Gluten Free Chocolate Fudge Cake

Are you ready for this chocolate cake? Deep, rich and intensely chocolatey, this gluten free chocolate fudge cake is for the chocolate lovers who live among us. I took a rework of an (apparently) fabled Wellesley Fudge Cake (that I had never before heard of), and made the cake, well, a deeper chocolate experience. The frosting? Well it’s spreadable chocolate frosting perfection. That’s just what it is.

As soon as I saw those swirls, I knew exactly how the frosting would taste—as I had tasted it in my dreams. Even the best buttercream frosting (chocolate or not) just isn’t going to sparkle and shine like that. Like everyone else, I consider buttercream frostings to be essential to cake-making, but I’m always hoping they’re not going to be tooth-achingly sweet in that too-much-confectioners’-sugar sort of way. If you get the consistency just right, you can of course spread buttercream frosting. But not like this.

C’mon now.

This is the sort of frosting that you simply must sample with a spoon. If you find that you have chilled it for a bit too long, just let it settle at room temperature for a bit in the bowl. The frosting is ready when you can stir it thickly with a spoon. Needless to say, this is my go-to chocolate frosting from now until the end of time. The method is simple, and the results are truly spectacular. This is the gluten free chocolate fudge cake for the ages. Write it out on an index card and pass it off as your own. I won’t tell, and you’ll be famous for it!

Prep time: 20 minutes       Cook time: 25 minutes       Yield: 10 to 12 servings

Ingredients

Cakes
12 tablespoons (168 g) unsalted butter, chopped

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

2 1/2 cups (350 g) all purpose gluten free flour (I used Better Batter)

1 1/4 teaspoons xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup (40 g) unsweetened cocoa powder (I have used both Dutch-processed and natural cocoa powders—both work fine)

1 1/2 cups (300 g) granulated sugar

2 eggs (120 g, weighed out of shell) + 1 egg yolk at room temperature, beaten

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups (14 fluid ounces) buttermilk, at room temperature (try souring some almond milk if you need dairy-free)

Fudge Frosting
3 1/2 cups (400 g) confectioners’ sugar

1/2 cup (40 g) unsweetened cocoa powder (I have used both Dutch-processed and natural cocoa powders—both work fine but I much prefer the Dutch-processed)

8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups (327 g) packed light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup whole milk

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

• First make the cakes. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease well two 8-inch square pans and set them aside.

• Place the chopped butter and chopped unsweetened chocolate in a medium-sized heat-safe bowl on top of a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan that contains a small amount of simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the surface of the water. Allow the water to simmer, stirring the chocolate and butter occasionally, until the mixture is melted and smooth. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and set aside to cool briefly.

• In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder. Set the bowl of dry ingredients aside. To the bowl of melted chocolate and butter, add the sugar, eggs and egg yolk and vanilla, mixing to combine after each addition. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and add the buttermilk and then the chocolate and butter mixture, and mix to combine. The cake batter should be thick and glossy. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans, and smooth the tops with a wet spatula. Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake, rotating once during baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out with no more than a few moist crumbs attached (about 25 minutes). Remove from the oven and allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.

• While the cakes are cooling, make the frosting. Sift the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder into a medium-sized bowl, and set it aside. In a medium-sized, heavy-bottomed saucepan, place the butter, brown sugar, salt and milk, and whisk occasionally over medium heat until it reaches a simmer. Continue to cook, whisking occasionally, until the mixture has begun to reduce (about 4 minutes). Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate and vanilla. Whisk until the chocolate is melted. Add the sifted confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder, and whisk until combined. The frosting will be pourable. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the frosting (to prevent it from forming a skin), and refrigerate until it has begun to thicken and is spreadable (about 20 minutes).

• Assemble the cake. Once the frosting has reached the proper spreadable consistency, place one overturned cake layer on a flat surface and cover the top and sides of the cake generously with frosting. Top with the second inverted cake layer, and frost the rest of the cake. Allow to set at room temperature or in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Slice thickly.

• Adapted from the Siftingfocus.com Wellesley Fudge Cake.

Gluten Free Phyllo Dough (Fillo) and Spanakopita

Gluten free phyllo dough. It’s here it’s here it’s finally here. You have been asking and asking, and I have been testing, avoiding, testing more. And wringing hands and gnashing teeth. You wanted to make gluten free baklava (me too!) and spanakopita (count me in!). Your mother in law wants to make her beloved son all of his favorites for the holidays, and nothing else will do. No pressure, though, right?!

