Organic Gluten Free Chocolate Birthday...with Trucks

This year the birthday boy is getting big and loves all things truck. His mom asked for a gluten free organic chocolate this year. 

 

Gluten free chocolate was a new one for me so I did a test with good ol' King Arthur gluten free Baking mix which I had on hand.. 

King Arthur Chocolate Cake 

Ingredients

• 1 cup (120g) Gluten-Free All-Purpose Baking Mix*
• 1/2 cup (43g) Dutch-process cocoa
• 1 cup (198g) sugar
• 1/4 cup (57g) butter, at room temperature, at least 65°F
• 1/4 cup (50g) vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup (113g) water

*Make sure you use their Gluten-Free All-Purpose Baking Mix, not their Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour.

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8" square or 9" round pan; or line 12 muffin cups with cupcake papers, and spray the insides of the papers with non-stick vegetable oil spray.

2. Whisk together the baking mix and cocoa.

3. Beat the sugar, butter, vegetable oil, and vanilla together until well blended and lighter in color.

4. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until just incorporated after each addition.

5. Stir in the baking mix alternately with the water.

6. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. For cupcakes, scoop batter by level 1/4 cupfuls into the prepared muffin tins; a muffin scoop works well here.

7. Bake the cake until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean and the middle springs back when pressed lightly, 35 to 40 minutes for a layer, or 20 to 22 minutes for cupcakes.

8. Remove the cake from the oven, and set it on a rack. Allow it to cool for 5 to 10 minutes before removing it from pan.

9. Cool another 5 to 10 minutes before cutting into squares; or cool completely before frosting.

This came out great! The texture was a little like brownie, but nothing wrong with that!

Because it had to be organic I moved on to another recipe and went and got some organic gluten free flour blend. 

A tad pricey but it fit the requirements. Of course I found a mix at Sprouts for much less after I received the pricey stuff. 

Onward to the 2 year old's hopefully actual cake from The Loopy Whisk. The author really goes into detail about what makes the recipe work. The site is authored by a baker who, for health reasons, lives gluten free so she knows a thing or two about how to bake gluten free. It is full of gorgeous pictures of her gluten free desserts.

The Ultimate Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

 Servings 10

 Author Kat | The Loopy Whisk

Ingredients

For gluten free chocolate sponges:

• 2 cups + 3 tbsp (265 g) plain gluten free flour blend (I've used a simple store-bought blend containing only rice, potato and maize flours, with no added xanthan gum)
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 3/8 cup + 1/2 tbsp (50 g) cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups (300 g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup + 2 tsp (250 mL) milk, room temperature
• 1/2 cup + 1 tsp (125 mL) vegetable or sunflower oil
• 1 cup + 2 tsp (250 mL) boiling hot water

For chocolate buttercream frosting:

• 3 sticks (340 g) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups (250 g) powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp (75 g) cocoa powder
• pinch of salt
• 5 1/3 oz (150 g) dark chocolate, melted and cooled

Instructions

For gluten free chocolate sponges:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 355 ºF (180 ºC) and line two 7 inch round cake pans with greaseproof/baking paper.

2. In a large bowl, sift together the gluten free flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder.

3. Add the granulated sugar and salt, and whisk well.

4. Add the eggs, milk and vegetable/sunflower oil. Whisk well, until you get a smooth cake batter.

5. Add the boiling hot water, and whisk until you get a runny cake batter with no lumps.

6. Evenly distribute the cake batter between the two lined cake pans, and bake in the pre-heated oven at 355 ºF (180 ºC) for about 40 minutes or until spongy to the touch and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

7. Allow to cool.

For chocolate buttercream frosting:

1. In a stand mixer, or using a hand mixer with the double beater attachments, beat the butter for 2 - 3 minutes, until pale and fluffy.

2. Add the powdered sugar, and beat for a further 5 minutes.

3. Add the cocoa powder and salt, and beat until evenly distributed in the buttercream.

4. Add in the melted (and cooled) dark chocolate, and beat until you get a rich, fluffy chocolate frosting with an even chocolate brown colour.

Assembling the cake:

1. If the sponges are domed, level them out by cutting off the domed tops with a serrated knife.

2. Place the bottom sponge layer on a cake stand, and spread a generous layer of frosting on top, but leave enough for frosting the outside of the cake. Then, place the other sponge on top of the frosting.

3. Use the remaining chocolate buttercream to frost the outside of the cake. Decorate the cake by creating swirls of buttercream with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon

Storage:

1. The gluten free chocolate cake keeps well in the fridge, in a closed container or wrapped in cling film, for 3 - 4 days.

This came out pretty good. The crumb was very moist, almost fudgy. 

I really wanted to make the trucks out of fondant but my efforts looked pretty lame next to the cute little trucks I had already purchased. I think what convinced me was the fact that they were the perfect size and also they will be toys! I rolled out some little platforms out of tootsie rolls and used my cobblestone molds. This way the trucks didn't have to touch th cake. Little things like the cones and barriers were fondant as well as the 2 and Happy Birthday Jonah. The rubble was Trader Joe's toffee and I used some candy rocks around the base. 

The top layer was the gluten free and the bottom was my favorite chocolate. Everything was organic and got good reviews. The mom sent me a picture of a smiling Jonah eating his first chocolate cake!