I received a couple of emails from mothers whose children are on a gluten-free and casein-free diet. Letters asking for help in finding delicious baking recipes for their little ones. The issue of cooking for such children is further complicated by the fact that some of them cannot eat eggs. Just imagine - without dairy products (milk, sour cream, cottage cheese, butter) and without eggs. That is, you can’t do anything that usually forms the basis of gluten-free baking.
I understand the despair of mothers. You have to cook almost out of thin air. I already have several recipes on my blog that are suitable for kids on such a diet, here and here.
Today I add another recipe to this collection - a chocolate cake.

Gluten-free, casein-free and egg-free cake, which I named "Alexandra" - in honor of one person very close to me.

The cake turned out tender, juicy and mega-chocolate. My daughter has already taken a sample and by her gestures and cries of "nanny", I realized that the cake was a success!

Easy to prepare. So simple that the cooking process can be entrusted to the child himself. (of course, if he is already at least 5-7 years old).

Well, let's please our kids with a chocolate cake? :)

So we need:

sugar - 150g

cocoa powder - 20g

salt - 1/2 tsp

soda - 1/2 tsp

flour or ready-made mixture - 200g (I used the ready-made mixture "White Bread" Garnets)

water - 200g (water should be cold, in no case warm!)

vegetable oil - 40g (I cooked with sunflower oil)

citric acid - 1/3 tsp

Mix all dry ingredients - sugar, soda, salt, cocoa and flour. (Be sure to sift cocoa and flour so that there are no lumps)

Dissolve citric acid in water, add vegetable oil, mix and combine with dry ingredients. Mix well and whisk lightly

Everything, the dough is ready! Really fast?)

Pour the dough into a mold (you do not need to pre-lubricate) and put in an oven preheated to 180-200g. You need to bake for 25-30 minutes. Everyone's oven is different, so it's best to check the readiness of the cake with a wooden stick, it should be dry.

05/01/2017 06/01/2017

Chocolate Cake with Black Forest Cherries Gluten Free

A traditional dish of German cuisine is the Black Forest cake, a popular and beloved cake by many. There are numerous options for its preparation, the cake consists of moist and juicy biscuit chocolate cakes, layered with cherries and whipped cream. In the simplest, and yet very tasty version, these are biscuit cakes with the addition of cocoa powder, soaked in one or another cherry alcohol, canned or boiled fresh cherries, or even cherry jam, and a cream that contrasts in taste and color - most often whipped cream . The cake is usually decorated with cream, cherries and chocolate chips. My gluten-free version of the Black Forest cake may not be to everyone's taste. This cake is definitely not for children, with its distinct taste of dark chocolate and the presence of alcohol in the cream. However, the cake can be easily adapted to children's tastes by reducing the amount of cocoa in the biscuits and eliminating the alcohol from the cream.

The presented cake will appeal to lovers of bitter rather than sugary sweet chocolate. The cake has a pronounced, intense bittersweet taste in the crusts, which is set off by a sweet and sour taste in whole cherries boiled in low sugar syrup. The taste of a separate cherry layer is sour-tart. For the stability of this layer in the cake, the cherries are placed on a thin layer of homemade apricot jam, and covered with a thin layer of vanilla buttercream, which is used in a thicker layer between the chocolate layers. The sides of the cake are processed with crumbs from the same biscuit, which is baked in specially left pieces to the state of crackers, which are then ground in a blender to the state of medium and small crumbs. To decorate the cake, I used fresh cherries, which are just now in season, and instead of chocolate chips, I used a new product - polished bitter chocolate granules, which keep their shape perfectly and do not get wet even on the surface of a soft cream with a high moisture content. The last serving photos of the cake were taken on the 8th day after it was made. The cake was stored in the refrigerator under a cap made of food foil.

