This chocolate vanilla bean cake was epic to make: four layers of one of my favorite chocolate cake recipes, layered with silky, gorgeously-easy and indulgent vanilla bean pastry cream (with a touch of bourbon because why the heck not), rich chocolate buttercream (also with a touch of bourbon), and a ganache drip. And tons of flowers! Sometimes the classic combos like vanilla and chocolate are the absolute winners, and that certainly is the case with this cake. For those of you who haven’t tried making pastry cream yet, let me be the first to welcome you to the world of SUCH easy and mind-blowing-amazingness. Pastry cream comes together in under…
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Gluten Free Triple Chocolate Raspberry Cake
Sometimes you just need triple the chocolate. Because when you’re in the mood for chocolate, why not go ALL the way and triple it (is this technically quadrupling it? triple is a little easier to say so we’re going with that). AND, this cake happens to be the down right easiest layer cake on the blog (maybe giving this super simple and decadent Mexican Hot Chocolate layer cake with cinnamon and chile). If you’re new to layer cakes, or, like me, until quite recently (read: last June) had never fully decorated an actual layer cake before, this is for you. Huge props to the other half of Sisters Sans Gluten,…
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Gluten Free Black Forest Cake
Black forest cake has always looked and seemed to me like one of the most fantastic cakes you could make. Maybe it’s all in the name: black forest at once sounds mysterious and other-worldly – almost like you’ll happen upon Galadriel taking a perfectly-delicate bite of a slice of this dark chocolate, whipped cream, and cherry creation. The elegance of that combination of flavors lends itself to a sophisticated, gorgeous cake fit for an elfin queen. Perhaps it’s more up Elrond’s alley, but even so, this has been on my list for ages and I’m thrilled that a special request from a friend finally got me to make it! So…
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Gluten Free Dark Chocolate Earl Grey Cake
Chocolate cake is a forever cake. It’s indulgent, smooth, melts you into a puddle of cozy comfort food bliss, and is usually pretty easy to make so barrier to entry is pretty low. I know we have lots of different chocolate cakes on our blog, but this one is one I’m particularly proud of: a gluten free dark chocolate earl grey cake – filled with earl grey pastry cream, dark chocolate buttercream, and an earl grey chocolate ganache (SWOON). It bloomed out of a pure creative chance: two leftover chocolate cake layers and an afternoon free to just play! Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE planning and designing new cakes…
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Gluten Free Raspberry Chocolate Layer Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream
Is there anything better than a slice of gloriously-rich chocolate cake. Rhetorical, of course. This one was a particular stunner: four layers of the fluffiest, most decadent gluten free chocolate cake layers you’ll ever eat, filled with chocolate cream cheese buttercream (YES you heard that right – cream cheese frosting in CHOCOLATE? yes), raspberry puree + preserves, and bright raspberry whipped cream, and enrobed in more chocolate cream cheese buttercream, a rich chocolate ganache drip, and topped with gorgeous fresh flowers and raspberries. Just go ahead and let out that sigh of relief that it’s ALL GLUTEN FREE and serve yourself a second or third piece. One of the best…
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Gluten Free Tiramisu Layer Cake
This may be the weightiest cake I’ve ever made. It all started with a birthday cake request – always the best ones because it usually means something unique – since we all want something special for our special days – not a plain white or chocolate cake, no simple layers of simple buttercream, no repeat flavors or styles. That’s why I LOVE birthday cakes. This one was no exception. The one flavor note I got for the order was tiramisu, but of course we wanted to go in the classic layer cake direction so those perfect Italian flavors were spun into a four-layer, 9-inch cake with the most frostings, fillings,…
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Gluten Free Vanilla Bean & Chocolate Layer Cake
Sometimes you save a very-ambitious baking project for the day-of and sometimes it takes a biiiiiit longer to pull it all together than anticipated and sometimes that means you end up taking photos of it after the sun has DEFINITELY set (thanks Winter) so they turn out a bit grainier and darker than you planned. And that sometime was THIS time, but I’m still excited because it was the first time working with edible gold powder and doing this gold drip layer cake! Don’t let the outside deceive you, this cake is dark as night inside with velvety chocolate cake layered with bourbon cherry preserves (just add bourbon to anything…
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Gluten Free Halloween Cake
It was a dark and stormy night…and I was creeping through the kitchen to bake up a spooky fright! Well… maybe not a fright, but definitely this gluten free Halloween cake! If you couldn’t already tell, Halloween, All Hallow’s Eve, or Samhain is my favorite holiday. It combines some of my favorite things: dressing up, spooky/Gothic aesthetic, and chocolate of course! Now, this lovely holiday has evolved over the years into what it is today, but it originated with the Pagan celebration of Samhain (pronounced Saw-wen). It was the Pagan’s end of the year celebration before the start of the new darker part of the year on November 1st. It…
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Gluten Free Chocolate Mousse Cake
Chocolate mousse. That lighter-than-air, seemingly miraculous dessert that’s the stuff of high-end restaurants and single-serve custard cups of sublime chocolatey goodness. I’d always balked at the idea of making it at home – intimidated by the technique or what I thought I needed to do to make it. But there are many ways to make a mousse! (feels like that should be a saying…) and this one is gosh darn easy as pie (or cake). In times of isolation and social distancing, tracking those “safe” friends/folks in your bubble and making plans to get gussied up and cook a fancy meal add a bit more excitement to the COVID life.…
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Gluten Free Chocolate Raspberry Birthday Cake
In Harry Potter, Professor Lupin gives Harry, Hermione, and Ron chocolate after the first bizarre and harrowing encounter with dementors, and you’ve got to hand it to him, he knows how to cure a case of the willies. For any anti-chocolaters out there, apologies in advance for this post, but you’re probably not reading it anyway after seeing the gargantuan photo of an ALL CHOCOLATE cake, so, oh well. My sister and I have always loved chocolate. When we were little, we’d frequently have chocolate ice cream rings around our mouths, or would choose the flourless chocolate cake (often times the only gluten free dessert option but we’re not complaining),…
