Chocolate Layer Cake... and Sandy's story

[Guest guest]

Greeting from Virgina!

 

I joined this group over a month ago (wow, time really does fly) and have just

squeezed

in time to send out a great recipe to the group. But first, a bit about my

story... I'm

Sandy (Hi Everyone!). In Feb. 2002 I was diagnosed with Ulcertive Colitis.

After not

receiving much info from Western Medicine on what I could do to manage my

disease

(other than eating pills), I searched the web, read books, and talked to

alternative

healers. After trying many things I have discovered that a slightly modified

celiac diet

works best. I now live in an Intentional Community (or lovingly refered to as a

" hippy

commune " by our members). (If your curious as to what an intential community

is, we

have a web site - www.twinoaks.org). There are 7 adult members out of 93 that

are any

combination of: glutten/wheat free, vegan, vegetarian. When I moved here about

a 1

1/2 years ago, there were no special consideration made for GFV persons at meal

time.

So I slowly changed that. We have one member who has been experimenting with

bread and other " sweet " things. She has written a GFV zine and has given me

permission to share a couple of recipes with this group, which will follow in up

coming

email.

 

The recipe that follows is from The Vegetarian Times. I have altered the recipe

to be

GF friendly. It does not require the use of an electrical appliance other than

an oven

(many of the members in the community are eco conscious so this is a plus here).

We

only have access to buckwheat and rice flours (we actually have a grain grinder

so we

make our own GF flours unless the flour is less expensive than the grain) so I

encourage you to use your imagination on flour mixtures and share your results.

We

make our own tofu and soymilk here so when the recipe calls for soymilk, I

usually use

whatever delightful flavor happens to be in the soymilk dispenser. So, again, I

encourage you to use your imagination here also. I personally have only made

the cake

part of the recipe and not the icing part. We find the cake sweet enough

without the

icing. But I have modified the icing recipe slightly to be GF friendly by

changing the

" flour " to GF flour. This cake recipe is easy and fast but does need time to

chill if you

are going to ice it.

 

Happy Cooking!

Sandy

 

 

Chocolate Layer Cake

Origional Version Vegetarian Times

Serves 24

 

NOTE: To make a smaller cake, cut all ingredients by half and make

only one layer.

 

Cake:

 

5 cups of your favorite GF flour mixture (I use 2 cups buckwheat

and 3 cups rice)

1 1/2\3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

4 cups sugar

4 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup canola oil

4 3/4 cups soymilk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 cup cider vinegar, white vinegar, or rice vinegar

 

Preheat the oven to 350 deg. F. In a large bowl, sift together the

dry ingredients (additional whisking may be required to thoroughly

combine). In a separate bowl, whisk together the liquid

ingredients. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and

stir only until blended (blender or mixer not needed).

 

Grease and flour (I used rice flour - heavy on greasing and

flouring so the cake will not stick) two 9 " X 12 " cake pans (you

may also line the pans with parchment paper, however, if you

grease and flour them well, there is no need for parchment

paper). Pour the batter into the pans. Bake until a toothpick

inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let

pans cool when done for 15 minutes. Remove cake from pans

onto a cookie sheet and place in the refrigerator for several hours

(if you are not going to put icing on the cake, you can skip

refrigeration - it tastes really wonderful warm with soymilk).

 

Icing:

2/3 cup of your favorate GF flour mixture

2 cups soymilk

2 cups sugar

6 tablespoons margarine

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

 

In a medium saucepan, whisk togather the flour and soymilk.

Cook over medium heat, stirring and scraping the bottom and

sides of the pan with a rubber spatula, until the mixture is thick

and smooth. Remove from the heat. Place the pan in a pot of

cold water to cool. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine the

sugar, margarine, vanilla, and salt until light and fluffy. When the

flour mixture is completely cool, stir it into the sugar mixture and

blend well.

 

Completing the Cake:

To assemble the cake, stack and ice the cake layers or make

them into fun shapes.

 

Variation:

For a chocolate cake with sophisticated style, sift a small amount

of unsweetened cocoa over the top of the cake after icing it.

Then cut a stencil out of posterboard and sift 1 1/4 cups

confectioners sugar in a design of your choice on top. Cut out

another stencil and repeat with 2 tablespoons ground cinnamin.

In a decorative arrangement, add orange slices and chocolate

covered almonds.

 

Per Serving: 388 Cal. ; 5g Prot. ; 11g Fat ; 68g Carb. ; 0mg Chol. ;

281mg Sod. ; 3g Fiber

 

 

 

 

.... Remember me?

Since consciousness isn't limited by space or time,

you'll recall that we're old friends... "

- Richard Bach

" The Bridge Across Forever " a lovestory