A friend had shared a post on Facebook from the Stay at Home Chef for The Most Amazing Chocolate Cake it looked so good I simply had to convert it to gluten free. I had a few problems with the icing, not with the cake, to start with and ended up making Amazing Chocolate Cupcakes for trial runs before making this delicious cake with icing that works (& it tastes so good).
Seriously, this cake is truly superb.
The photo was taken amongst my Violets, they are brilliant at this time of year. The scent is truly wonderful.
Although the cake is 3 tiers I have put the ingredient amounts for 1 tier as I can imagine that some people may not have 3 cake tins the same size or an oven that will bake the 3 cakes at the same time. It's a bonus if you can bake 3 cakes at once or have 3 cake tins.
This recipe was designed specifically to be made with Bakers' Magic gluten free flour. The finished baked product will not be the same if you use another gluten free flour and you will need to adjust the recipe, particularly if the flour you're using contains rice flour.
Ingredients
Dry ingredients x 3
150 g Bakers' Magic gluten free flour
200 g Caster sugar
60 g Cocoa (I used rich dark cocoa)
1 tsp Bicarb of soda
1/2 tsp Baking powder
3/4 tsp Salt
Wet ingredients x3
150 g Buttermilk
150 g Warm water
1 egg
110 g Oil (I use rice bran oil)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
Buttermilk - I have made these with soured milk instead of buttermilk. Add 5 g of vinegar to 145 g of full cream milk.
Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing
500 g Cream cheese (softened)
250 g Butter (softened)
500 g Icing sugar
120 g Cocoa
Vanilla extract (optional)
Method
Turn oven on to 170 C.
Grease a 20 cm round cake tin(s).
Mix together the dry ingredients in a stand mixer bowl. I usually blitz them together first using a food processor.
Whisk together the wet ingredients.
With the mixer going at low-medium speed pour about half of the wet ingredients on to the dry ingredients. Continue mixing until most of the dry ingredients are incorporated. Add in the remaining wet ingredients & gently mix until the batter is uniform.
Pour batter into the greased cake tin.
Transfer to the oven & bake for 35 - 40 mins. The length of time will depend on your oven. Bring out of the oven & allow to cool for 15 mins before turning out of the pan.
Make another 2 cakes.
Ensure the cakes are completely cool before icing them.
Icing
Before starting the icing I usually blitz the sugar in a food processor to get rid of any lumps.
Beat the cream cheese & butter together until smooth.
Beat in the cocoa until the mix is uniform. Optional - Add in some vanilla extract.
Beat in ~ 1/3 of the icing sugar. Stop the mixer & scrape down the sides from time to time. Add in another 1/3 of the icing sugar, again scrape down the sides from time to time. When the sugar is incorporated add in the remaining icing sugar & continue beating until you have a smooth icing.
Assembling the cake
Transfer one of the cakes to a serving plate. Put enough icing on this cake to cover the top. Repeat with the remaining cakes.
Use the remaining chocolate cream cheese icing to cover the cake.
Simply enjoy!
