Let's back up a bit. I had spent quite a few weeks researching and thinking about the perfect birthday cake for someone of my palate (which is to say, I spent all my waking moments looking for a cake was that "healthy" but tasted decidedly UNhealthy). I tinkered about in the kitchen (ok fine, I made and ate entire batches of test cupcakes) and had finally found the perfect recipe. Then I just happened to stumble upon some gf/sf marshmallow fluff, and got the idea to layer the cake and throw some strawberry jam in there. What could go wrong?
Well. Turns out that when your "fluff" is made of brown-rice syrup, the consistency is less sticky and more slippery. So if you think you can make a four layer cake, add a jam to it, and get it in the fridge to set before the whole thing falls apart, you are wrong. Dead wrong.
So like I was saying--my masterpiece cake had just turned to some kind of rice syrup mess and my party was only a few hours away. My first instinct was to cry and cancel the party, but then inspiration struck--TRIFLE! If you don't know, a trifle is a dessert layered in a round high glass dish, and usually alternates some kind of creamy sauce, a cake, and a fruit jam... basically, a ruined gluten-free, sugar-free cake dripping in "fluff" and strawberry jam. So I scraped that puppy right off the plate and into my handy-dandy trifle dish... et voila! I had a birthday cake.
This guy really was as good as I had hoped--the cake is full of chocolatey flavor and texture is as close to regular cake as I have ever baked. The "fluff" was great as a layering/moistening tool (once I got it in the dish, that is), but it is the one substance in the universe actually SWEETER than marshmallow fluff, so use carefully! I used the Babycakes German Chocolate Cake recipe as a guide for proportions.
A Devil's Food Trifle Worth Making Twice
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| BabyKef and le trifle |
--3 c rice flour (I used brown)
--3/4 c potato starch
--3/4 c +1/3 c unsweetened cocoa powder
--1.5 TBS + 3/4 TBS baking powder
--3/4 tsp baking soda
--1.5 tsp salt
--1.5 c + 3/4 c agave nectar
--1.5 c coconut oil, melted
--1.5 c unsweetened applesauce
--1/3 c vanilla extract
--3/4 c hot water
--1 egg
--marshmallow fluff for layering (I used a whopping 2 cans of this stuff)
--your choice of strawberry jam (I made my own by stewing strawberries and honey--it's super easy, just google or buy)
Assembly
1. Preheat oven to 325. Grease two cake rounds (mine were 8-inch).
2. Whisk together flour, potato starch, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the agave, coconut oil, applesauce, and vanilla and mix well. Add hot water and mix until fully incorporated, batter will be grainy. Add egg, mix again.
3. Divide batter between the two pans. Bake for about 30 minutes, rotating once. The cake is very dense, so be sure to perform toothpick check. Once the toothpick comes out clean, let cakes cool completely (about 45 minutes). Then, cut horizontally through both cakes to create four layers.
4. Pour a layer of jam on the bottom of your trifle dish--it shouldn't be gobs and gobs, but it should be generous. Put one layer of cake down, breaking it if you need to--just get it into oneish layer. Put a big ol' dollop of fluff, then some more jam. Repeat again, ending with cake on top.
Mentor kefi is getting really great at all things quinoa and could contribute a column
ReplyDeleteThat's really an auspicious Kef name- you're prob more PurplePenKef, don't you think? Haha.
ReplyDelete