Chocolate-Filled Walnut Cookies

Wow.  I thought I'd like these cookies, but I didn't think they would be quite that good.  I've had these walnut cookie molds for four years now, and they sat wrapped in their plastic packaging until this week.  I don't know why it took me so long to try them out.  Of course it's not the molds that make the cookie great, but the recipe.  When filled with chocolate ganache, the flavor is reminiscent of a chocolate chip cookie with walnuts.  As good as that is, I prefer them unfilled because they actually taste close to pecan pie, with that deep brown sugar and nutty flavor.

Top-left: Shnooky with our current cat, Gandalf the Grey. Bottom-left: Shnooky (left) with his big brother, Baby.

Before I go further, I wanted to dedicate this post to my beloved cat Shnooky, whom we lost three weeks ago.  I've been feeling down and a little lost without him, and we'd been together for one-third of my life.  He was as kooky as his name, and he made me laugh a lot.  He was "little buddy" and "sweet pea" to me, and he loved sunbeams and charging squirrels and birds outside the window with his "battle cry."  I even miss him walking all over me, demanding to be fed, as I slept in the mornings.  We feel sad to have lost two cats in two years, but we try to remember them with smiles instead of tears.

Back to the less-sad subject of cookies.  Don't have walnut molds and don't want to buy them?  You don't need to.  After I filled all 50 molds, I used a cookie scoop to make 3 more mounds, and they baked up on the cookie sheet just fine.  I can't tell you about the experience of filling those with ganache, because we ate them first.  Take note, though, that you can't use those cookie scoops (even the "teaspoon-sized" ones) to fill the walnut molds; those will give you too much dough.  Use the teaspoon in your measuring spoon set.  I would have preferred the ease of a spring-loaded scoop.  I also thought I would include these in our Christmas cookie baskets this year, but they appear too fragile to hold up in the mail.  Still, they would make a lovely gift hand-delivered for the holidays.  Or just good for eating on any old afternoon.

Chocolate Hazelnut Melting Moments

As promised from last time, here are the Chocolate Hazelnut Melting Moments.  Chocolate-hazelnut cookies sandwich a creamy chocolate-hazelnut filling.  I'm not sure how these are hazelnut variations of Melting Moments, which I made previously.  The recipes aren't similar, and this hazelnut recipe lacks the cornstarch or Bird's custard powder that you often see in Melting Moments recipes.  The taste and consistency are different, though wonderful in their own way.  They're chocolate and hazelnut, so how could they not be?  They just deserve their own name.

The dough can be a little fussy to work with.  Once the dough starts to get melty and tear, and the rounds don't hold their shape when handled, toss the remaining dough into the freezer, parchment sheets and all, to firm up before cutting again.  It's a little labor intensive, but they are well worth it.

Chocolate Cinnamon Babka

After years of intending, I've baked my second babka in two weeks!  This is the kind I always meant to make, the kind filled with chocolate.  And like so many things I delay, I wonder why I've waited so long.  It wasn't difficult at all.  The babka is rich and soft, and the chocolate has a nice bittersweet flavor that isn't overly sweet.  The exterior is flaky and breaks off in dozens of shard-like crumbs as you cut it.

The most daunting part might be planning the timing, but you can break it up into stages, even two days, by refrigerating the dough.  I made the babka in one straight shot.  And most of the time is inactive -- I made the dough, went out to an appointment, came back and shaped it, worked out at the gym, and came home and put it in the oven.  Babka is a traditional Easter dessert, so you might want to try it this weekend.  Just don't wait as long as I did!

1. The dough before its first rise.
2. The risen dough.
3. The dough rolls out easily, with no sticking or snapping back. A sheet of parchment underneath dusted with flour is helpful.
4. Scatter the chocolate-cinnamon-butter mixture on top, and get ready to roll!

1. Roll up the dough, then use your hands to elongate it.
2. Give the log a bit of a twist.
3. Coil the log into a snail shape.
4. Stand the coil up on its end, then press down to compact into a loaf shape.
5. Move the dough to a loaf pan, then wrap it up for its second rise.
6. The dough after its second rise. Ready to bake!

