Printfriendly

Monday 16 November 2015

Free From Cocoa Cake

Recipe Based on Not Quite Nigella: LINK

I recently made some BanBan Bread, and felt there was something missing. Not with the bake; the cake was a trusted one, and didn't fail to deliver. No, the disappointment came from another source. When I make banana cake, my Scottish colleague would often come up to me and say, after an appreciative and perfectly timed pause, 'that banana bread'. It was something I came to expect as part and parcel with me making this type of cake.

When my most favourite comment was not forthcoming, I went to seek it out, and demand its presence. It turns out that the comment's owner had recently changed his lifestyle and was cutting out lactose and gluten. Well! This put a spanner in the works. I live off droplets of perceived praise, and I couldn't let a reliable source run dry. I immediately started researching gluten free, lactose free recipes. I stumbled across a couple, however rather than being flourless, they tended to use gluten free flours. I am currently reluctant to invest in them, mainly because I am reluctant to go to a shop in the opposite direction from my home.

One glorious day, an email came into my inbox with a powerful headline. I was ordered to make this cake. a gluten free, dairy and lactose free, nut free, and most shockingly, chocolate free cake! The base of the cake was quinoa, Surprise!

Now I know very little about quinoa. I can identify it, I know its texture, but not much else. I managed to eventually locate it in the supermarket, prepared it the day before so it was nice and cold, and off I went. Into Egg Oblivion, where I did not realise I was one egg short. I decided to freestyle, and replace an egg with a mashed banana, as I was too far gone to turn back.

Now it could be the egg substitution, it could be the fact it had only cooled for 1 hour, but the poor bundt collapsed upon turning it out of its tin. After all that effort, I wasn't giving up, so I hastily transferred the cake pieces to cupcake cases, topped them with the coconut cream icing to make puddings.

Puddin's
Now even though the cake did not turn out as I expected, I loved the ease of it, and I genuinely liked the flavour and unusual texture. So much so, I will try it again when I can devote three evenings to its creation.


No comments:

Post a Comment