Ingredients:

I was not sure that I would have enough crumbs to process the surfaces of the cake, and therefore I baked, just in case, the 4th cake, lower, but larger, so that its cut edges can be dried for crumbs, and if necessary, use the whole cake for a crumb As a result, I got a full-fledged 4th cake layer, which, in my opinion, was superfluous. The thickness of this cake (third from the bottom) differs little from the others, from which I can conclude that it is possible to freely bake three cakes, their trimmings can be used for crackers processed into crumbs. This can be avoided by using chocolate chips for powdering.

cakes

ingredients for one cake, bake 3 cakes, each cake is baked individually, make the cakes round (diameter from 19 to 21 cm, the height of the cake will depend on its size) or square at your discretion. From this dough you can not bake 1 thick cake and cut it into 3 parts

• 1 large egg
• 100g applesauce or plain applesauce
• 50g sugar
• 20g pure cocoa powder
• 60g almond flour
• 3 g gluten-free baking powder (1/2 teaspoon)

When using raw cocoa powder, not thermally processed, lighter in color and less bitter in taste, both baking powder/baking powder and baking soda can be used. When using regular, very dark cocoa powder, which is known as Dutch Cocoa, the dough will only rise when using baking powder. Baking soda will not work in dark, heat-treated cocoa powder. If you want to reduce the amount of cocoa in the recipe, use 15g of cocoa, and replace the remaining 5g of cocoa in the recipe with 10g of almond flour.

cherry

• 500g frozen cherries (sour cherries, I ordered an imported product from our greengrocer), you can use boiled cherries from canned Morello cherries, compote with a sugar content of no more than 12-14%, but not in thick syrup
• 200g sugar for frozen berries
• for 500 g of canned Morello cherries, use 100 ml of compote liquid and an additional 50 g of sugar, in which boil the cherries until the moisture is almost completely evaporated
• in the photo boiled cherries from frozen berries

cream

As a cream, you can use just whipped cream with a little sugar, or any other cream of your choice. The absence of dairy products in the cakes makes it possible to use the cream without dairy products at your discretion, and the entire cake will comply with the requirements of the BGBK diet.

• prepare dough for 3 cakes individually
• bake each cake individually in a thin layer on greased baking paper, can be in a split form of any size, or simply on a flat baking sheet, where the dough is distributed evenly over the size of the cake, making the cake a little larger than the required size, for dough scraps intended for subsequent drying
• for baking each cake in a bowl, mix applesauce, sugar and an egg, beat well until bright and increase in volume by 2-3 times
• mix dry ingredients - almond flour, cocoa and baking powder
• add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mix
• pour the dough onto a buttered sheet of baking paper, taking into account the size of the cake
• bake in an oven preheated to 165-170C with a fan for 25-30 minutes, the time depends on the size and shape of the cake, when ready it becomes dense to the touch
• Cool the cake completely, after cooling, turn it upside down, use an absolutely flat bottom surface for spreading cream
• cakes have a stable structure, but are fragile for fracture, in no case should they be bent
• all manipulations with the cakes should be carried out using sheets of baking paper and cutting boards, when bent, the cakes will break

cake assembly

• prepare a workplace
• pre-select the surface on which you will collect the cake and cover it with baking paper
• prepare a layer of berries, cream and the selected material for decorating the cake (chocolate chips, crumbs, etc.)
• when baking free-sized cakes, trim the cooled cakes exactly to the size of the cake
• put the scraps on a baking sheet and dry for about 15 minutes at a temperature of 150C, make sure that the scraps are dry, let them cool, grind the cooled pieces into crumbs with a blender or rolling pin
• smear the surface of the first cake with a thin layer of apricot jam
• put a layer of berries on it

• apply a small amount of cream on a layer of cherries, completely filling all the empty spaces between the berries

• lay the second cake
• use a significantly larger amount of cream between cakes

• put a thick layer of cream on the top cake, smear the sides with cream

• Use a spatula to even out the cream on the entire surface of the cake, including the sides.
• use crumbs to process the sides of the cake
• use chocolate chips on the surface of the entire cake or leave some of the cream unsprinkled
• choose a place for the berries, I used the berries for decoration just before serving the cake
• my tall cake on 4 layers was slightly tilted to one side, with the help of two spatulas I leveled it, and in order to eliminate the effect of “filling up” a tall and narrow cake, for reliability, I transferred the cake to the base of a detachable baking dish, and set the sides of the form, leaving baking paper on the sides
• transferring the cake is very easy if the surfaces are at the same level, for example from the board to the base of the form, baking paper is an invaluable friend in such manipulations
• keep the cake in the fridge
• cake nice and easy to cut leaving the cut smooth without squeezing out the cream (for information I will say that the cake was cut after it had been cut for 5 hours at a temperature of 26C and high humidity), I was pleasantly surprised by the behavior of the cream

The cake is very soft and just melts in your mouth. If you do it again, I would leave only 3 layers, and I would use even more cream between layers. For me, as a person who is not even indifferent, and does not like bitter chocolate, the ideal serving of the cake was with the addition of whipped cream without sugar. I was afraid that the cherry would be strong enough and not allow you to get a good and even cut, and not break the cake at the base. But this did not happen, the cut turned out wonderful. And due to whole cherries, the taste of the cake really won.

