Fluffy Chocolate Cake

Can you guess what I'm making?

BigJ was feeling left out. I bake all the time for others, I experiment with gfree baking too, but normally things that I enjoy. All he wanted was a 'normal' chocolate cake. What do you mean by normal? Soft and fluffy, not too rich or dense, not crumbly or dry like a lot of gfree can be. Like a packet mix. 'Normal'. Ooookay then, research time!

I explored a lot of recipes but none of them seemed right. The not too rich bit was proving harder than it sounds. I found a recipe at allrecipes that sounded promising so I changed things around to be user and pantry friendly, and this is what I came up with.

1 1/2 cups of gluten free flour
1 up of cocoa
1 1/2 tsp xanthum gum
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup of butter - remember there is very little lactose in butter, or feel free to use an alternative
3/4 cup of white sugar
3/4 cup of brown sugar
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups of lactose free milk- or your liquid of choice

Make the cake in the usual, time proven, cakey way...
Cream butter and sugars
Add eggs and yolks
I like to pop the 'add ins' now, like the gum, powder,vanilla and soda and give it a good mix
Add in the flour and cocoa bit by bit, alternating with the milk
Give a quick mix, but be careful, the batter is very thick and rubbery, so not too much!

Grease your tin and spoon in the batter. You do need to smooth it down as it is a bit gluggy, but don't worry,it will be alright. I wanted to use my little cake tin, just because it's cute but you could certainly use a larger one if you like.

I bake this in a pre-heated 175* oven for 35 minutes. The batter rose quite high, and sort of souffled up, but settled as it cooled. If you are using a larger tin, I think it would be best to drop the temperature to about 160* and check after about 50-60 minutes. It might take a bit longer as the batter is quite thick. Anyway, when you stick a skewer in the cake, it should come out just a bit moist, not with half the cake batter clinging to it. That means it's pretty right to come out of the oven.
Let this cool in the pan for about 15 minutes to collapse a little and firm up a bit, before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

I actually left this cake out overnight before cutting as this was convienient, but I think it's usually a good idea for the cake to settle a bit and they seem to be less crumby this way too.

I decided to serve the cake with yummy frseh strawberries and some chocolate buttercream frosting. * see my previous post about buttercream frosting for a fantastic recipe *

I sliced the cake into layers and slathered on crushed strawberries - the cake doesn't slip off this way the way it does when you use sliced ones- and piped on the frosting just to keep it even and pretty.

The cake was amazingly light and fluffy as well as being nice and moist. It really did taste 'normal'. When I took my first bite, I nearly spat it out again as it just like a 'real' cake and didn't feel at all familiar to me anymore! Even littlej asked if I was sure this was a gluten free cake.... and didn't beleive me! I think it was a huge success and BigJ even had seconds!

So Reader, what is a 'normal' cake for you?

PS. I am so sorry dear Readers for the tardiness of this post. Extreme hayfever and starting a new job combined for a very hetic, unpleasant week, but I'm back on track again! Thanks for your patience and Tolerance with me.