After all that, it’s really not so hard at all. Go figure! But once you’ve made gluten free flour tortillas, fresh gluten free won ton wrappers, fresh gluten free tortellini and only the very best thick crust gluten free pizza in the world, I guess I should have known that gluten free phyllo (fillo?) dough was totally doable. As you might imagine, it really is best if you read through the directions at least once alllllll the way through before you start making and rolling and baking. Part of the secret, though? Your first run at the dough, you won’t attempt to roll it as paper thin as you will make it in the end when you use it.

Because it’s no fun to make phyllo dough unless you can envision all that you can do with it, I’ve included a recipe for gluten free spanakopita. If you’ve been waiting and waiting for the recipe for this thinnest of Greek pastry doughs, you probably already have your own Very Best Way to make things like spanakopita. By all means, use your favorite filling instead of mine! But do read through the spanakopita directions here and use my methods for handling the dough.

And although homemade phyllo dough isn’t going to be as machine-thin as, well, phyllo made by machine, it still bakes up light and buttery and flaky thin. Just like you remember. Because in case I haven’t mentioned it before, if they can make it with gluten, we can make it without. And that’s a promise. If you miss it, we’ll bring it back. Just you wait and see!!

Prep time: 30 minutes       Cook time: 20 minutes       Yield: 15 sheets phyllo dough

Ingredients

Phyllo (Fillo) Dough
3 1/2 cups (490 g) all-purpose gluten-free flour, plus more for sprinkling (I used Better Batter)

3/4 cup (85 g) Expandex modified tapioca starch*

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup (56 g) extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 1 medium lemon)

1 1/2 cups (12 ounces/12 fluid ounces) lukewarm water

*For information on where to find Expandex, please see the Resources page. For information on how to replace Expandex with Ultratex 3, readily available in most countries outside the United States, in the gluten free bread recipes in GFOAS Bakes Bread, scroll to #6 in Resources. I have not yet tested Ultratex 3 in this recipe, but I would recommend trying a mix of 547 grams all purpose gluten free flour + 28 grams Ultratex 3 in place of the blend above. Ultratex 3 is at least 3 times as strong as Expandex. To make this recipe without Expandex or Ultratex 3, you can try replacing it with more all purpose gluten free flour, but you’ll have to experiment as I haven’t tried it!

Spanakopita
1 tablespoon (14 g) extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium shallot, peeled and diced

16-ounces fresh spinach (or frozen whole leaf spinach, defrosted)

4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

1 large egg, at room temperature

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Phyllo dough

2 to 4 tablespoons (28 to 56 g) unsalted butter, melted

Directions

• Make the phyllo dough. In a large bowl, place the all-purpose flour, Expandex and salt, and whisk to combine. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the olive oil, lemon juice and water, and mix to combine. The dough will come together and be thick. Press together into a ball, cover with a moist tea towel, and allow to sit for about 20 minutes. The dough will stiffen a bit as it absorbs more of the water.

• Pull off golf ball-sized pieces (about 3 ounces by weight) of the dough, and press into a disk with your fingers. Place the dough on a clean, flat surface and roll into a rough rectangle about 8-inches long. Sprinkle lightly with flour, and roll into a rectangle about 12-inches x 10-inches. Using a sharp knife, pizza wheel or pastry cutter, trim the rough edges of the rectangle into a neat rectangle that is about 10-inches x 8-inches. Dust both sides of the dough generously with more flour, and set aside on a piece of parchment paper. Gather the scraps and return them to the remaining dough. Repeat with the rest of the dough, layering the pieces of rolled-out dough on top of one another, each dusted generously with flour to prevent sticking. The dough can be frozen for later use, then thawed at room temperature before using.

• Make the spanakopita. In a heavy-bottom saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the diced shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent (about 4 minutes). Remove the cooked shallots from the pan and set aside. Add the fresh spinach, and cook, stirring occasionally, until wilted. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Once cool, place the spinach in a clean tea towel or strong paper towels and wring out until all water has been removed. Chop the cooked, dry spinach roughly, and place in the medium-sized bowl with the cooked shallots, feta cheese, egg, salt and pepper, and mix to combine. Set the filling aside.

• Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper and set it aside.

