Chocolate-frosted yellow cake

While I wouldn't call myself a cake lover, I do occasionally find myself hankering for cake. And that was what happened two weeks ago. I desperately wanted a slice of moist, dense, and fluffy cake. Being swamped at work and not really having an idea of how to make a wheat-free version, I picked up a toffee cake from the shops. While it tasted alright (not amazing, mind you), I paid for it with several days of discomfort and then more. And still, my craving wasn't satisfied.

So I bit the bullet and bought myself a coffee grinder so I could grind up golden linseeds as they seem to be called in several wheat-free, grain-free recipes. And boy, was I glad I did! Not only did the grinder work a treat for the linseeds, I also managed to make icing sugar without cornstarch with it, which was needed to make the frosting for my cake.

The cake I chose to make was a chocolate-frosted yellow cake. I came across a recipe for it in Dr William Davis's 'Wheat Belly Cookbook'. The cookbook has a good variety of recipes and is easy to use once you have the basic ingredients at hand. The wheat-free cakes I'd made so far were mostly loaf cakes so I wanted to try something new and a yellow cake looked like a good choice as it was versatile. I also wanted to try another kind of frosting (using something other than coconut cream/milk).

Chocolate-frosted yellow cake

Ingredients for the cake (adapted from the Wheat Belly Cookbook)

yields 12 servings

2 C almond flour (finer texture will yield a fluffier cake), sifted
¼ C coconut flour, sifted
¼ C ground golden linseeds
2 tsp baking powder, sifted
½ tsp baking soda, sifted
½ tsp pink salt
3 large free-range eggs, separated
6 tbsp butter, melted
¼ C demerara sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
½ C buttermilk (homemade by mixing ½ C whole milk with ½ tbsp lemon juice and letting the mixture stand for 10 minutes until it thickens)

Ingredients for the frosting (adapted from the Wheat Belly Cookbook)

80 g dark chocolate (70%), broken and then melted
115 g cream cheese
½ tsp icing sugar (homemade by grinding ½ tsp demerara sugar)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Prepare a 9” round baking pan as needed and line it with a circle of greased parchment paper (I'm using a silicon pan).
2. In a large bowl, combine the sifted almond flour, coconut flour, ground linseeds, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a separate large bowl, use an electric mixer set on high speed and beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
4. In another separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth. Then add in the melted butter, sugar, vanilla, and buttermilk, and mix until thoroughly combined.

   

   The three bowls of ingredients

5. Gently fold the egg whites in batches into the yolk mixture.

   

   And then there were two

6. Then gently fold the egg mixture into the flour mixture in batches until well combined.
7. Pour the mixture into the cake pan, taking care not to knock out much air.

   

   Cake mixture in the  pan

8. Bake in the centre rack of the oven for 35 minutes, or until the top is golden and a wooden pick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
9. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting it onto a rack to cool completely.
   
10. When the cake has cooled, make the chocolate frosting. First, melt the chocolate in a bain-marie, stirring constantly. Take care not to overheat the chocolate as it would cause the chocolate to split and then burn.
11. In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer set on low speed and beat the cream cheese until smooth.
12. Add the melted chocolate and icing sugar into the cheese and beat on low speed until well combined and smooth.

    

    Chocolate cream cheese frosting

13. Spread the chocolate frosting over the cooled cake.

I was delighted with the result! When the cake was cooked and I took it out of the oven, I was struck by how well formed the cake looked. I was patient and waited till it was a bit cooler before flipping it out and it came out neatly, leaving nothing on the pan. The cake also had a nice spring to it. The frosting worked out nicely as well, covering the entire cake with a generous layer of chocolate.

Cake frosted with chocolate cream cheese

The cake sliced easily and cleanly, and most importantly, it tasted exactly how I wished it would - moist, dense, and fluffy.

I had a slice after dinner the day I made it and kept the rest in an airtight container in the fridge. The cake kept well and when I had the last slice on day 7, it was still moist. So all in, it was a great success! 

I'm glad that I tried making this yellow cake. As per the suggestions in the Cookbook, I shall experiment with different base ingredients and unique toppings. For example, I can make a lemon poppy seed cake by adding the peel of 2 lemons and 85 grams of poppy seeds. For a chocolate layer cake, add ¼ cup cocoa powder to the flour mixture. And perhaps finally I can try making a sandwich cake (I'm thinking a coconut and lemon cream filling). Ah, the variations are endless!