Three Tier Gluten-Free Fourth of July Chocolate Cake
First off, you need to make a decision: do you want a two or three layer cake? If you want two layers, split the batter evenly between two 9″ cake pans. If you want three layers, I took the lazy route and used a 9″ cake pan that’s 3″ deep, pouring all of the batter into one pan and then slicing it into three thinner layers. Sure it’s a shortcut, but it worked! Just remember to alter your baking time to accommodate the thickness of the batter in the pan (recommended times are included below).
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 30minutes
Cook Time 50minutes
Total Time 1hour20minutes
Servings 12servings
Calories 345kcal
Author Stephanie Stiavetti
Ingredients
]For cake:
4cupsbasic gluten free flour mix
1cupunsweetened cocoa powder
2cupsbrown sugar
1cupalmond flour
3tablespoonsaluminum-free baking powder
1/4teaspoonbaking soda
2teaspoonEner-G egg replacer(just the powder, not mixed with water)
Lightly grease your pans, either two 9″ pans or one super tall 9″ pan. Place a round 9″ parchment round in the bottom.
Mix together flour mix, cocoa powder, brown sugar, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, egg replacer, xanthan gum and salt.
Whisk together hot milk, oil and vanilla.
Slowly incorporate dry ingredients into the milk mixture, whisking until completely smooth.
Pour batter into pan(s) and let sit for five minutes before placing in oven.
If you’re using two 9″ pans, bake for 22 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. If you’re using a single 9″ pan, bake for 50 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Make sure you look at the very tip of toothpick – there should be no sticky batter!
Let cake cool in pans for ten minutes, then turn out onto rack. Remove parchment and turn cake right side up. Cool completely.
Decorating the Cake:
If you’re going to slice your cake horizontally, I’d recommend wrapping it tightly in plastic wrap and putting it in the refrigerator for two hours (ideally overnight) to firm up before slicing. This makes your cake easier to work with, as it will hold together much better while cutting.
First off, you want to level your cake by removing the rounded top where it rose in the oven. You can either use a long serrated knife or a cake leveler. I use the leveler, because it’s a lot easier to make straight layers by walking the leveler in a sawing motion.
If you poured all of your batter into a single 9″ pan, cut it into three layers of equal thickness.
Place your base layer of cake onto a lazy Susan or other decorating surface.
Scoop whipped cream into a pastry bag, and using a large star tip of your choice, pipe a series of swirls around the edge of the cake, with a large swirl in the middle. It should look like this:
Decorate by adding a piece of fruit into the middle of each smaller swirl. Do not add any fruit to the marge middle swirl.
Add a small star between each swirl and top with a blueberry. When you’re done, it should look something like this:
If you have three layers, gently place the middle layer of cake on top of the decorated layer, making sure it’s straight and not leaning to one side. Decorate with whipped cream as you did the first layer:
Decorate swirls with fruit as you did the first layer.
Place final layer of cake on top of decorated layer, making sure it’s straight. Pour 1/2 cup ganache into the center of the cake, and using an icing spatula gently push it to the edges, allowing it to gently dribble over the sides. You don’t want a lot of ganache flowing all over the place – you just want a few drips as an accent.
Set cake in the fridge for 20 minutes to set ganache.
Decorate the top of the cake with more whipped cream and fruit, like you did the other layers. When you’re done, push more fruit into the visible whipped cream between the layers where it needs a little color. When you’re done, you should have something similar to the photo below.
This cake can be put in the fridge overnight to tighten up the whipped cream, which may droop and run in hot weather.
Notes
Nutritional analysis does not include whipped cream or ganache.