• Place 1 sheet of fresh phyllo dough on a lightly floured surface, with the short side of the rectangle facing you. Sprinkle lightly with more flour, and using a sharp knife, pastry wheel or pizza cutter, cut the rectangle in half lengthwise so you have two equal rectangles, each about 10-inches x 4 inches. Separate the rectangles and roll each away from you so that it is about 11-inches x 4-inches (or as long as you can make it without the dough tearing). The dough should be nearly translucent. Brush each rectangle generously with melted butter. About 1/2-inch from the bottom of each rectangle, place about 1 tablespoon of filling. Pull one of the bottom corners of the rectangle of dough up over the filling on an angle (toward the opposite side of the dough) to make a triangle. Brush the top of the triangle with more melted butter, and fold it over on itself again toward the other side of the dough rectangle (see photos). Brush again with melted butter, and continue to fold the dough, brushing with melted butter each time, until you reach the top of the rectangle. Repeat with the other piece of dough, and then more sheets of phyllo dough and filling. Place the spanakopita on the prepared baking sheet, about 1-inch apart from one another.Place the baking sheet in the center of the preheated oven and bake until lightly golden brown all over (about 20 minutes). Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

• Adapted from Dima Sharif, as requested by readers many times over!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Donut Muffins

I was all set to finalize another D.I.Y. Friday post for you today, but it’s Halloween and I just couldn’t pull the trigger. It’s not that it isn’t a great D.I.Y. (it is!) but it’ll keep until next week because it was just too … savory for day-of-Halloween itself. You feel me? These gluten free pumpkin donut muffins are ridiculously easy (you don’t even have to remember to set the butter out to soften, since, well, they’re made with oil!) that you could even whip up a batch while everyone else is out trick-or-treating, even though you’re home manning the door and deciding which children seem so sweet that you’re gonna slip them extra candy. No fancy ingredients, no fancy equipment (a bowl and a spoon!), no special donut pan. *Boom*

And in case you were wondering, the answer is yes: that simple coating of pumpkin-spice-sugar on the outside even gives them that special donut feel. That’s what puts them right over the edge.

Because the batter is made with oil, not butter, it’s thick and glossy. You really do need 3 eggs, too, since that’s what keeps the donut muffins from being dense.

Because every single holiday, no matter how small, must be celebrated in my gluten free son’s grammar school with food food and more food, these d0nut muffins were packed into his bag today—along with a version of these super cute, super easy Witch Hat Cookies (I’ll show you on Facebook later!). He was very pleased. Another school food challenge met!

Prep time: 10 minutes       Cook time: 15 minutes       Yield: 30 mini muffins

Ingredients

Muffins
1 1/2 cups (210 g) all purpose gluten free flour (I used Better Batter)

3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)

1/4 cup (36 g) cornstarch (or try arrowroot or potato starch)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice*

1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar

6 tablespoons (84 g) canola oil (or another neutral oil, like grapeseed oil)

3 eggs (180 g, weighed out of shell) at room temperature, beaten

4 ounces pumpkin butter (homemade or store bought—for homemade follow the link!), at room temperature

1/2 cup (4 fluid ounces) milk (any kind, just not nonfat), at room temperature

Topping
1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice*

2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter, melted (for dairy-free, use your favorite dairy-free butter replacement, melted)

*To make your own pumpkin pie spice, combine 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon + 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger + 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves + 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg.

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease well a standard miniature 24-cup muffin tin and set it aside (you can also use a standard 12-cup muffin tin).

• Make the muffins. In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and granulated sugar, and whisk to combine well. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the canola oil, eggs, pumpkin butter and milk, mixing to combine after each addition. The batter should be thick and glossy. Fill the prepared cups of the muffin tin about 3/4 of the way full, and shake the pan back and forth to evenly distribute the batter in each well. Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake for about 15 minutes, or until the tops spring back when pressed gently (longer for a standard 12-cup muffin tin). Allow to cool in the baking pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining batter.

• To make the topping, place the granulated sugar and pumpkin pie spice in a small bowl. Brush the tops of the cooled muffins generously with the melted butter, then press the tops into the sugar mixture to coat. Turn the muffins right-side up and serve.

• Adapted from Smells Like Home and from my recipe for Pumpkin Donuts, reader-selected from my Must Make Gluten Free Pinterest Board.

