Gluten-free,  Sweet

Buckwheat chocolate cake (gf) and unfettered ambitions

chocolatebuckwheat
My latest goal in life is to photograph Hugo and Java together, at the same time, in the same place and, if at all possible, sitting still. Never let it be said that I lack ambition. I recently told Hugo — well asked really; Hugo isn’t the sort of dog you order about — to sit while I took a photo of him. Since then, the moment he catches a glimpse of a camera lens he sits and tilts his head just enough to do his profile justice. I think he may be the reincarnation of one of Pavlov’s dogs. Java, on the other hand, not so much. Once she’s outside, under no circumstances does she ‘do’ sitting. Or even standing still. So I have one unnaturally static dog pouting into the camera and flaunting his best side like a runway model who’s just tossed her cookies, and the other who is nothing but a distant white blur. I have a feeling that I set the bar pretty high for myself, because so far all I’ve managed are these: The Pout and The Blur.
hugosit
javablur
This cake, on the other hand, was a great success. Inspired from a David Lobowitz recipe, it really is one of the lightest, most delicious chocolate cakes ever…
Ingredients (10 servings)
170g dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa)
115g coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon rum (optional)
4 eggs, separated
100g cane sugar
100ml plain yoghurt
70g ground almonds (you could substitute ground hazelnuts)
40g buckwheat flour
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Preheat the oven to 180ºC and prepare a medium-sized loaf tin. Melt the chocolate and coconut oil until smooth and add the vanilla extract and rum. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and yogurt until light and smooth and then combine with the melted chocolate/coconut oil. Mix the ground almonds, buckwheat flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda together and then combine well with the egg yolk and chocolate mixture. Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks and gently but thoroughly fold into the chocolate mixture. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the tin and leave to cool. Delicious served alone or with Greek yoghurt or ice cream.
 

10 Comments

  • ourfrenchoasis

    Yet another recipe for me to try, your’s always work to perfection, maybe tomorrow, thank you. Now photographing those dogs, we have a similar problem. Bentley will sit for hours, but he won’t pose, instead he just looks like someone has majorly told him off and refuses to even look at the camera, in short he sulks! Evie, has learnt to sit rather well and pose, our little French Madame!!!

      • ourfrenchoasis

        But she hasn’t learnt to stay! She will only sit, so long as I don’t take my eyes off her and I keep one finger firmly pointing at her, the moment I look away, she’s gone! However, I do have to tell you the chicken fence has been a huge success, I thought she might try and dig under it, but she has no interest whatsoever, and a terrace and pool area free of chicken poo is bliss!!!

  • apuginthekitchen

    Wow that cake looks amazing. I would love to try other flours as well. Ha, Hugo is a beautiful example of canina perfection and Java, I can see your problem Java is constantly moving. LOL, you need photoshop so you can insert Java next to Hugo.

    • The Healthy Epicurean

      It is amazing. I love the principle of whipping up the egg whites because it makes the cake so incredibly light -almost mousse-like. I’m working on other flavours too at the moment. LOL I could photoshop her in next to Hugo, but she’s always moving…

  • laurasmess

    Hahahahaaa! Ah, the pout and the blur! Dogs never fail to make me laugh, there’s never a dull moment with dogs in the family! I have trouble photographing my dog Loki, too. Mostly as he never keeps his head still so it always out of focus 😉
    Anyway, back to this gorgeous buckwheat bread. Looks delicious! I am a big fan of buckwheat flour so I can imagine how moist the crumb would be. Big yes to the addition of rum!

  • jacqueline Thomson

    I can’t have any milk products, so what can I sub instead of the yoghurt? Would almond milk work?

    • The Healthy Epicurean

      I would use either coconut cream or almond milk. The advantage of the coconut cream is that it’s thicker -more like the consistency of yoghurt. The almond milk would probably work fine too though, maybe just use a little less. I hope it turns out OK and thank you for visiting.

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