 6 ounces (170 grammes) evaporated milk
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) butter
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) vanilla essence

METHOD

• Preheat your oven to 170ºC (325ºF, Gas Mk. 3), and grease and flour an 8 inch (22 centimetre) deep round cake tin.
• In a large jug, mix together the brown sugar and cocoa until fully blended with no lumps of sugar or cocoa powder. Add the hot water, and mix thoroughly into a syrup. Allow to cool to lukewarm.
• Sieve the flour, baking powder, and baking soda together into a bowl. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and caster sugar until very light, fluffy, and pale. You can use an electric mixer, or a wooden spoon and a lot of elbow grease.
• Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and beat until completely creamed. Take your time with each egg to prevent curdling. Mix in the vanilla essence, also.
• Add half the flour mixture, fold gently with a rubber spatula or balloon whisk. Fold in the cocoa syrup in the same way, then finally add the rest of the flour and mix until completely combined.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes.
• Check the doneness by inserting a skewer. If it comes out clean it's done. However, if it's sticky, return the cake to the oven for a further 10 minutes.
• Once the cake is cooked, set it on a wire rack and loosen the edges with a thin knife or palette knife. Allow it to cool completely in the tin before turning out to decorate.

For the icing and filling:

• For the chocolate icing, pour the evaporated milk and the sugar into a saucepan and heat together gently until the sugar has melted. Bring to the boil, then simmer for a minute or two.
• After two minutes, remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate and butter, or margarine, and stir until melted or almost melted.
• Return to the heat and cook for another minute, stirring continuously, until you have a smooth, shiny mixture. Remove from the heat and allow to cool at room temperature for about an hour, stirring occasionally to prevent crusting, until it reaches a spreadable consistency.

To assemble:

• Cut the dome off the cake, then slice in half horizontally. Attach the top half of the cake to its platter with a tiny smear of the filling to make the bottom layer. Spoon one third of the filling onto the bottom layer, spread out with a palette knife (or butter knife) until it's about half an inch (1 centimetre) from the edge.
• Place the bottom half of the cake on top upside down, so the flat surface is not the top of the cake. Press gently to glue together, and chill in the fridge for about 10 minutes to firm up.
• Spread about a third of the icing on top of the cake, making a swirling zig-zag pattern for decorative effect, then ice the sides with the remaining icing. If you're not feeling confident about not getting crumbs in the icing, do a thin crumb coat first, chill for 10 minutes, and then ice completely.
• Once the cake is completely iced, decorate how you like with sprinkles, or chocolate vermicelli. You could also use the leftover cake dome and make it into crumbles for decoration.

Apologies for the poor picture quality, but it was late at night and indoor lighting is cat. The texture of this cake is soft, fluffy, and moist. Perfect for a celebration!

Minty Mint Brownies of Mintiness, with Marbled Glaze (Wheat Free)

Woo, 80 posts! Only 20 away from the big milestone...

First of all, I would like to announce that I have now in my possession a fancy new Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini which has a lovely crisp camera. Seeing as said phone can connect to the internet, it makes attaching photos to my blog posts so much easier than the way I had been doing it up until this point, which was using my point-and-click camera and uploading the photos from the SD card, which could be fiddly at times.

But back to the recipe.

I love mint. I absolutely love mint. I love mint so much I wish everything in the world could taste of mint. Mint, mint, mint!

And in saying that, I think mint chocolate is one of the World's best things (apart from orange chocolate), which means a mint chocolate brownie is probably infinitely better than than a regular brownie. So, I thought it would be appropriate to mark my return to baking after six weeks of a hiatus with something awesome: I baked a whole tray of mint brownies for a birthday party I had been invited to and they went down very well!

When I was decorating the surface with dark chocolate glaze and white chocolate glaze (half white, half green) I noticed that it had a very camouflage look about it, and thought that it would be cool for an airsofting party or anything army themed.

Also, I have come to appreciate the convenience of recyclable foil tins. This was a large tin so I increased the recipe by half to fit.

FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten
☒ Dairy (use ingredients in italics for a dairy-free version)
☒ Eggs
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Cocoa products

INGREDIMENTS

For the brownies:

• 5 ounces  (115 grammes) spelt flour
• 2 ounces  (55 grammes) cornflour
• Pinch of salt
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) brown sugar
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
• 2 medium eggs, at room temperature
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) butter, melted
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) sunflower oil
• 3½ ounces (100 grammes) chocolate (at least 55% cocoa), melted and slightly cooled
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) peppermint essence
• NO RAISING AGENT, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND GRACIOUS

For the glaze:

• 4 ounces (115 grammes) white chocolate
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) milk or dark chocolate
• 1½ fluid ounces (45 millilitres) sunflower oil
• Peppermint essence
• Green food colouring

HOW-TO

For the brownies:

• Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F, Gas Mark 3). Grease and thoroughly flour a 9x7 inch (23x18 centimetre) tin, or line with non-stick baking paper.
• Sieve together the cornflour, spelt flour and salt into a bowl and set aside for later.
• Put the eggs and sugar in a heatproof mixing bowl (preferably glass) and set over a pan of simmering water and stir until sugar has melted. 
• Remove from the heat and beat the mixture with an electric hand mixer or balloon whisk until pale, thick and doubled in size. You could do with without the water bath, but it’s take too long to beat out the lumps in the brown sugar; the heat speeds this process up a little.
• Like with my sponge cake recipe, melt the butter and oil together and pour into the eggs and sugar mixture gradually, beating all the time.
• Add the vanilla essence and then, in a thin stream, beat in the cooled, melted chocolate.
• Using a rubber spatula or metal spoon, fold in the the flour mixture, bit by bit.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, and firmly tap it a few times off the kitchen top to release any trapped bubbles.
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until spongy to touch and a cocktail stick stuck in the middle comes out with two or three sticky crumbs are clinging to it.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the tin.

For the glaze:

• Melt the white chocolate with 1 fluid ounce of the oil and a few drops of peppermint essence either in a bowl over hot water or in short bursts in the microwave.
• Melt the milk or dark chocolate with the remaining oil and another few drops of peppermint essence in the same way.
• Drizzle half the white chocolate over the top of the brownies, then colour the remaining white chocolate a pale minty green. Use the remaining chocolate glazes to decorate the brownies.
• Allow to set completely before cutting into squares.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: How to Use and Abuse Royal Icing

Chocolardiac Arrest Cake (Wheat Free)

This is my go-to for any birthday celebration. It's basically a Death by Chocolate cake, using a name coined by the geniuses behind Homestar Runner which sits at number three on Strong Bad's Bottom 10 List. This name couldn't be more appropriate.

I made this cake for the first time when I was about twelve years old, and over the years it has evolved into something truly beautiful, and now wheat-free!

There's a lot of making in this cake, but trust me: it's totally worth the whole few hours/overnight wait!

FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten
☒ Dairy (use ingredients in italics for a dairy-free version)
☒ Eggs
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS:

For two 8 or 9  inch (20 or 23 centimeter) round sandwich cakes

• 5 ounces (140 grammes) spelt flour
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) cornflour
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 5 medium eggs, at room temperature
• 2½ ounces (70 grammes) soft brown sugar
• 5 ounces (140 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2½ ounces (70 grammes) sunflower oil
• 2½ ounces (70 grammes) butter or block margarine
• 5 to 7 tablespoons (75 to 105 millilitres) warm coffee

For filling and crumb coat:

• 4 ounces (85 grammes) butter or block margarine, softened to room temperature
• 11 ounces (310 grammes) icing sugar, sieved
• 1 ounces (30 grammes) cocoa powder
• 1½ tablespoon milk or water, or more if needed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

For chocolate fudge glaze:

• 6 ounces (170 grammes) milk chocolate or dairy-free chocolate, finely chopped or grated
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) butter or block margarine
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
• 2 fluid ounces (60 millilitres) milk or milk substitute

For assembly (optional):

• Hundreds and thousands, or coloured sugar

HOW-TO:

First, prepare the cakes:

• Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.4, or moderate).
• Prepare the cake mixture as per the basic sponge recipe, and pour into two greased and floured 9 inch (23 centimeter) cake tins. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes until ready. Allow to cool completely in tins.
• Once cold, cut each cake in half horizontally, and cut the domes off both cakes. Decide how you will assemble the layers, making sure the bottom layer of one cake, bottom side up, is on the top of the pile.

Then, fill and crumb coat the cake:

• Cut a circle of card that's the same size as the bottom of the cake.
• Make the chocolate buttercream icing following this recipe 
• Smear a little buttercream on the card circle and stick the bottom layer of cake to it.
• Spread the bottom and middle two layers with two thirds of the filling. Assemble the layers and chill for about half an hour.
• Once chilled, use the remaining third of the icing to spread the top and sides with a thin layer of icing to lock in the crumbs. Chill for at least an hour.

Next, prepare the chocolate fudge glaze:

• In a medium sized saucepan, heat the milk and sugar over medium-low. Stir to melt in the sugar, and once melted in bring to the boil and boil for two minutes.
• Take off the heat and stir in the butter and chocolate. Once fully incorporated, return to the heat and cook gently for a further minute.
• Remove from the heat and cool until thick but still pourable.

Assemble the masterpiece:

• Cut a large piece of non-stick paper, and set a wire rack on top of it.
• Put the cake on the rack and pour the glaze over it, allowing the excess to drip onto the non-stick paper.
• Once the dripping has stopped, put onto a serving plate and, if you like, sprinkle hundreds and thousands over the top.
• Chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

And that's it! Like I said, fiddly but worth it! I hope to have better photos when I get my hands on my Dad's camera: he took photos of this cake that was being eaten as part of birthday celebrations I could not attend.