Now that might seem like a bold claim when there are many chocolate cakes out there and pretty much all of them are good - I mean, what’s not to love? It’s chocolate right! In cake form! What makes this cake different for the gluten freebies among us is that it’s simple, involves ingredients that you don’t need to send away for and employs a little trick called pre-gelatinisation, that turns gritty, short rice flour into something soft and moist. It’s not a super rich cake, because I like to lay almost as much butter ganache on top as the cake will hold - to me, this is the correct ratio of cake to frosting. I don’t like overly sweet things, so I make my frosting with 55% plain chocolate and lots of butter stirred in at the end - which is as rich as you like and just sweet enough to feel wonderfully treaty. If you like things on the sweeter side, go for milk chocolate, which makes a properly kids-birthday-cake fudge frosting - hell, throw in some smarties while you’re at it and open up the dress up box. Your inner child may just need tending today.
There are options with this cake - a dairy free version, vegan version, richer version and a sourdough discard version - just choose whichever one you like and then show up at the River Cottage Instagram account on Saturday 23rd May at 11am British Summer Time (10am UTC) for a live-streamed bake-along. As always, I will be answering your gluten free baking questions and soaking up the good community vibes that you guys give out abundantly.
Luscious chocolate cake
The secret to the soft fudgy interior of this cake is precooking the rice flour with boiling water to get rid of any grittiness. The result is deeply chocolatey but not so rich that you can’t slather chocolate fudge frosting on top. You can make it egg free by using a flax egg, but it will be gooier and will need another 10-15 minutes baking.
120g rice flour (white will make a softer lighter sponge and brown a slightly heartier one)
125g milk or dairy free mylk
55g diced butter (or 45g olive oil or coconut oil or finely chopped cocoa butter)
200g light muscovado sugar (or caster sugar or coconut sugar)
40g cocoa powder
12g baking powder
½ tsp psyllium husk powder (or 2 tsp ground linseed/flaxseed/chia seed)
4g sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract (or zest of an orange/2 tsp ground cardamom/2 tsp powdered rose petals (see my instagram highlight or the River Cottage Instagram stories for instructions on how to make rose powder)
1 large egg (or 1 ½ tablespoons ground linseed and 3 tablespoons mylk – for a gooier cake)
Line a 23cm cake tin with baking parchment – or bake this as a sheet cake in a square pan.
Put the rice flour into a heat proof bowl and warm the milk on a low heat while you boil the kettle, Set a jug on the scales, zero the weight and when the milk comes almost to the boil, pour it into the jug. Top up to 250g with boiling water and right away pour over the rice flour, vigorously whisking to a smooth paste. Add the butter and leave it to melt while you get on with the rest.
Sieve the muscovado sugar into another mixing bowl (I always think I don’t need to sieve muscovado and I always do) and then sieve in the cocoa, baking powder, psyllium husk and salt. Scrape in the warm rice mixture, add the vanilla and egg and whisk again until completely smooth and glossy.
Pour the batter into the lined tray and set aside while the oven heats up to 180ºC/350ºF fan (200ºC/400ºF without fan). This wait allows the baking powder to start to act and the batter to hydrate properly. Bake for about 40 minutes until firm and springy and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting (or don’t quite cool because you’re in a hurry to eat it and the frosting will just slide off into your mouth and soak into the top layer of the cake in a gloriously gooey way – either way, it’s good) or eat warm like a pudding with whipped cream and ganache spooned decadently over the top.
*Richer chocolate cake*
Not rich enough for you? Want to go for a butter coma? Then adjust the ratio of liquid to butter in favour of the rich stuff. The crumb will be slightly denser and more brownie like if you do this. Follow the basic recipe above but use 80g of butter (65g of non-dairy fat – see above) and make up the weight of hot milk with boiling water to 225g.
*Sourdough discard chocolate cake*
If you have a sourdough starter then you’re always looking for ways to use up the discard as it feels not only wasteful but slightly uncaring to pour any of your carefully tended baby down the sink. Once you’ve made crackers and crumpets with it, putting some in a cake is the next vehicle for it’s umami sourness.
Follow the recipe above but use only 75g of rice flour and top up the hot milk on the scales to 190g. Add 105g of sourdough discard with the egg (or flax egg). Proceed with the recipe as before.
Chocolate fudge frosting
This is essentially a rich chocolate ganache with lots of butter stirred into it. The texture is somewhere between ganache and buttercream, with the chocolate intensity of the former but lacking the tongue curling sweetness of the latter. The secret is to allow cream and chocolate to come to exactly the same temperature as the chocolate melts, if you start stirring too soon, or whisk the butter, the whole thing can split. You can make it with dark chocolate or half and half if you’d like something more deeply flavoured. Enough to generously top a 23cm cake
150g milk chocolate
80g double cream
50g salted butter – softened (add a small pinch of salt if you use unsalted butter)
You will need a pan and bowl that fit together to make a bain-marie for this recipe. Put enough hot water in the pan so that it gives off lots of warmth but doesn’t actually touch the bottom of the bowl. Set the water to boil.
Chop the chocolate and put into the heat proof bowl with the cream. Turn off the heat and allow the cream and chocolate to get to know each other for about 15 minutes. Push any firm bits of chocolate under the surface of the cream periodically and then stir gently once everything has melted – just until combined.
Add the butter to the chocolate mixture in chunks and when it is all in, stir it a couple of times to mix. Allow the butter to melt for a few minutes more and then gently fold until everything is smooth again with no streaks. Set aside until needed. If the butter doesn’t quite blend into the chocolate, don’t worry, just stir the mixture every 20 minutes or so as it cools and when the mixture starts to firm up the butter will blend in just fine.
You can use this frosting as a soft fudgy ganache or whip it once it has cooled to room temperature for a lusciously smooth truffle buttercream which is much lighter in colour. If you whip your frosting, you must do this just before you pile it on the cake, or it can seize and won’t be spreadable anymore. Anything leftover can be stored in the fridge but needs to come to room temperature before it can be used.
* Dark chocolate fudge frosting*
Swap the milk chocolate for dark chocolate – nothing darker than 70% cocoa content or it will split. For 50-60% cocoa content you can just follow the recipe above, but for 70%, reduce the chocolate weight to 140g and add a dessertspoonful of golden syrup to the cream when you melt the chocolate.
* Dairy free frosting*
Use 55% cocoa content chocolate and canned coconut milk in place of cream. Use 40g of coconut oil in place of butter. This frosting will have a more liquid texture than the butter frosting until it has cooled, so make it well in advance. If you need to hasten chilling in order to make it spreadable or whip it, then put the bowl into a larger bowl of cool water and stir with a spatula constantly until it starts to thicken up.