The impact of numerology over the names

Whenever an infant is born into a family, it’s a norm to first assess him/her with a name. The name of a person is just not a word to be referred to them but actually is the definition, a description of their personality and the briefing of their traits. It should be made very sure that while naming a person all the necessary measures are taken care of. They say that labeling of a product is done properly to define the quality of that product. The same theory can be applied upon assessing names to the young ones too. The better the name the more illustrative would be the definition.

 

While a lot of people who believe in ancestry, name their children on the basis of their legacy or the family trees, while others who believe in Numerology have different opinions. The people who believe in numerology work and practice a lot with numbers before naming their kids. In numerology each letter of your name is said to have an individual corresponding number. Cornerstone is said to be the first letter in your name while capstone is said to be the last one. Under Numerology the first vowel is also given sheer importance, as it is said to fulfill all your urges and dreams in life. Each and every letter in this section has a meaning of its own and preparing a name with all those combine meaningful letters will eventually make out the best desired result. The sum of the numbers in your birth date and the sum of numbers you make out while naming a person displays a great deal in the character, the future, the strengths and the weakness of an individual. Numerology helps in standing and fighting against all these weaknesses and odds. Believers say that numerology make you achieve whatever you want in life, and not just infants, a lot of people change their names in the later stages of their life too after realizing the problems they are suffering in their lives and in order to fight against them. This concept of Numerology was initially brought up by the Babylonians but gradually everyone started practicing it and eventually it became so popular and effective that now it is practiced across almost all over the world. There might be no scientific proofs about the authenticity of these numerology charts, but people still have faith in ample numbers about the relationship of words and numbers.

 

People also believe that in Numerology the on goings and the redemption is based upon three major factors; the date of birth, the name given to you on your birth and the name you use currently. The third factor can well be managed according to the needs and necessary requirements by the Numerology charts. There are ways to work over your names even if you’re a grown up in order to get over the grey shades you are going through in your personal lives. So everyone needs to go through that Numerology chart while assessing their young ones with new names.

 

Browse through name meaning, rankings, other people's comments, ratings, and other statistics in addition to the name meanings.

 

Gluten Free Browned Butter Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

I can’t wait to tell you all about these gluten free chocolate chip cookies made (again) with browned butter and stuffed in genius fashion with Nutella hazelnut spread (I can say that because this recipe was not my idea). They’re crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, then soft and velvety in the very center. Before we go on, I thought we could talk about the cooking and baking I do generally. You game?

I do four, maybe five, types of cooking and baking. They are (in no particular order): 1. Recipe-testing for a book (painstaking, repetitive, failure-failure-success-success-success). 2. Recipe-testing for the blog (painstaking, repetitive, failure-failure-success). 3. Successful straight-up everyday cooking and baking for family and friends eating (dinner success!). 4.Unsuccessful straight-up everyday cooking and baking for family (dinner failure *whomp whomp whomp* where first I try to pretend that it wasn’t a failure and then I come around and want to cry). I think there might be a 5th type but for the life of me I can’t recall. Anyway when it’s recipe-testing of the the Type 2 variety (recipe-testing for the blog), I find that I can be pretty heavily influenced by how beautiful the food turns out. I’m testing it, baking it, then styling and shooting it all myself, and the styling and shooting are infinitely easier when I can adapt a recipe from someone else and even borrow (*ahem*) some of the food styling (with credit of course). So you can see why I am so in love with my Must Make Gluten Free Pinterest Board, which not only gives me a window into your food soul (you vote!), but gives me a bit of a head start in all things for the blog. And believe me I am not complaining because busy is good for my soul, and hustling is a natural state for me, but with freelance work here and there and writing cookbooks (my heart and soul) that demand rigorous testing and retesting (and more retesting), a head start in blog recipes is a beautiful thing.

Chocolate chip cookies do tend to be relatively beautiful … when they are stuffed with something deep and rich-looking like Nutella hazelnut spread. Oh, and we’re back to browning butter. If you just don’t want to brown butter, you could try just using it straight-up—although you most likely wouldn’t need the 2 tablespoons of milk in the ingredient list as they are there mostly to balance out the moisture that is lost in browning the butter.