Chocolate Pots de Creme

If you celebrate Valentine's Day, I hope it was a good one.  I view it as a commercial holiday, but always worthy of a good dessert. In years past I've made desserts that Joe would like, but they're usually flavors that don't appeal to me (like the combination of peanut butter and chocolate).  I did the same this year and will cover that in another post, but this year I also made something for me.  These are Chocolate Pots de Creme I've been eyeing ever since I saw them on Facebook around New Year's.  They are creamy, indulgent, and very chocolaty.  They're also gluten-free.  And they are the easiest thing in the world to make.

The only difficult part is chopping a block of chocolate.  I should stick to buying bars from now on.  You just toss the chopped-up chocolate in the food processor, pour in some hot milk and cream to blend, and you're almost done.  Blend in an egg, some vanilla, and allspice.  Pour into cups or ramekins, and chill for a few hours.  The recipe filled exactly two 6-ounce ramekins, perfect for a Valentine's Day dessert.  But I plan to treat myself to the recipe throughout the year.  Joe also got me flowers for the occasion -- I wonder if I can keep the cats from eating them?

Chewy Chocolate Ginger-Molasses Cookies

Add this cookie to your holiday cookie basket or plan it for your cookie swap. These are simple to make, and the sugar coating gives the cookies a festive shimmer. They are chewy bordering on crisp with an occasional chunk of chocolate. Even my chocolate-hater friend Dorothy loved them, especially the ginger -- they have both ground ginger and freshly grated ginger, but the flavor isn't overwhelming in the least.

On the left, 2¼-inch scoop cookies; on the right, "tablespoon" scoop cookies.
The scoops of dough then get rolled in sugar and baked.

Use good chocolate and good cocoa powder. I used Ghirardelli 60% chocolate chips (I didn't bother cutting up any chocolate like the recipe instructs) and Guittard cocoa powder. I actually don't have the size of scoop the recipe calls for, but I discovered that both your "tablespoon" scoop and a 2¼-inch scoop work just as well. The baking times are the same, but the small cookies come out a little crisper and the larger a little chewier. I preferred the chewy, while Joe could barely keep his hands off the crispy until I'd photographed them. Will you go for chewy or crisper?

Salted Caramel Blondies

These Salted Caramel Blondies tasted even better than I thought they would.  Did you know that feasting is an Election Night tradition in newsrooms?  I was thinking of a simple snack to make and found a recipe for these at Two Peas and Their Pod.  They were so rich, it worked to cut them into about a quarter of the size of the bars you see here.  And they fueled editors and reporters until our boatload delivery of Italian food and North End desserts arrived as the polls closed.  Around midnight, as the coffee supply was refreshed, a coworker was saying she could use a blondie but they were long gone.

I wasn't always a fan of caramel, finding it awfully sweet.  But salt adds complexity, and I'll even say sophistication, to caramel.  And although there are recipes out there that will call for homemade caramel sauce -- and I will often go for the made-from-scratch stuff -- I loved how the caramel sauce came together in the microwave in under 2 minutes by heating caramel squares with a bit of cream.  Perfect for when you've got a hectic Election Night, or just want to curl up with a book, a blondie, and a glass of milk.

Cream Scones with Chocolate Chunks

I fight it every year, but it's hard to be in denial after Labor Day that fall is near.  But as much as I want to hold on to beach days and barbecues, watermelon and peaches, shorts and sandals, I get excited about fall holidays and baking.  These scones are definitely colder-weather food, meant to be enjoyed with a hot cup of tea.

You don't even need a mixer, food processor, or handheld pastry blender to make these because there is no butter.  Simply stir together all the dry ingredients and chocolate, add the cream, and stir until the dough comes together.  The recipe calls for 3 to 4 ounces of chocolate -- go for the higher amount.  A bite of scone that has a hunk of chocolate is wonderfully creamy and bittersweet, but a bite without chocolate is kind of bland.  I chopped up a block of Callebaut dark.

My verdict?  I'm a creature of habit, and I like my currant scones with Devonshire cream.  But these are not at all bad, and you might enjoy them.

Chocolate-Raspberry Roulade

This raspberry roulade is a thin sheet cake spread with raspberry jam and whipped chocolate ganache, sprinkled with fresh raspberries, then rolled up and drizzled with chocolate.  It's the chocolate lover's alternative to yesterday's Blueberry Roulade, and the ganache is crazy good.

