United Cakes of America

Over the last few days we have been making Panini sandwiches out of whatever meat is cooked in the house, layering it with sautéed onion and red pepper, turkey bacon and havarti cheese.  Last night, we killed the batch of cookies that was made on Saturday so we cracked open our brand new cookbook and DD#1 chose the cake we baked.

Last month we were blessed to have a long time friend come and visit us during her summer vacation from work.  She stayed just a short 18 hours, but when she arrived, she bestowed upon us this treasure trove of yummy cakes from all across the USA.

Now, when I’ve watched Warren Brown on Food TV, he always bugs me because his hair is a bit floppy in his eyes.  I keep wanting to tell him he needs to cut it or grow it out and pull it back like a grown man.  But this quirky man knows cake.

Our first cake from this book is from Page #32 The Massachusetts Chocolate Chip Cake.  There is a whole story about how this cake came to be in the book, and how Warren went about creating the recipe, but to get that info you will have to buy the book.  I will tell you how we made it last night and how it ended up 1/2 gone tonight!

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cake (Adapted from Warren Brown’s Recipe)

Wet Ingredients

1/4 C Milk

2 t Vanilla Extract

Dry Ingredients

10 oz White Rice Flour (All Purpose Flour)

1 t Xanthan Gum (No Necessary in Non GF baking)

1 t Baking Powder

1/2 t Salt

4 oz Chocolate Chips

Creaming Ingredients

3 oz Unsalted Butter

2 oz Vegetable Shortening

10 oz Superfine Granulated Sugar

1 Whole Large Egg

1 Large Egg Yolk

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 335 and place the rack in the middle position. Line the bottom of 2 9″ round pan with parchment.

2. Combine the wet ingredients in a bowl;  combine the dry ingredients except the chocolate chips in a separate bowl. Set aside.

3. Using a flexible spatula, toss 2 tablespoons of the wet ingredients with the chocolate chips in a small bowl.  Add 1/4 cup of dry ingredients.  Toss again to coat evenly.

4. Mix the butter, shortening, and sugars in the bowl of a standing mixer with the paddle attachment until the combination is well creamed, about 3 minutes.

5. Add the egg and yolk one at a time.

6. Alternately add the dry and wet mixtures about a quarter at a time without pausing between additions.

7. Add the chocolate chips.

8. Divide the dough between the two pans.  It will be thick like cookie dough.  Spread it out until just about the edge of the pan, but not all the way because it will spread like cookies do when baking.

Bake for 20-24 minutes.

(A few notes here: We put all of this batch into 1 9″ round pan because it just didn’t seem to be right.  Looking back on it, that could be because we were doing a GF recipe and not a wheat recipe.  You judge.  The book says it yields One 9 inch Layer Cake.  I would assume that means 2 layers.  Also, when we baked the cake it took about an hour.  Rice Flour need that long to bake in just about any recipe we’ve ever made.  I took the temperature when it looked done and pulled it out at 200 degrees.  Any lower than that and the cake would have been under cooked.)

Cool the cakes in the pans to room temperature before removing.

We frosted the cake with canned Chocolate Frosting.  The book says to make cooked chocolate frosting from scratch, but honestly, at 9:30 at night, I’m not cooking frosting.

When we sliced the cake, my son’s friend suggested we nuke it for 10 seconds to warm it just slightly.  It was gooey,chocolatey and definitely needed a big glass of milk.

Thanks Erin!