Be sure to follow the instructions carefully for how to prepare the Nutella. I swung and missed 3 times before I got it right. If your Nutella is at all stiff when you scoop it out of the jar (which mine always seems to be in some pockets in the jar), you must heat it slightly so that it can be stirred. If you can’t stir it, you can’t pipe it into cut little mounds that you’ll then freeze on a baking sheet. And if you can’t pipe it into mounds that you’ll freeze, you’ll drive yourself mad trying to use it to stuff these simple-but-glorious chocolate chip cookies.

A few more baking notes:

• Read the directions carefully, paying particular attention to the consistency of the dough. It should be thick but soft, which will make quick work of stuffing and closing the cookies.
• Resist the urge to add more chips (or chunkier chips). Trust me. That will make shaping the dough nearly impossible—and overload the cookies with too-much-of-a-good-thing.
• If you don’t want to brown the butter, remember the note above about how I recommend you experiment with replacing it with regular unsalted butter.
• If you are dairy-free, you can try replacing the butter with butter-flavored Spectrum nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening—but you will likely need the milk even though you won’t be browning the fat, as shortening lacks the moisture of butter.

Prep time: 15 minutes       Cook time: 13 minutes       Yield: 20 cookies

Ingredients

About 1/2 cup Nutella hazelnut spread

12 tablespoons (168 g) unsalted butter, chopped

2 cups (280 g) all purpose gluten free flour (I used Better Batter)

1 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar

3/4 cup (164 g) packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 egg (60 g, weighed out of shell) + 1 egg yolk at room temperature, beaten

2 tablespoons milk at room temperature, plus more by the half-teaspoonful

Coarse salt, for sprinkling

Directions

• First, prepare the Nutella filling. Line a rimmed baking sheet with waxed or parchment paper, and set it aside. If the Nutella seems at all gloppy, place it in a small heat-safe bowl, and warm it in the microwave for 10 seconds or just until you can stir it easily. Transfer it to a pastry bag or sturdy zip-top bag, and snip off the end or corner. Pipe the Nutella onto the prepared baking sheet in small mounds, each about 1 teaspoonful. You will need 20. Place the baking sheet in the freezer until the Nutella is firm (about 15 minutes or up to a few days ahead of time).

• While the Nutella is chilling, brown the butter. Place the butter in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. First, the butter will melt, and then it will boil and foam. Continue to stir, and watch carefully. The protein solids will separate and drop to the bottom of the pan. As soon as you begin to smell a nutty smell and begin to see a golden brown color start forming around the edges of the saucepan, remove the pan from the heat and continue to stir. Once the bubbles clear, you will be able to see whether the protein has begun to brown. If not, return to the heat briefly, stirring constantly and remove once the butter has begun to brown. Continue to stir, as it will continue to brown off the heat. Pour the brown butter into a large, heat-safe bowl and set it aside to cool until no longer hot to the touch.

• Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line rimmed baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper and set them aside.

• Make the cookie dough. In a medium-size bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, salt and baking soda, and whisk to combine well. Transfer about 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients to a separate small bowl, and place the chocolate chips in the bowl. Toss to coat the chips in the dry ingredients, and set the two bowls aside. Once the browned butter has cooled, whisk to loosen it and evenly distribute the browned bits through the butter. Add the granulated sugar, light brown sugar, vanilla and eggs, mixing to combine after each addition. Add the dry ingredients, and mix to combine. The dough will be thick. Add the chocolate chips and reserved dry ingredients, and mix until the chips are evenly distributed throughout the dough. Add the milk, and mix to combine. The dough should be thick but soft. If it is at all crumbly or hard to stir, add more milk by the half-teaspoonful until the dough has reached the proper consistency.

• Shape and bake the cookies. Divide the cookie dough into 20 equal pieces, each about 50 grams in weight. Roll each piece of dough into a ball, make a deep indentation in the center and place 2 inches apart from one another on the prepared baking sheets. Remove the portioned Nutella from the freezer and place one in the indentation in each piece of dough. Working quickly so the Nutella does not defrost (which will happen fast), wrap the cookie dough over the Nutella to enclose it, press the filled piece of dough into a disk about 1/2-inch thick and return to the baking sheet. Sprinkle each piece of dough lightly with coarse salt. Place the baking sheets in the center of the preheated oven, one at a time, and bake until golden brown all over and just set in the center (about 13 minutes). Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes or until stable before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

• Adapted from Annies-Eats and my Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies recipes. You selected this recipe from my Must Make Gluten Free Pinterest Board!