The photo shows the last piece of the cake, on the 8th day after it was made. Surprisingly, even when stored not hermetically sealed, but only covered with a food foil dome, the cake did not dry out in the refrigerator during this period, and remained just as juicy and moist, but without phlegm. Surprisingly, both the crumb and the chocolate granules did not get soaked.

I was very pleased with the result in all respects, the cake turned out the way I planned, very beautiful and festive, and we slowly enjoyed it until the New Year, more precisely until January 1st. Once again I will say that this is an amateur cake, but for those who love chocolate, and cakes with an intense and memorable taste, this cake is simply wonderful. And considering that juicy biscuit cakes are baked on apples and almonds, without flour and oil, and the cream, one might say, is just dietary (for cream, I mean), this cake will withstand any criticism from the strictest judge like baking on the Festive table.

RECIPE

Form size from 18-30 cm

Ingredients

For biscuit

500 gr whole eggs
210 g coconut sugar (you can use cane or white sugar. Do not reduce the amount!)
200g gluten-free white bread mix from Garnets
50 gr cocoa
1/2 tsp gluten-free baking powder (I have).

For chocolate cream

375 g dairy-free chocolate (read above)
750 g coconut cream (about 2.5 cans of coconut milk, I have aroy-d. We put it in the refrigerator overnight. Open it before making the cream, the milk will separate into cream (thick) and coconut water. We only need cream)
spices to taste - cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom (optional)

For filling

200 g fresh or frozen raspberries
60 g chocolate (you can use callets, chocolate drops or just chop the chocolate into 2 mm pieces

Cooking

Biscuit

💬This biscuit grows very tall. Therefore, you will have to increase the shape, or use a larger diameter. If you like tall cakes, there are 2 ways to achieve this.
1) We take a mold or a confectionery ring, grease with a very thin layer of coconut or sunflower oil. We cut off a piece of parchment and put it around the whole shape, gluing its outer side to the oil. We also grease the parchment with oil. Lightly dust the bottom and sides of the mold with flour. The parchment should protrude far beyond the form in height. Adjust the height by eye.

2) Use a mold approximately 30 cm in diameter. If you have a detachable form from the supermarket, in any case, you will have to increase it or halve the amount of all ingredients. After the biscuit is ready for cutting into cakes, we cut out a cake of the diameter we need from each cake (about 17 - 17.5 cm), and form the next cake from scraps. The main thing is to evenly lay out those parts of the cake that will be the sides, then also evenly fill the middle. When cutting the cake, no one will notice this, but it will be tall and spectacular.
1. So, let's prepare the form as described above. If you have a confectionery ring, wrap the bottom with foil, preferably in several layers. We heat up the oven to 180C. 💬 Keep in mind that everyone has their own oven and different temperatures. If yours is too hot, set to 160C. If the top of the biscuit burns, after 30 minutes of baking (not earlier!) Cover it with foil. If the bottom burns, place a baking sheet filled with water under the baking sheet with the biscuit.
2. In a separate bowl, sift 200 g of the gluten-free mixture along with 50 g of cocoa and 1/2 tsp. baking powder.
2. 💬Let it not surprise you that eggs are indicated in grams. This is important, because the size of the eggs is different, you can make a mistake in the proportions and get the wrong result that you expect.
Therefore, we measure 500 g of eggs into a large bowl or immediately into the mixer bowl. And start beating at low speed until foam is formed.
3. Then we increase the speed of the mixer and gradually pour in the coconut sugar (210 g) in several steps. It is very important not to break the eggs! They will whip from 5-10 minutes approximately, depending on the power of your mixer. When lifting the whisk, the mass will fall off the whisk and leave a pattern on the surface.

4. When the eggs are beaten, add the dry ingredients in parts and carefully knead with a spatula (not with a whisk or a mixer! Otherwise, you will kill the air bubbles that we have formed by whipping for so long). Knead with folding movements from the bottom up. Do not mix the biscuit dough for a long time. We interfere until all the flour intervenes and you stop seeing dry lumps in the dough. Rake the dough well from the bottom, there is often flour left.

