German Chocolate Cake - Gluten Free

I've been making cakes that I've never made before as gluten-free.  I ran into some issues recently trying to make my own gluten-free flour and well...I won't be doing that mess again.  Nothing worse than an ugly cake that tastes good.  NOTHING!  Cake should be pretty.

Moving on...

The Robinator requested a German Chocolate Cake for his birthday this year and, since I've started using Bob Mill's Gluten-Free Baking Flour...life has been good.  So I just swapped out the flour and made the old super-dooper delicious and word that I hate which starts with a 'M' and ends with a 'T' and is sometimes used to describe non-dry cake.  

CAKE INGREDIENTS

2 cups cake flour

1 tsp baking soda

Kraft Baker's German Sweet Chocolate Bar - 4 oz.

1/2 cup water

1 cup butter

4 large eggs, separated

2 cups sugar

1.5 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 tsp salt

ICING INGREDIENTS

1.5 teaspoons vanilla

4 large egg yolks

Can of evaporated milk - 12 oz

3/4 cup of butter

1.5 cups sugar

1 cup sweetened coconut flakes

1.5 cups chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS - You need 4 bowls:  2 small glass bowls, a medium and a large bowl.

Small bowl: Break up chocolate chunks, add 1/2 cup of water.  Add an inch of water to the bottom of a pot, bring water to bowl and place bowl on top.  Stir until chocolate is melted.   Remove from heat.

Medium bowl:  Sift together flour, baking soda and salt.

Large bowl:  Beat 2 cups sugar and 1 cup butter until fluffy.  Add egg yolks one at a time blending after each egg until mixed. Add chocolate and vanilla.  Beat.  Add 1/2 cup of flour mixture and 1/4 cup of buttermilk.  Beat.  Repeat until all has been incorporated.

Small bowl:  Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Fold into cake batter gently.

Split between 3 round cake pans which have been buttered and floured.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Leave in pan for half an hour or so before you take them out of pans to cool.

Make icing.  (This tastes like pecan candy.)

In a saucepan, whip together can of milk and egg yolks over medium / high heat.  Add butter and sugar.  Stirring constantly, bring to boil.  Remove from heat and add coconut and pecans.  Let cool.

To frost, add icing between each layer.  I do it by pouring in the middle and the pushing out to the edges allowing it to drip down the sides.  All the leftover icing should be poured all over top and moved around to spill over.

This cake is ridiculously delicious.

Mini Cheesecakes

I love cheesecake even though I have to prepare myself to eat it.  Dairy and I started beefing a while ago but I pick my battles meaning I'll choose to go a round with it for certain things.  

Cheesecake is one of those things.

I wanted to make mini cheesecakes for a dinner party so I could make them pretty and not have to worry about cutting it at the table.  Yall know I like my presentation to be purty so yeah...there's that too.

The cheesecake is a basic recipe but when I make it to do individual portions, I don't do it in an actual cheesecake pan.  I use glass baking dishes.  Truth be told, the only reason I do it this way is once I couldn't find the bottom to my cheesecake pan but wanted cheesecake so I made it in glass and it was just fine so um...I kept making it in glass.  LOL!

Crust:

1/3 cup melted butter

1/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (I use gluten-free ones.)

Mix together in a bowl and them dump into 8 x 8 pan.  Using a piece of parchment paper on top, press smooth and even.  Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  Remove and let cool completely.  

Cheesecake filling:

2 packages of cream cheese at room temperature

3/4 cup of sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup sour cream

1/4 cup milk

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons flour (heaping spoons if using a pre-mixed gluten-free flour)

Whip together cream cheese and sugar until blended.  Don't overwhip.  Remember...cheesecake doesn't like bubbles.  Add eggs, sour cream, milk, and vanilla extract.  Blend.  Add flour and blend until you don't see flour.

Pour over crust shaking well.  Take a big bath towel and fold it larger than the dish and drop the pan on it a few times to try and force out all air bubbles.  (I do this because I use glass dishes.  Be careful if you do too!)  Put dish inside of large 9 x 13 pan.  Pour boiling water inside larger pan until it reaches the mid-point of the pan the cheesecake is in.  This is a water bath.  You do this so the cheesecake won't crack.  It helps it cook slower and evener.  (Is that a word?  Hmmmmmmm...) Anyway...every.single.time I've made a cheesecake without a water bath it cracked.  I mean...you could still eat it, of course, but it wasn't cute to look at.  LOL!

Bake for 50 minutes and remove from oven. (Pay attention to it.  If it doesn't look done it's probably not done.  Usually it looks "sinky" in the middle.  If it's done...won't be any "sinky" spots.  Yall know what I mean right?  LOL!

Once it reaches room temp...put in fridge.  Let it COMPLETELY COOL!

When it is COMPLETELY COLD...using a biscuit cutter, cut out 3-inch circles as individual servings.  GO YOU!  You'll get four good ones outta this.  Save the pieces for your husband to devour later.  Don't eat it yourself so you don't get farty.  I mean...you know...if dairy gets you farty.

For a sauce, be creative with it.  I do two different ones.  Sometimes I do 1.5 cups of raspberries and sometimes I use a cup of raspberries and a half cup of blueberries.  Bring to boil in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons lemon juice.  The raspberries will melt but the blueberries will remain solid.  You can use fresh or frozen.  Put in a jar and put in fridge to cool with cheesecake.  Be funky with it when you drizzle.  Watch your elbow too.  Why do I say this you ask?  Cuz someone might tip your elbow making you PLOP sauce on top of them instead of delicately drizzling.  You know...cuz people like sauce and believe the more sauce the mo'betta-er.  LOL!

This is a basic cheesecake recipe.  If you don't want to use the biscuit cutter to make mini cheesecakes, you can get a solid 9 squares outta this and folks will be fighting for the corner squares same as they do with brownies.  LOL!

Do YOU ever make cheesecake?