You'll want to plan this cake in advance, since the whipped chocolate ganache needs to be chilled for hours. It can also be made a few days in advance.  I've been leafing through Alice Medrich's Bittersweet, and I like her explanations for why chocolate behaves in a certain way, or her adaptations when using a chocolate with a higher or lower cacao percentage.  One thing Medrich points out for this recipe is not to worry if the melted chocolate and cream look too soft to spread, because it won't stiffen until it's whipped -- and it will stiffen more after it's chilled.

I'm going to miss farmers market berries when the cold hits!

Out of these three roulade combinations I've posted, my favorite has been raspberries and cream.  Because I like raspberries more, and the plainer whipped cream really lets the subtle summery flavor shine through.  But this whipped chocolate ganache is so good I'm bookmarking it for other recipes, like piping on top of cupcakes or using as a filling between cake layers.  Use a quality chocolate to really appreciate the flavor.  I used Callebaut.

Blueberry Roulade . . . or make it Raspberry!

This is so good, so easy, and so versatile I've made it three times in the past week now.  And Labor Day will be four.  No, I didn't polish them all off myself, but they were a hit at an intern's farewell party and then a beach picnic.  Nobody believes me that they're a cinch to pull off.  "It's just a sheet cake," I say, "filled with cream and jam and fruit and rolled up."  "Rolled up?" they ask.  "How do you roll up a cake?"

The cake itself is almost fat free -- no butter or oil in the recipe, just eggs.  There's the cream in the filling, but it still comes off feeling light.  And that was really welcome after the ultra-rich Pecan Bars I made last time.  This is just what a summer dessert ought to be, seasonal fruit in a cake that doesn't weigh you down.  And the cake is easy, going something like this: Beat eggs with sugar, then fold in flour with other dry ingredients, scrape into a pan, and bake.

This blueberries and cream variation was really good, but my favorite was the raspberries and cream version.  Dress the cake simply with a dusting of confectioners sugar, or pipe whipped cream on top.  Another possibility?  Come back tomorrow to see how to make this into a Chocolate Raspberry Roulade with whipped chocolate ganache.

Hazelnut Baci

Sometimes summer makes me overlook chocolate.  I get so excited about strawberries, peaches, plums, cherries, and especially watermelon, that chocolate can get relegated to all the months I don't enjoy these fruits in season.  Then I tasted these cookies at a picnic, and liked them so much I had to make them.  Soft, crackly chocolate-hazelnut cookies sandwich a layer of Nutella in little bites.

We enjoyed them at our recent Jane Austen book club picnic at World's End, and boy do we know how to do picnics right.  My contributions were fried chicken, scones, and plum skillet cake.  Rebecca made her "Austen" cucumber sandwiches and the most delicious nectarine-steeped iced tea, and brought real china teacups!  And Mrs. Hot Potato, or "the Mrs.," as she's known on her blog, made these hazelnut baci and lemon-lavender shortbread.  Yum.

The Mrs. adapted her Baci di Cioccolato (chocolate kisses) recipe to use hazelnuts instead of almonds and Nutella instead of ganache.  I followed her instructions but was stumped about measuring out the dough.  The original recipe calls for shaping the dough into logs of a certain diameter and then cutting up pieces.  That sounded fussy, so I can see why the Mrs. used an ice cream scoop.  I didn't know what size she used, and if I wasn't making these on my wacky schedule in the middle of the night I would have asked her.  I used my "tablespoon" scoop, but those turned out too big, like Oreos, and a little flat though they tasted just as good.

Wonder about using sanding or sparkling sugar?  Don't.  I experimented, and it was pretty but too crunchy.

For my second try, I did what I call "the insurance policy": I froze the dough balls to help maintain a round shape and made them in 3 sizes, figuring one of those sizes had to be right.  Turns out using the tablespoon scoop and then halving those pieces makes the perfect two-bite cookie.  And this cookie is definitely making an appearance come Christmas cookie basket time.  Some relatives will be very happy indeed.

Butterflies kept us company during the picnic.

