Internet Chocolate Cake

Dark, chocolatey, dense and easy to make. We took this cake (the frosted one below) to a dinner party and people raved. They didn't care that it was gluten free and loved every bite.

The provenance of this cake is lost, at least by us. We got it "somewhere on the internet", hence the title for this cake. Maybe you know its origin, and in that case please let us know and we'll give proper credit. According to the author's notes, this was his girlfriend's [non gluten-free] recipe. The author just substituted gluten free flour and xanthan gum. We prefer to use guar gum in cake recipes based on the lead from Analise Roberts.

The gluten free cake recipe is similar to conventional wheat based recipes for a boiling water cake. Two similar ones (non gluten free) can be found in About.Com or All Recipes, although the All Recipes version is much richer with twice as many eggs and butter. The About.Com recipe uses more sugar and less cocoa by proportion. The bottom line is that you can very likely tune up the recipe to meet your taste.

If you wish, you can frost the cake with a poured chocolate frosting and a filling in the middle. The recipe for the frosting/filling is also included.

Store unused cake in the refrigerator. Refresh slices by placing them in the microwave on high for 10 seconds. Cake will be slightly warm and the filling on the inside will become soft. Frosting on the top will not be melted.

You may also be interested in looking at the sour cream chocolate cake recipe as well; however, it is a very different cake - much lighter in texture and flavor. This one is high octane chocolate!

Notes on variations:

• Frosting is optional. It really doesn't need any. However, we took the cake to a dinner party and wanted a frosted cake for the occasion. You could also put a paper doily over the top and then sift confectioners sugar over the doily. Remove doily and you will have a pretty pattern on the cake.
• Instead of boiling water you can use boiling coffee, including instant coffee. Or not all of your liquid needs to be coffee.
• You can use 1 cup of very hot milk and 1 cup of boiling water (or coffee). (or brandy if you like)
• You can also change the order of assembling the ingredients by following the cake making directions in All Recipes. They are a bit more complicated.
• The cocoa can be conventional cocoa, Hershey's special dark cocoa or a combination of light and dark cocoa. You can use up to 50% ebony cocoa from King Arthur Flour's Baker's Catalogue.
• Instead of butter you can use an Earth Balance Vegan stick. Check the ingredient list. We are finishing an older box of Hershey's special dark.The newer ones may now contain wheat.
• You can add 1/3 - 1/2 cup of chopped up 70% cacao chocolate bars to the batter just before you pour it into the pan. Alternatively, you could use Ghiradelli 60% cacao chocolate chips that are chopped. Lower quality chocolate chips, such as Nestle, Safeway, or Trader Joe's, should be avoided as it will degrade the quality of the cake. We used a mix of milk and bittersweet chocolate blocks, chopped up in chunks, not finely diced.
• You can use 3/4 cup of white sugar and 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar for a hint of caramel.
• If you don't have guar gum, use xanthan gum. Xanthan gum is stretchy but guar gum is springy.
• Salt is optional if you use salted butter instead of unsalted butter.
• You can cut the recipe in half to make one cake. You can also make the batter as cupcakes.

Makes one 9" X 13" X 2" cake or two 9" diameter cakes or 2 8" X 8" cakes. Grease the pans, or optionally, grease and apply parchment paper to the bottom. If you wish, you can dust the greased pan with cocoa to enhance release. Preheat oven to 350° F.

• Put the first four ingredients into the work bowl of an electric mixer and blend with a whisk until the flours are fully blended - flour, sugar, cocoa and guar gum.
• Add butter (cut into slices), baking powder and baking soda and blend with the electric mixer.
• Stop the mixer and pour in the boiling water, coffee and/or very hot milk. Beat for 3 minutes and then allow to cool until the bowl is comfortably warm but not too hot to touch. (You don't want to cook the eggs.
• Re-start the beater and add the two eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla extract. If you chose to add salt, this is the time to do it. Beat for three minutes on medium.
• Add the optional chopped chocolate and just mix with the electric mixer for 15 - 30 seconds.
• Spoon the batter into the cake pans.
• Bake at 350° for about 35 minutes for a rectangular cake or 30 to 35 minutes for layers. A stainless steel cake tester inserted in center should come out clean (but may have melted bits of chocolate if you added the optional chocolate). Cool for 10 minutes in pan on rack then remove from pan and cool completely.

Frosts one top and fills one layer.

• Cut cake in half to create two layers. Set these aside
• Melt chocolate and butter in a non-stick sauce pan over low heat, stir frequently.
• When melted, add the sugar and stir almost continuously to blend.
• Add the milk and cocoa. Blend continuously.
• Add the vanilla extract.
• If the frosting is not thin enough to pour, add milk by the tablespoon full.
• Apply frosting/filling to the top of the lowest layer. Use a bit less than a third.
• Place the two layers together.
• Pour the frosting onto the top layer, quickly smoothing it.

Our resident critic, Youngest Daughter, took her first bite last night, and nearly swooned. OMG was her expression. Vic has designated me as the question answerer this time. so bring them on. i stand ready.

-hallie