Cocoa Loco - Fudgey Chocolate-Ginger Cake

I've recently been looking for gluten-free cake/muffin/biscuit recipes. The impression that I have is that, to bake gluten-free, you need to buy lots of exotic flours and ingredients (or a gluten-free baking mix but that would be cheating, wouldn't it?). Considering how rarely I bake (this was my second ever gluten-free baking experiment), I don't really feel like buying all that stuff, and none of the recipes I came across really took my fancy... until I happened to find this exciting cake recipe that uses beans instead of flour: 
http://www.healthyindulgences.net/2009/05/healthy-chocolate-cake-with-secret.html 


I guess that the word "bean" is enough to turn a lot of people off but I can guarantee that there really isn't a hint of bean taste in the end product.


Anyway, instead of using the original recipe, I decided to try to replace the eggs with something else... but what?! I did some research on vegan egg replacements, and decided to try to replace some of the eggs with banana and some of them with agar agar, which I had never used before. I spread the batter between two cake pans, one of which I took out of the oven after 45 minutes, after I had come to the conclusion that the batter wouldn't really solidify (or rise). At that point, the texture was similar to that of Finnish chocolate kissel, and I happily ate it all(!) while it was still hot. I left the other cake pan in the oven for 25 minutes more but the batter still hadn't solidified properly after an hour and ten minutes, and the cake was still as flat as a pancake. I left the cake pan to cool down in room temperature for 20 minutes and, encouraged by the fact that the batter had started solidifying (thanks to the agar agar?!), put it in the fridge for another 20 minutes. After that, the texture was sort of fudgey, and the cake was easy to cut. My camera is broken at the moment so, if you want to get an idea of the texture, please check out the pictures of this cake, whose texture looks very, very similar to mine:
http://www.egglesscooking.com/2012/02/22/gluten-free-flourless-vegan-chocolate-cake-recipe/


The recipe in this post is the recipe for the fudgey cake, which I will definitely make again. I'm now thinking, though, that it might be easier to try to bake gluten- and egg-free biscuits than cakes to get a more "conventional" end result. So, please stay tuned for my upcoming biscuit experiments!


If anyone has any ideas for egg replacements that would result in a crumbly cake rather than a fudgey one, do leave me a comment with your advice :-)


COCOA LOCO


1.8 dl cooked white beans (I soaked 1 dl of white beans, and was left over with some after using 1.8 dl for the recipe)
5 tablespoons agar agar flakes
1 1/2 small ripe bananas
1 1/3 tablespoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil
0.6 dl honey
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda


0. Soak the beans overnight, then cook and drain them.
1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
2. Grease two 15-cm round cake pans (or one cake pan with the same total area) with coconut oil, and dust cocoa over the inside of the pans.
3. Mash the bananas using a spoon.
4. Place the beans, the mashed bananas, the ginger and the salt into a blender, and blend until smooth.
5. Whish together the cocoa powder, the baking soda and the baking powder.
6. Beat the coconut oil with the honey until light and fluffy.
7. Pour the bean batter into the coconut oil/honey mixture and mix well.
8. Mix the agar agar flakes with a little bit of water (I started with just 8 tablespoons) and boil for about five minutes, stirring constantly (keep adding water until there is enough for the agar agar flakes to melt).
9. Add the agar agar mix in the batter and mix well.
10. Stir in the cocoa powder/baking soda/baking powder mixture, and beat until smooth.
11. Pour the batter into the cake pans and smooth the tops.
12. Bake for 1 h 10 min.
13. Allow to cool down in room temperature for 20 minutes.
14. Put in the fridge for 20 minutes.
15. Enjoy!


Annika

Milletary Pancake II – Savoury Millet Pancake with Rosemary & Olives

I liked last Sunday’s millet pancake so much that I decided to make it with another typical combination of Italian tastes – rosemary and olives – today. Please also notice the increased size of the pancake...

MILLETARY PANCAKE II

6 dl of water
3 dl of millet
3 eggs
3 dl of coarsely chopped olives with a strong taste (e.g. kalamata olives)
2 cloves of garlic

1 dl of finely chopped white onion
about 3 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh rosemary
gluten-free bouillon powder
extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground pepper
(sea salt)

1. Rinse the millet well.

2. Chop the garlic, the onions and and the rosemary finely.

3. Over low heat, warm a bit of olive oil in a pot, and cook the garlic and onions in it for a few minutes without browning them.

4. Add the rosemary, and cook for another minute.

5. Add the water, the bouillon powder and – should you so wish – a pinch of salt, and bring to a simmer.

6. Stir in the millet, cover the pot, and adjust the heat to low. Let the millet cook undisturbed for about 25 minutes, until it’s tender and has absorbed all the water.

7. While the millet is cooking, stone the olives and chop them coarsely.

8. Remove the millet from the heat and let it stand for about 10 minutes.

9. Beat the eggs, add half of the cooked millet, and use a stick blender to blend the ingredients into a thick puree.

10. Mix the millet-egg puree, the olives and freshly ground pepper carefully.

11. On a baking tray covered with baking paper, use a spatula and/or your hands to form a flat cake out of the mixture.

12. Bake in a pre-heated (220 degrees Celsius) oven for 10-15 minutes.

13. Enjoy hot or cold! Please notice that it's less likely to crumble when it's cooled down a bit.

Annika

Milletary Pancake I – Savoury Millet Pancake with Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Rosemary

The idea for a millet pancake originates from the time I used to go to the health food store close to my old flat; they often had home-made stuff on offer, and I once tried – and fell in love with – their millet cakes. So, this weekend, I started hunting for millet cake recipies. The recipe below is the healthiest possible combination of the recipies I found (especially in that I decided to bake the pancake in the oven, instead of frying it). I called mine a pancake because it’s one large cake instead of several little ones.

MILLETARY PANCAKE I

4 dl of water
2 dl of millet
2 eggs
50 grams of sun-dried tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
about 2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh rosemary
gluten-free bouillon powder
extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground pepper
(sea salt)

1. Place the sundried tomatoes in warm water for half an hour to reconstitute them.

2. Rinse the millet well.

3. Chop the garlic and the rosemary finely.

4. Over low heat, warm a bit of olive oil in a pot, and cook the garlic in it for a few minutes without browning it.

5. Add the rosemary, and cook for another minute.

6. Add the water, the bouillon powder and the salt, and bring to a simmer. Please notice that you don’t necessarily have to add any extra salt, as sun-dried tomatoes are very salty. I did but I won’t next time.

7. Stir in the millet, cover the pot, and adjust the heat to low. Let the millet cook undisturbed for about 25 minutes, until it’s tender and has absorbed all the water.

8. While the millet is cooking, drain the sun-dried tomatoes and chop them coarsely. (Don’t throw away the water you used to reconstitute the tomatoes; you can use it to add taste to a soup or something.)

9. Remove the millet from the heat and let it stand for about 10 minutes.

10. Beat the eggs, add half of the cooked millet, and use a stick blender to blend it all into a thick puree.

11. Mix the millet-egg puree, the sun-dried tomatoes and freshly ground pepper carefully.

12. On a baking tray covered with baking paper, make a round, flat cake (with a diameter of about 28 cm) out of the mixture using a spatula and/or your hands.

13. Bake in a pre-heated (220 degrees Celsius) oven for 10-15 minutes.

14. Enjoy hot - or cold if you manage to stop eating it while it's still hot. I didn't.

Annika