Chocolate

The Best Gluten Free Chocolate Cake.

Posted on by Miky Jo

Hey guys! welcome back. Today is a cold day so the perfect time to turn on the oven and make something sweet. So I’m going to show you how to make a delicious chocolate cake! It’s not only gluten free, but it’s also dairy free! It’s so delicious, sweet and rich. So, if your ready to be blown away by this delicious cake, then keep on reading!

By the way, I am cutting the cake recipe in half but giving you guys the full measurements. Also, even though I’m cutting the cake recipe in half I’m doing the full frosting measurement’s. I decided to do this for two reasons, first I love the frosting and second I love to decorate my cakes so having extra frosting is helpful!

Cake Ingredients

  • 2 cups all purpose gluten free flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
  • 1/2 cup dairy free butter plus 1 tablespoon (I’m using plant butter made with avocado oil)
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cherry rum
  • 1 cup butter milk (to make it dairy free add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to 1 cup of coconut milk and let it set for a few minutes)
  • 2 room temperature eggs
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 3/4 cup boiling water

Frosting Ingredients

  • 1 cup dairy free butter
  • 2 teaspoons cherry rum
  • 1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
  • 1 cup cocoa powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 tablespoons almond milk (you could also use cashew or coconut milk)

Cake Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 F
  2. Cut parchment paper for the bottom of two 8″ cake pans and spray with some gluten free cooking spray (since I cut the recipe in half I only had to use one cake pan)
  3. In a medium sized bowl mix together your gluten free flour, Xanthan gum (if your flour already has Xanthan gum than just leave it out) mix in salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.
  4. In a large bowl cream butter and sugar with a hand mixer.
  5. Add eggs and cherry rum to the butter mixture and make sure you mix it in completely.
  6. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until fully combined, you will also have to scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything gets mixed in.
  7. Add the butter milk and mix until completely combined.
  8. Pour in half of the batter into the cake pan and put the other half in the other pan.
  9. Bake on the middle rack for 30-35 minutes but make sure you watch it or it could burn, you can never be to sure because all ovens are different.
  10. Allow the cakes to cool completely before frosting

Frosting Instructions

  1. In a large bowl cream butter until nice and smooth.
  2. Add the cherry rum and almond extract to the butter and mix until fully combined.
  3. Add the cocoa powder and mix.
  4. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time.
  5. Finally, add the milk to the frosting and mix until smooth and spreadable.
  6. Then frost the cake. I started out by using a spatula to make it nice and smooth then used a piping bag to decorate and use up the extra frosting.

Here are some ideas for decoration…

You could dust with powdered sugar, or use a zip lock bag and a piping bag, add decor, add fake or edible flowers or make for a special occasion and write… Happy Anniversary or something like that.

Finally ENJOY! I hope you guys like this recipe and have fun making it! Thank you guys for reading and don’t forget to come back for more Favorite Foods of a Hummingbird.

Red Velvet Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting

Posted on by Miky Jo

Hey guys, welcome back! Another week has flown by and this week is a bonus week (I didn’t plan for it to be a bonus, but here we are). I’m making a two in one recipe, but I’ll explain that later. We are going to make Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. I’m super excited. So lets get started!

#PioneerWoman

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2/3 cup buttermilk
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon red gel food coloring (if your using liquid food coloring you will need more)
  • 1 1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened)
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened)
  • 8 ounces cream cheese (softened)
  • 3 1/2 cups powder sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In another bowl, mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
  2. In another bowl whisk together the buttermilk, vinegar, and red food coloring.
  3. In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar together for about 4 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl, add the oil and then cream it for 2 more minutes. Add eggs one at a time and beat for two minutes, then add vanilla.
  4. Add half of the dry mixture and half of the butter milk mixture, mixing after each addition, until it is all added.
  5. Drop the batter in to cupcake liners in the pan and bake for about 16 to 19 minutes, don’t over bake.
  6. Let cool.
  7. To make frosting: In a bowl whip together butter, cream cheese, powder sugar and vanilla until smooth.
  8. Once the cupcakes are cooled put on the frosting. If you’re piping it on and don’t have a piping bag just use a plastic baggy. Cut a hole that’s not to big at the tip of it and pipe. I used a tip but if you don’t have a piping tip its ok, the hole at the end will work fine.
  • Make sure to add even amounts to each liner so they bake evenly.
  • Instant piping bag

Now, since I said this is a bonus week, let me explain why. I’m not sure why, but my cupcakes came out and were sunk in the middle! So frustrating! Possible reasons for this happening are, over mixing the batter, or opening the oven door too soon. But either way, I’m sitting here looking at a pan of ugly, caved in cupcakes!

