Hot Chocolate Cake

Here we are in a new year!  I can't wait to see what is in store for the new year!

Although I am looking forward to the new year, I am not much of a party girl.  We don't usually go out to celebrate on New Year's Eve, and just like to cocoon and enjoy the end of the holiday season at home.  But last night, my daughter invited us over to play games with the family and have a nice warm bowl of chili.  I had made this hot chocolate cake in the morning, just to try a new recipe, so I took it over to her house.  

Definitely a keeper!  I combined several different recipes into this one, and apparently it worked.  I couldn't taste it because it's definitely not gluten free, but everyone else loved it!  

I didn't fancy it up, just a regular looking grammy cake!  But after 5 minutes of bringing it out, it looked like this:

And there was a line to grab more pieces, so I jumped the line to grab a quick photo.  The only small part left at the end of the night was claimed by my youngest granddaughter, so I left it there for her to have today.  

Don't let the length of the recipe scare you, it is really easy to put together.  And the whipped cream frosting is SO GOOD!  Now that I did taste, and it was heavenly!  

The recipe is below, I hope you enjoy it!  I don't know why the picture is sideways on the recipe card, but I'm trying something new and it has me baffled!
If you click the button at the bottom that says View on Key Ingredient, the directions are organized and not all jumbled together.  I like the print feature on Key Ingredient, and I think I will be putting my recipes on there from now on.  I just have to get used to it!

I am linking up to Weekend Potluck over at The Country Cook.  Check it out - lots of fabulous recipes are waiting for you there!
I am also linking up to A Morning Cup of Joe Linky Party at The Cottage Market.  Hop on over there too, for some really great recipes and crafts!

Have a wonderful first day of 2019!

Gluten Free Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Last week, I was using up a ton of over-ripe bananas that somehow found their way into my kitchen.  After making a loaf of banana bread, I still had 4 bananas left.  After searching around for a good banana cake recipe, I found this one at Spend With Pennies.  And I have to tell you, she was right...this is the BEST banana cake I ever made!

I used the recipe at Spend With Pennies and adjusted it to make it gluten free.  It turned out fabulous!  But if you are not gluten free, use the recipe Holly has on her site because it is awesome!  It actually didn't take much tweaking to make it gluten free, just changed the flour and added some more liquid with an extra banana and an extra egg.  Easy Peasy!

Here is the recipe if you'd like to try it:
For a printable recipe, please click HERE.

This is a really good banana cake, and it keeps well in the fridge!  It stayed fresh and moist for 3 days, until it was gone!
Thanks, Holly, at Spend With Pennies for an awesome recipe!

Gluten Free Buttery Vanilla Pound Cake

I like cake.  A lot.  That is one of the hardest things about being gluten free.  Desserts just aren't what they used to be.  And since I am the only one in my family that is gluten free, most of the time I make dessert for them that is not gluten free.  I just am used to it.

But every so often, I want dessert.  Most often I want cake.  Sometimes pie, sometimes cookies, but most often cake.  Any kind of cake....coffee cake, pound cake, chocolate cake....whatever!

So when I ran across this recipe from Carla Hall for Buttery Vanilla Pound Cake, I knew I had to try it.  I don't get a chance to watch The Chew very often, but I've seen Carla Hall's desserts before and they always look REALLY GOOD!  Her recipe called for store-bought prepared vanilla pudding, and that is what caught my eye.  I have used dry pudding mix in a cake recipe, but never prepared pudding!  And I just had to try it!

The only tweaks I made to her recipe were I used gluten free flour (Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1), and I used 6 eggs instead of 5.  In addition, I made a box of Jell-O Vanilla Instant Pudding and used a cup of that instead of buying ready-made pudding at the store.  For baking, I used a 350 degree oven and baked it for exactly 1 hour and it turned out perfectly.  I opted for her chocolate glaze, and it may be my new favorite glaze for cake.  I LOVED IT!!

This cake rose beautifully, the crumb was very cake-like and not gummy at all, like so many gluten free cakes can be.  It had a very buttery vanilla flavor, and the glaze put the flavor over the top.  If you must know, the next day I made another batch of the glaze and drizzled it over the entire piece of cake I was eating. Because I need a few more calories.  It was totally worth it.

I tried taking a picture of a piece of the cut cake so you could see the texture, but I really take so-so pictures.  Anyway, here is my attempt:

See how moist and cake-like the texture is?  Oh, it is a really good gluten-free cake!

If you want to make this cake the way Carla Hall made it, and I am sure hers is out-of-this-world delicious, here is the link:  Buttery Vanilla Pound Cake.  I wish I could try it!!!

If you want to try my gluten-free version of her cake, my recipe is below.

If you want to print my gluten-free recipe, please click HERE.

This recipe is linked to Meal Plan Monday #103.

Glazed Lemon Cake

The Glazed Lemon Cake I made for dessert tonight is actually called Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake.

I decided to make it gluten free, since I have to eat gluten free and I felt like a special treat on New Year's Eve.  Sometimes I just make desserts for everyone else, since I am the only gluten free eater in our family.  Then I just do without, or eat something different.  But sometimes I tweak the recipe so I can eat it too!

The only changes I made were I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Flour, and I added one more egg.  The rest of the recipe was followed as written.

The batter was like silk:

  It turned out of the pan beautifully:

And then I frosted it:

It turned out great!  Everyone enjoyed it, including all the gluten eaters!  I really like it when everyone can eat it and it tastes delicious!  This cake has a light lemon flavor, and is very moist without being gummy (like sometimes happens with gluten free baked goods).  I will definitely make this again!