"Fancy Twix," or Salted Caramel Chocolate Shortbread Bars

"Would I like a fancy, homemade version of a Twix?"  I asked Joe recently.  He said yes.  See, I'm not big on candy or candy bars.  My friend Charmie used to say I like "old people candy" -- Werther's and Raisinets.  Hard candies, gummies, and nougat don't do it for me.  I don't even know what makes a Twix different from a Snickers or Milky Way.  But when I saw this recipe at Tracey's Culinary Adventures, I thought the shortbread layered with caramel and chocolate looked pretty damn good.

If Twix tasted like this, I might be more of a candy bar fan.  Wow.  The shortbread is nice and crumbly when you bite into it, the caramel is smooth and rich, and the bittersweet chocolate topped with coarse salt is my favorite.  Don't skip the salt, which transforms the flavors of chocolate and caramel.  Tracey mentioned in her post that she halved the amount of caramel and thought the result was perfect -- I agree, but Joe wanted more caramel.  Depends on how much of a caramel fan you are.  Also, I like mine straight from the fridge because the bars get a little soft at room temperature.

This wasn't difficult at all to make, though you have to make the three components in stages and give them time to set.  I've done trickier candy-making, like homemade marshmallows.  If there's a deterrent to making this again, it's that a pound of butter -- that's right, four sticks -- goes into this recipe.  Two for the shortbread, one for the caramel layer, and one for the chocolate.  You can halve the recipe, but what would you do with the other half a can of sweetened condensed milk?  This will be a repeat in my kitchen, but we'll be giving a bunch away like we did this time.  Spread the love, and the calories.

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Sweet Treats Thursday

Easter Chocolate-Covered Marshmallows

Have you ever had a homemade marshmallow?  The first time Joe suggested we make them, I couldn't imagine their being worth the trouble.  Storebought marshmallows are all right in hot cocoa or crispy rice treats, but otherwise spongey and kind of like styrofoam.  Homemade marshmallows, on the other hand, have a creamy texture inside and are flavored with vanilla or whatever else you put in them.

This chocolate-drizzled chick is nesting in toasted coconut.  It was a fun switch from my blog posting last year, where the marshmallows were just covered in colored sugar and sprinkles.  You can also submerge the bunnies and chicks completely in chocolate.  The thin layer of chocolate will crack and give way to the soft marshmallow, and the two flavors melting in your mouth are incredible.  Give them some Easter flair with colorful nonpareils, or sprinkle the coconut over the chocolate for some fuzzy bunnies and chicks.  Bag them up or tuck them in Easter baskets, and you'll have some happy campers.

For this look, dip a spoon in melted chocolate and let most of the excess drip off.  Then wave the spoon around in zig-zags or swirls, and sprinkle with nonpareils.  For the eye, dip a toothpick in the melted chocolate, then spin the toothpick to get off most of the excess.  Use the toothpick to make a dot on the marshmallow, avoiding any drips.  To cover the marshmallows in coconut, dip them in melted chocolate and then sprinkle with the toasted coconut flakes.  Set aside to dry.

A marshmallow syrup is made, then cooked later with more ingredients to make marshmallows; when that mixture is added to a gelatin mixture in the stand mixer, it steams and bubbles up furiously; after 10 minutes of whipping, the mixture has billowed into white marshmallow; the marshmallow is extremely sticky and must be spread out quickly in the pan before it begins drying and setting.

A couple more tips.  Don't even try to get every last bit of marshmallow off that beater and bowl -- it ain't gonna happen.  It's also not worth it.  You'll get marshmallow strings everywhere, and your marshmallow slab will begin to dry and set.  Also, when smoothing out your marshmallow into a slab, wet hands are your best friend.  Get your hands very wet with water, then use them to smooth the marshmallow out quickly.

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Sweets for a Saturday

Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie

"Oooh, big cookie," Joe said as he walked past the cooling skillet.  This just looks like a fun recipe.  It's also easy to throw together, and you save a little time from the usual scooping of smaller cookies onto a baking sheet.

The drawback?  It's a bit dry.  The original recipe didn't have any such complaint in its reviews, so I hope it wasn't because I replaced a quarter of the flour with white whole wheat flour.  Or maybe other people used skillets that weren't cast iron -- which conducts more heat -- like I did?  Some people even commented that they used pie pans.  Maybe because I decided to forgo the ice cream and caramel sauce.  If you have a skillet variation you recommend, leave me a comment.  I'd like to give this another go!