5. We shift the dough into a mold and immediately send it to the oven. We do not knock the form and try not to breathe too loudly next to it, so that air bubbles in the dough do not burst. 💬During baking, the oven DO NOT open! And even if you really want to, and even if I have one eye! It is forbidden!!!
6. After 30 minutes, open the oven a little and carefully check the biscuit with a wooden skewer in several places. It should come out dry. If not, we bake. Extend each time by no more than 5 minutes.
7. After the biscuit is ready, open the oven and let it stand in it for 10 minutes. We put it on the grid. Be sure to cool it on a wire rack so that moisture does not form at the bottom of the biscuit. Let it cool in the mold for about 10-20 minutes. Then remove it and leave it on a wire rack to cool completely. Minimum 4 hours.
8. After the biscuit has cooled down, wrap it with cling film and put it in the refrigerator for 4-6 hours, and preferably at night. During this time, it will stabilize, it will be easy to cut it into cakes. It is better not to neglect this moment.

Let's make cream

1. Melt chocolate (375g) in a water bath. To do this, pour a small amount of water into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Put a bowl (metal or thick glass) on top. It is important that the bowl does not touch the boiling water and does not protrude too much from the edges of the saucepan (if it is glass)!
Break the chocolate into small pieces, put in a bowl. In a water bath, the likelihood that your chocolate will burn is much less.
Stirring occasionally, wait until the chocolate melts and when you raise the spatula, it will evenly drain into the bowl. Do not overheat the chocolate so that it does not curdle.

2. Remove the chocolate from the heat, in the same bowl add 1/3 of the coconut cream abruptly and stir quickly. The mass will begin to thicken. Introduce the rest of the cream in 2-3 doses each time mixing well until smooth. The cream will be quite liquid, as it should be. If it's thick, let it stay that way. Add the spices of your choice indicated in the ingredients, try.

3. Part of the cream (about 250-300 g) is transferred to a small container and covered with a film in contact (so that the film lies tightly on the cream. If you cover it as usual, condensation will form on the inside of the film and drip onto the cream. From this structure cream may change). If you plan to collect the cake in the next hour, put this part of the cream in the freezer. Just don't let him freeze! It needs to thicken a lot to even out the cake.

4. Cover the remaining cream with a film in contact and put it in the refrigerator until assembly.

Assembling the cake

💬 Ideally, collect the cake in a confectionery split ring. So it will be better saturated and the cream will not flow out of it. You can buy such a ring in a pastry shop or on Aliexpress. Some also use rings from split molds, but they are lower than confectionery ones. To increase the height of the cake, you can use acetate film, which is also available in pastry shops. By the way, it is necessary to line the metal ring with acetate or parchment, otherwise it may oxidize and it will be more difficult to remove it from the cake!

1. We will cut the biscuit into 5 cakes, if yours is high. If you chose another method, then for three cakes and then cut out the diameter we need from each.
With a knife we ​​make serifs on the biscuit in order to understand their approximate thickness. There are several ways to cut a biscuit - with a long bread knife or with a regular thread. I prefer the second one.
2. We cut the biscuit not deep along the entire circumference for each cake. Then we take the thread, insert it into the cut of the first cake and just tie it, slowly, without hurrying. The thread will quickly cut the cake. We do the same with the rest of the cakes.

3. We take a cake base or a dish with a perfectly flat bottom, put a small amount of cream in the middle and lay the first cake (the one that was the bottom one) so that our cake does not go, but sticks tightly to the dish. Install the ring on top (if any).
4. Pour vegetable milk (any, any temperature) into a small bowl or cup. We take a tablespoon and soak the biscuit well with milk. Don't put too much milk on the bottom layer so the cake doesn't float.

5. We take out the cream from the refrigerator (most of it). Pour about 4-5 tbsp onto the cake. cream. Count so that there is enough for all the cakes. You can weigh the cream and calculate how much it will take for each cake.
6. Place a layer of fresh or frozen raspberries on the cream. It won't float because the coconut cream and chocolate will perfectly stabilize and hold the berries in. Sprinkle with finely chopped chocolate or chocolate chips. I also had homemade dairy-free ice cream, I also added it to the cake filling. Cover with some cream on top. Keep in mind that the biscuit lid should lie in the middle of the cake, and the center cake should complete the cake. So, the whole structure is better saturated.

