Attending Food Fete a few weeks ago, I was literally swept off my feet by all the food allergy friendly foods as well as the goodwill in one room. In one of those “Forrest Gump” moments, I could be found alternately pinching myself and jumping up and down. Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed that I would attend a Food Fete, let alone that something like Food Fete would have existed.
Joel Warady, CMO for Enjoy Life Foods was there showing off a soon-to-be unveiled product (unvieled today at Expowest) called CHOCOLATE MEGA CHUNKS. They are, like they sound, chunks of chocolate that one could pop in ones mouth – as I did on the spot – or melt for cooking. That would come later.
It was the melt for cooking part that got me. I was asked to bake a cake by Sloane Miller, Allergic Girl, for her ALLERGIC GIRL book release party, or as we began to call it, her second birthday.
I asked Joel if I could have some Chocolate Mega Chunks for Allergic Girl’s cake. He very generously loaded me up, and I went home, Chocolate Mega Chunks in hand, ready for my task of creating the largest cake I have ever baked in my whole entire life. One question was begging to be answered: would allergen free ingredients hold up at this large of a size?
I consulted everyone including my professional chef friends. I used 2 Wilton 12 x 18″ cake pans. I did a test. After I made the test cake I took it around everywhere and made everyone try some – even on of my favorite chefs, Roberto of @Fondarestaurant (who also has a fabulous book coming out on Wiley by the way) was coerced into eating my allergy free chocolate cake. Everyone gave me great notes and opinions. Our daughter took it for a bake sale the day after and apparently, there, too, it passed the kid test.
So, here is the recipe – thanks to Enjoy Life Foods for the CHOCOLATE MEGA CHUNKS!
CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH ENJOY LIFE CHOCOLATE MEGA CHUNKS
AND BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
copyright 2011 by Heidi Bayer All Rights Reserved
This will fill a 12″ x 18″ Wilton Sheet Cake Pan
2 Cups Maseca Flour
2 Cups Tapioca Flour
2 Cups Brown Rice Flour
2 Cups White Rice Flour
One whole Hershey’s Cocoa
3 teaspoons Xanthan Gum
2 packages + 1 tsp Dr. Oetkers Organic Baking Powder
4 tsp baking soda
4 tsp salt
5 Cups Sugar
1 1/2 Cup Enjoy Life Foods Chocolate Mega Chunks
1 Cup Water
3 Cups Rice Milk
2 cans organic baby prunes
2 Cups Canola OIl
3 TBSP Vegan Rice Protein (Nutribiotic)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour the pan. Mix all of the dry ingredients excluding the sugar. Melt the Enjoy Life Foods Chocolate Mega Chunks, cool a bit, then mix the Sugar, oil, then prunes. The order is important since you don’t want the prunes to get burned by the chocolate. Mix the Water and Rice Milk in a separate bowl.
If you don’t already have your flour mixture in a large container, grab a large bowl. You want to mix the three sections in bowls. Add about a third of the flour mixture, to a third of the chocolate mixture, to a third of the rice milk. Stir well, making sure that the liquid gets absorbed into the flours, but don’t overmix, the Xanthan Gum will create, well, a gummy mixture! To prevent overmixing, I mix by hand. Do the same thing a second time, again, the mixture should begin to resemble a thick paste. The third and final adding of the flours, chocolate and liquid mixture will produce almost a paste like consistency to the mix. This is GOOD. Do not think that you need to add water. You don’t. Gluten free cooking is completely different. Spread the batter into the pan and make sure it is even. It should look like this:
Chocolate Cake with Enjoy Life Chocolate Mega Chunks
Place it in the center rack of your oven and turn convection on. Bake for about 50 minutes, then test for doneness by placing a toothpick in the center. Once it is finished, place it on a wire rack for cooling. Turn out onto a platter and let cool completely before frosting.
BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
2 1/2 Cups of Spectrum Organic Palm Shortening (a bit warmer thanroom temp)
6 1/2 Cups of Confectioners Sugar
3 Tablespoons of Vanilla
1/2 Cup of Good Karma Rice Milk
Mix the shortening on high for five minutes until fluffy, then begin alternating the confectioners sugar, rice milk and vanilla. Keep mixing the shortening on high for another 5 – 10 minutes until light and airy. Taste for doneness – it will be sweet and buttery! (one must always taste the frosting!) Give bowl to kid.
A rubbermaid toy container works really well for getting this cake around town. Don’t forget to make more frosting so that when you arrive at the party you can touch up the cake.
Bon appetite!
Allergy Free Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Frosting
[...] Another one of my favorite allergy-free cooking & baking superstars is Brooklyn Allergy Free Mom, she has a chocolate cake. [...]
I’m the owner of allergen-free bakery Sweet Debbie’s Organic Cupcakes in Los Angeles. I know the wonderful Joel Warady through my cousin Ross. Anyway, your recipe for that chocolate cake is so inspiring and original and I’m looking forward to seeing those chocolate mega chunks at the store.
I, too, have a child with multiple food allergies, and we can’t have eggs, dairy, tree nuts, coconut, lentils, or flax in the house.
Your blog is truly an inspiration and so well done. Thank you so much for sharing all this wonderful information.