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Sweets for a Saturday

Black Bottom Tart

This is one heck of a tart.  The flaky pastry shell is topped with a layer of chocolate pastry cream, then a layer of rum-flavored cream, and finally piped with  whipped cream.  I will say I wish there was more chocolate filling and rum flavor, but it's still delicious.
(Update 3/12/12: I had a mini-tart made from leftover dough and filling, and tipping a tablespoon of the rum in the cream before whipping gives it the needed oomph!)

You can halve the recipe like I did, since I have only one of those tart pans.  When halving recipes, there's always a dilemma like "how do I halve 3 egg yolks?"  I went with one egg yolk and the whole tablespoon full of rum, and the recipe seems forgiving.  It takes some time to make all the components, but your reward will be sweet.  If you want to go an easier and more chocolatey route, I highly recommend this Chocolate Cream Pie.

For a primer on making chocolate curls, I like  Pioneer Woman's how-to post.  I started out with just chocolate, and it kept shattering instead of curling.  I couldn't believe it, since this wasn't my first time making them.  Maybe because my new place is so dry?  After repeated attempts, I threw my hands up and told Joe I was ready to down the airplane-sized bottle of rum I bought just for this recipe.  He told me to go for it.  Anyway, I thought there was something to the Pioneer Woman using shortening in her chocolate curls, but shortening creeps me out and I didn't have any.  So I used a pat of butter, and lo and behold the chocolate curled!

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Ruby Cake with Hidden Chocolate and Raspberry Filling

I made this cake for a potluck at work, and at the end of our glutton-fest and my shift I placed the leftovers in my covered portable cake dome and left it on my desk.  I thought it would be safe there from the daytime shift, and my colleagues could eat the rest the next day.  When I returned that next day and looked at my desk, I was amused to find there was less cake than I remembered!  I put it back out on the communal table, and a few minutes later I saw a higher-up (who shall not be named) pass by and cut a piece, then shove it whole into his mouth.  Hmm ... maybe that explains the cake shrinkage.

The Ruby Cake is a buttery bundt with a dense and moist crumb, and a bit of tang from some sour cream.  It gets its name from a hidden filling of raspberry jam and chocolate.  I'm not sure whether it's the nature of this cake, or if I was too careful with keeping the filling away from the walls of the cake pan so it wouldn't burn, but the filling takes up very little of the cake.  Plus it rose up through the batter while baking.  I simply wanted more of the chocolate and raspberry.

Clockwise from top left: the cake batter; piping in circles of batter; digging a trough and adding jam to it; topping the jam with chopped chocolate.

I LOVE this beater attachment.  If you have a stand mixer, get one of these beaters that scrapes the bowl as it mixes.  No need to stop the mixer and scrape the bowl periodically.

Next, more circles of batter are piped on top, then smoothed. In the final step, a chopstick is inserted into the batter in swirling motions to distribute the chocolate and raspberry filling.

I have to say I think you can dispense with the piping bag and circles, and just scoop the batter in.  The extra steps -- scraping the batter into a bag, piping the batter, then washing the bag later -- seemed unnecessary.

Bundts also call to mind this baking pan I saw recently at the Museum of Science's exhibit on Pompeii.  This is what I would have used in Roman times!

For me this cake was good but not amazing, though that could change by doubling up on the chocolate and raspberry next time.  But that's just my opinion; you might also want to ask the person involved in the cake's disappearing act.

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Themed Baker's Sunday

Frozen Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pie

Ladies, does this situation sound familiar to you?  You've baked something for an event, a potluck, or a friend or relative, and your fella asks you where that's going or says he would have liked some?  When Joe saw the heart-shaped cookie cutters and ate some of the chocolate cutouts from the Two-tone Linzer Hearts I made for my sister, he was a bit envious.  I had something different in mind for him though.  Since he liked the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups that I made for Valentine's Day last year so much, this Frozen Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pie sounded like a winner.

People with Celiac will rejoice to hear this pie is gluten-free.  For the base, I used storebought gluten-free cookies that I had intended for a different purpose and recipient but never got around to.  But the Pamela's brand cookies were surprisingly delicious, so I used them.

I also made the recipe into four small pies, and you won't finish even one pie in a single sitting because they're so rich.  Two were made in 5-inch pie plates, and two in mini-springform pans that showcase the beautiful sides and base of the pies.

