Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

Lookie what I found when I was perusing through my older posts!  A draft of a post that I never finished from October of 2011!!  So now all you guys get an extra post today!  Yippee!!!!

Howdy friends!  I get quite a few requests for gluten free stuff but I'll have to admit I'm not an expert on the subject and I'm learning as I go.  I have recently, meaning about 3 months ago, stumbled upon an incredible recipe for a chocolate cake that is "Gluten-Free"!  You can find the original recipe here.

I was in need of a dessert for a ladies' get together that I hosted back in August and knew that a couple of the ladies are on gluten-free diets.  So, I began my search for a chocolate cake with no flour.  I found more than I realized were out there but few of them pulled at my chocolate heartstrings and still more just seemed like the same recipe by someone else.  So.  I had to whittle down my choices and decided to try the one I now use as my go-to gluten-free chocolate cake.  The ingredient list was simple and the instructions seemed fairly easy.  So off I went to create this dessert.

Sugar, salt, water, butter, eggs & CHOCOLATE!  Simple right?

You'll want to preheat the oven to 300 degrees and prepare a springform pan of 9" or 10" with parchment.

Dissolve the sugar and salt in the water over medium heat.  Set aside.

 Melt the chocolate over a simmering pot of water (double boiler) until melted.

Nice and smooth.

Begin adding the butter 1 tablespoon at a time.  It might look dry at first but it will get nice and glossy.

Then add the sugar syrup and incorporate.

Now you will add the eggs one at a time until incorporated.

Pour it in your prepared pan.  See how I left the parchment hanging out.  You can cover the inside completely if you want.

Tap out any air bubble and even out batter.

Bake at 300 for about 45 min.  The center will not be set and will be "jiggly".  I put mine in another pan just in case of leakage.  I've not had it leak yet though.

Then...Tada!  It's done but it needs to finish setting and cooling in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight.

The finished product.  Topped with fresh whipped cream and raspberries.

Here's what the inside looks like.  It's a fudgey, cakey, gooey deliciousness!  Not sure why there's tabasco in the background.  I know we did not put tabasco on this heavenly dessert!

...and that's all she wrote.

As always...be blessed, thanks for stopping by and leave some love!

Red Faced Runners

Hello again!  So Soon?  Well, I have something very special to share with you all and I know that you are not going to want to miss out on all the fun!

I've signed up with Red Faced Runners.

It is a group of ladies that are taking on a challenge to run 5k. Simple right?  There is even a link on their blog post to a training plan to run 5k.

These are women from all walks of life and all over who want to improve their lifestyle, become more healthy and look awesome doing it!  What better way to achieve that than wonder woman socks?  I already checked and they run about $10-$15.  I'm totally getting a pair!

Now, I've been running for awhile.  You can read a bit about my running life from a few of my previous posts...3 miles where are you?, Overwhelmed, & Free For All Friday.  So it's not something new to me but I will say that it has been a challenge to be consistent and to up my mileage when I'm running into things like shin splints, crazy schedules, laziness and just plain ol' unmotivatedness (I'm sure that's a word).  Did you think I was actually running into things?  Who runs into shin splints or laziness silly?  Anywho, I need to find "my rhythm"...and I think that this group will help me with that in a huge way.  You have a greater chance of accomplishing something when you have a goal in mind...a vision..."my people perish for lack of vision",  right?  I certainly don't plan on perishing anytime soon!  Bring on the vision!

So, to put it in a nutshell and I quote, "We challenge you to move your bodies and join in on our journey by running your way towards a 5k race in your hometown on the weekend of September 8th." from the Red Faced Runners blog.

I challenge you too!  Dust the cake flour off your tennies, trade in your apron for a some comfy running clothes (and don't forget a good sports bra, you don't want your girls getting out of hand...and in your face) and take to the pathways, streets or treadmill!  We are women!  We deserve to be healthy!  We can do it!  GooooOOOOO TEAM! :-)

Head on over to their blog and register, like their fb page and let me know how you're doing!  I'll post some 5k runs in my area soon if you live close and need one to run.  

As always, be blessed, thanks for stopping by and leave some love!

So glad you're back!!

Well, hello there stranger!!  I was getting worried that I hadn't seen you around in a while...sheesh it's been what...9 months!

What have you been up to all this time?  Wait.  What?  I'm the one whose been gone??  (nervous laugh)   So you've noticed, huh?  Well, shoot!  I was hoping I could sneak that one passed you.

Let's look on the bright side...at least you noticed I was gone!  That' makes me feel so special and loved, knowing that you've been sitting around, anxiously twiddling your thumbs, waiting for my next incredible life changing post!  Okay, so maybe that's stretching it a bit but it makes me feel better than having to face the fact that I was being a lazy blogger.  Goodness!  Confessions are just spewing out my mouth right and left!  I better be careful or I just might spill the beans about other things like telling my hubby that the boys ate the last of his beloved Nutella on a slice of warm, preservative-free toast from Trader Joe's.  psst.  It was me.  hehehe.


OKAY!  Enough of this silliness.  Let's get down to business.  To be completely honest, I have been busy.  There's too much from 9 months to fill you in on so I'll just jump straight to most recent stuff which includes some pretty awesome cakes if I may say so myself!  I'll need to keep this relatively short since my parents will stopping by in a few. note: if you're following Natalia's Cake Creations on FB then you'll have seen these already.

First up is a Tiffany bag cake that I created for a Bat Mitzvah.  My first cake of this design for my first party of this kind.  I think it turned out pretty nice!  The letters are hand painted...I was pretty pleased with myself!

Next we have a birthday cake for a friend's daughter and an anniversary cake for my church.   They are both iced in Swiss meringue buttercream with hand cut fondant decorations.  I was very pleased with both of these.

This next one is what I created for my son's kinder class graduation.  I thought it turned out so cute with the owl on it and I loved seeing the reaction on some of the parents' faces when they realized that I had made it!  Talk about a proud mama!

The last cake I will leave you with is a baby shower cake I designed for one of my dear friends.  They are a family of musicians and have the biggest hearts.  I used a template from here to create the basic shape of the shoes but had to enlarge it to the size I needed.  I loved the way this one turned out and so did the couple.

Okay, so that's all for now.  I need to go sweep up the spilled fruit loops and throw away the banana peels that I'm sure are laying around in the tv room.  My youngest LOVES bananas and will eat 2-3 at a time leaving a trail of peels along the way...my little monkey.

I hope that you are as glad as I am about coming back to my blog and finding I'm still alive.  I know I'm glad I'm still alive!  I'll be sure to keep you regularly updated and share more exciting things that have happened and will be happening.

As always...be blessed, thanks for stopping by and leave some love! (that means comments)