Chocolate cake for the non chocolate lover
Okay so the title is misleading… This chocolate cake IS for chocolate lovers 😉 It just so happens that it was made by a non-chocolate lover. I know! I know! Career suicide before I’ve even started a career. But it’s true, I don’t really have a sweet tooth. Yup, cracks me up every time. I’m that kid who doesn’t eat all her buttercream and who doesn’t like the taste of fondant. I decorate cakes for the art of it – please don’t judge me! (I realise this confession may come back to haunt me later lol).
*side bar – I DO love cake just not overtly sweet cakes*
Now that we’ve cleared that up let’s talk about chocolate cake. I had friends round for birthday treats and knew that chocolate cake always goes down a treat with most people. However, one of my friends can’t have gluten so I set about looking for a delicious gluten free chocolate cake recipe. As usual my first port of call was Annie Bell. If you haven’t noticed I love her recipes. They’re so easy to follow and always on point! But I digress. After some deliberations, I opted for her French and flourless chocolate cake (recipe in her book Gorgeous cakes for £9.98 at amazon.co.uk).
I was very intrigued by the recipe as to my mind flour is a key if not the key ingredient in cake batter so this was bound to be fascinating. It also exciting had a lot of new ingredients for me like buttermilk and a story behind it (we know how much I love those).
So how is this amazing cake created you ask? Turns out it’s mostly about the reaction of the egg yolks to the sugar. You literally beat both together until the mix rises (this is soooo cool to watch). I also got to practice my folding skills by folding in the egg whites into the melted chocolate and sugared egg yolk mix. If you do try the recipe out, don’t panic if the cake starts to crack when set. Annie Bell says it’s part of its charm.
My take on Annie Bell’s cake.. I think next time I’ll use a chocolate glaze
Although I didn’t actually have a slice (again don’t judge me) all the cake was gone by the end of the night and I got a lot of compliments for it especially from the friend I had in mind when I made it. Once again Annie Bell saves the day!
Until next time… have a good cake day!
XOXO