Thursday, July 1, 2010

Polenta chocolate cake GF

Yesterday I decided it was time to at least LOOK for some ideas for next years curriculum. There are a few things we have not yet covered formally in homeschool which will be covered, and then there are things I believe Nick will enjoy and benefit from. Those descisions are easy- the actual application of these things is what is in question. So I started surfing for ideas and inspiration, and kept running into homeschoolers who blog about their homeschool AND homelife. These kinds of blogs I love, but inspire me to do bad things. Like bake. I got some glimmer of an idea for how to do next years work as well as a massive desire to make a cake !. Doing so in the traditional way would have been a bad thing. I am finding that I can tolerate one serving of gluten per day ( according to the energy testing ), and cake is gluten. Not only that but unless I make cupcakes or a cake that will serve 3, leftovers would be a problem with my son. I suddenly remebered a recipe I had for a gluten free cake that sounded promising, so I headed to the kitchen to make a guilt free , gluten free cake- Chocolate Polenta Cake !



Polenta Chocolate Cake GF

1 cup instant polenta
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
7/8 cup dark chocolate
OPTIONAL: 1/2 cup or more raisins -- preserved ginger, glace cherries, candied peel,
nuts -- whatever else you'd like to add

Bring water to the boil. Add polenta and baking powder while stirring and stir/mash well
(a slotted spoon helps) to stop it from getting lumpy.
Immediately add remaining ingredients and stir well (a wooden spoon works well at this point)
until the chocolate's melted and everything is mixed in evenly.
Turn into a small springform loose-bottom tin; leave to cool in the fridge. When completely cooled,pop out and enjoy.

Verdict- it tastes less sweet than a traditional cake and has the consistency of a brownie. You never run the oven so it is a good option for a hot summer day. I don't think I would serve it as a birthday cake or a company cake, but as a kind of snack cake it works.

2 comments:

Marisa @Loser for Life said...

Oooh, that sounds like an interesting cake! Love that it's "no bake"!

Diane, Fit to the Finish said...

I've never tried a no-bake cake before except once at my mother in law's house. We did a no-bake cheesecake from a box - it was bad, bad, bad. So after that no more for me. BUT, this one sounds much better than one from a box. I would never think to make a cake using polenta.