7. We lay the next cake on top, press it well and do all the same manipulations until the cakes run out. We do not cover the topmost cake with cream!
8. We remove the cake in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.
9. We take out the cake and that part of the cream that was left for alignment. We remove the ring, if it was. We put the cake on the turntable (if any). If not, take a bowl of soup and turn it upside down. Place a plate or cake base on it. Not the best option, but a little more convenient than tossing it around on the table.

10. Take a spatula and apply the leveling cream with a thin word on the sides of the cake as you like. With a confectionery staple or a sharp knife, we align the sides of the cake. Then we shift the cream into a pastry bag or into a tight bag, cut off a corner and apply the cream with a sausage around the entire circumference of the cake. Put the rest on top.

11. We put the confectionery spatula at the joint to the side of the cake so that it stands as evenly as possible and we lead in a circle until the side becomes even and smooth. Then level the top. I'll add a video from YouTube for clarity.

12. We decorate the cake as you like and put it in the refrigerator to soak for at least 4-5 hours, and preferably at night.

This new recipe was obtained experimentally, and everyone liked the cake without exception! Biscuit based on recent .

Ingredients:

for cakes:

• 300 g gluten-free flour mix (for example, Garnets white, brown bread or all-purpose mix)
• 120 g cane sugar
• 1 sachet of baking powder
• 1 tsp topless soda
• pinch of vanillin
• 2 tbsp carob (or cocoa)
• 310-320 ml water
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp coconut oil (or any unscented vegetable oil)

for cream:

• 500 ml store-bought coconut cream, chilled
• 100-130 g cane sugar or powdered sugar
• vanillin
• 1/2 sachet of cream thickener

for fondant:

• 1 tbsp , or vegetable milk, or water
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2-3 tbsp carob or cocoa

+ chilled boiled water for soaking cakes (several spoons)

+ walnuts (dried in the oven), prunes

Cooking:

We mix the dry ingredients for the cakes and divide into 2 plates, into one of which we add 2 tablespoons of the sifted carob.

Mix the liquid ingredients (if using coconut oil, warm the water slightly). And also divide in half, adding to each plate.

It is important not to extinguish soda with lemon separately. The soda will extinguish as the liquid ingredients are added to the dry ingredients. The reaction must take place within.

When mixing the ingredients, do not stir for a long time, just to mix, otherwise the effect of soda will “disappear” faster (this applies to any biscuit baking). The presence of many bubbles on the surface is a good sign :)

And another important point. If you see the dough is hard to mix, add some water. Gluten-free flour mixes are very different, so watch as you cook. The dough is neither slow nor fast, but flows off the spoon.

We bake for 20-25 minutes at 180 C like this double one or two cakes, light and dark. Let cool completely.

Taking it out of the fridge coconut cream, carefully remove the top thick layer. We do not use the remaining water below. Whipping cream with sugar until thickened, periodically put in the refrigerator or even freezer. If it does not thicken for a long time, add cream thickener (or, alternatively, a spoonful of chia seeds or starch - they will take on excess moisture). But coconut cream thickens faster when it's as chilled as possible.

Soaking prunes in warm water for an hour. Rubim walnuts into small pieces (not small). Let's prepare boiled water for impregnation of cakes, chilled.

We cut the cooled cake into squares and lay it in the first layer, soak them with a little water on top with a spoon so that the cake turns out tender and melts in your mouth.

Between the squares we put walnuts and pieces of prunes.

Cover with cream.

Soak the rest of the squares on a separate bowl. We lay most of them in the second layer. Don't forget the walnuts and prunes. Cover with cream.

We lay the third layer of the remaining squares. You can cut them in half. Don't forget the walnuts and prunes.

Spread the rest of the cream all over the cake.

We mix the ingredients for the glaze, heating if necessary in a water bath. Fudge on top of the cake. And decorate as you wish. We put in the refrigerator for 5-6 hours (or overnight).

If I didn’t have time to photograph the previous cake in a section for the recipe, then I specially caught the moment for this :))

Oh! Came out very nice! And delicious! Everyone appreciated! I hope you enjoy it too. Share your success