Thankfully my advice from my last post about smothering mistakes in chocolate also works great with frosting! So really you could call it a blessing in disguise because now I can put extra frosting to hide my mistake. Yummy! They say “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Well, when life gives you dented cupcakes, fill in that dent with lots of frosting!” LOL

The finished product!

Some of the cupcakes were also getting stuck to the liners and the pan and I kinda broke them. What was I going to do with broken, mangled cupcakes?! I know! I’ll turn them into CakePops!! I saw a video on YouTube where someone did that with a messed up cake, so I thought I would try it.

BONUS Cake Pop Instructions

Take your extra frosting and crumble up the cupcakes in to it and stir in until it’s all mixed. I just added the crumbs to the icing bowl. No need to make extra dishes!

Then, using a tablespoon, scoop out some into your hand and roll into balls. Set them on a piece of parchment paper, on a cookie sheet.

Put them in the fridge for a while until they are cold so they don’t fall apart when you dip them. Once they are cold you can put in your sticks. We didn’t have any because I didn’t plan on making cake pops today. Thankfully my mom had some leftover tiny plastic forks from a bridal shower she threw for my Auntie. I used them and they worked great!

Then melt semi sweet chocolate chips in a double boiler. Add some coconut oil because it will make the chocolate more silky and easier to dip without clumping up.

  • See how shiny the coconut oil makes it.

Pour the chocolate in a cup so that you can completely submerge the cake pops in the chocolate. Dip straight down into the chocolate and put them on a sheet of parchment paper. If you don’t want a pile of chocolate underneath them, make sure to wipe them on the edge of the cup before setting them down. You can also add sprinkles for a bit of fashion and flair.

  • I used a plastic cup so I didn’t have to wash out the chocolate.

And just like that we have a BONUS! I almost hope all my cupcakes have dents so I can make cake pops and use extra frosting again! LOL. Well that’s all for now. Thank you for reading! I hope you like this recipe and make sure you stay tuned for more favorite foods of a hummingbird.

Two for one BONUS!

Coconut Macaroons

Posted on by Miky Jo

Today we are going to make the best Coconut Macaroons and we have a very special guest, my Nana Lisa! I’m so excited because she loves these! I was trying to decide what to make and then I found out she was coming to visit for the week, so my choice was clear. I had to make one of her favorites. They are super easy and gluten free! So let’s get baking!

Ingredients

  • 14 ounces sweetened shredded coconut
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 ounces)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 extra large egg whites (room temperature)
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (iodized salt will work as well)
Don’t forget to use cute and fashionable measuring tools! #PioneerWoman

Instructions

  • Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
  • Add egg whites and salt to a medium bowl and beat on high until you have stiff peaks.
My beautiful Nana helping me today.
Stiff Peaks
  • Add coconut, condensed milk and vanilla to a large bowl and stir until completely mixed.
  • Add egg mixture and fold (be very careful and fold in gently, if you don’t or if you over fold it will take the air out of the egg whites you just whipped)
  • Use a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop coconut batter on the baking sheet.
  • Refrigerate for 30 minutes or more until cookies are fairly solid.
  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
  • Bake for 25 to 30 minutes , until golden brown.
Whoops!

Make sure you refrigerate them long enough before you bake them or they will spread out like this. You could even put them in the freezer for a bit if you’re short on time. They still taste great but aren’t as pretty when they do that. If it happens you could always use a biscuit cutter or knife and cut away the ugly parts (and then smother it in chocolate!!) There’s no better way to hide imperfections than smothering something in chocolate!

  • Let cool before serving.

Just when you think they couldn’t be any more delicious you can dip them in chocolate! To do that, melt semi sweet chocolate chips in a double boiler. You can also use a microwave, but my mom taught me this way because it can burn easily in the microwave. I just used a stainless steel bowl over boiling water in our Pioneer Woman pan. Make sure you use a hot pad to hold the bowl because it will get hot and sometimes steam escapes and could burn you.

When the chocolate is melted and shiny, turn the heat off and dip the macaroons in it. You can dip as much or as little as you want. I decided to just dip the bottoms.

After you dip them, lay them on parchment paper and put them back in the fridge for about 15 minutes until the chocolate hardens. And just like that you have Chocolate Dipped Macaroons! YUM!

Now serve them up on a pretty plate. #PioneerWoman

Shout out and thanks to my Nana for helping me with this yummy dessert. I hope you love these and can’t wait to read your comment’s and see what you think about them. Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to follow me to get post updates.

See you next week with a new delicious favorite food of a “Hummingbird”.