Joe was impressed with the beautiful pies, plus he went back for seconds.  I think I came out on top because my gift was a heart pendant, plus some of you might recall I'm no fan of mixing chocolate and PB.  And, I just might make those Linzer Hearts again.

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Themed Baker's Sunday

Two-tone Linzer Hearts

Every year the twin sister pesters me to make linzers around Christmas.  I think she now expects them around Valentine's Day, too!  I've done linzers a couple times on this blog before, but when I saw these beautiful Chocolate and Vanilla Linzer Hearts on Butteryum I had to make them.  I can just hear the sister complaining about changing up her favorite recipe, but I think she should count herself lucky that she gets any cookies.  I mean, how many people send you linzers without fail every year?

I used my usual King Arthur Flour recipe with the hazelnut dough, but adapted Butteryum's idea to make half of the dough chocolate.  Guittard cocoa powder gives it an intense, chocolatey hit that mortal cocoa powders might not.  The chocolate cookie is further contrasted with the hazelnut layer by a shower of snowy confectioners sugar.  And the little cutout chocolate hearts are pretty darn cute.  I think the sister will enjoy these anyway.

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Sweets for a Saturday

Gluten Freedom: Kiss Me, (Chocolate) Cake!

I'd like to welcome WASB's newest contributor, Shannon, who will write Gluten FREEDOM! on Fridays.
Without further ado...

Hello, and Welcome to the first edition of Gluten FREEDOM!, a new feature on the fabulous "What About..." blog ^_^

Why gluten free? Well, to begin with, 1 out of every 133 people have a gluten allergy or Celiac disease (or so my box of Potato Buds tells me). An even more truly disturbing statistic is that 1 in every two gluten free product tastes like... well, lets just say they aren't very good. If you have ever eaten these so called 'baked goods' then you know what I'm talking about: chalky or gritty texture, dry, crumbly body, and often it tastes nothing like the yumminess we're craving.

Well, I aim to change that. I say: take command of our culinary destinies! Rise up, my afflicted brethren and say "NO!" Say "I'll Pass, Thank you Very Much!", to heathen dishes and lackluster confections! With my spatula held high, I vow to lead the way and share with you my secrets for gluten free baking and cooking so delicious that your friends will never suspect a thing!

To that end, let us begin with this decadent chocolate cake. Rich, fudgey and moist, it tastes exactly like a traditional cake made with flour. I made this for my Mom's birthday and even my Dad, who is normally very leery of gluten free foods, DEVOURED it! It's just that good, I promise. It's based off of a cake from a Hershey's cookbook that my mother used to make years ago, however since that book is lost the recipe has been adapted from memory.

First up, the ingredients:

3 cups of TIGHTLY PACKED dark brown sugar

2 sticks of softened sweet (unsalted) butter

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 eggs (lightly beaten)

2 3/4 cups of a good, finely milled gluten free flour mix

• ( I prefer either "Gluten Free Pantry" or "Better Batter"'s blends, but you can always try something else or even make your own blend. Just make sure the flours you use are the finest texture you can possibly get -- this is crucial to the end texture of the cake.)

3/4 cup Dutch Processed Cocoa

1 tablespoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cup sour cream (use the full fat kind - no one ever said this was gunna be dietetic guys)

1 cup boiling water

Okay now here's the part where I confess that I am an incredibly lazy baker. If there is a way for me to do less steps, I will take it. Fortunately, this turns out to be a blessing for gluten free baking, because if there is one thing you want to avoid it's over mixing. I think it has to do with the xanthan gum- that stuff can get reaaaaally gross.

Anyway, here's what you do. First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Take all the dry ingredients and put them in a bowl (sugar remember, counts as a wet ingredient in baking). If your cocoa looks like this:

Don't stress it. And sure, you COULD sift it, but why? It just adds another step! Go ahead, save time ad just dump it all an a bowl and whisk away until your mixture is mostly combined. The big clumps will break up and a few small ones are not the end of the world.

In a separate large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar as if you were making cookies. (After getting the butter in the bowl, use the papers from the butter to grease your cake pans - standard 9 inches work fine and deep walled ones are ideal. After buttering the pans, toss some cocoa in them and move the pans in a circular motion while tapping away at the sides and bottom of the pan to evenly distribute the cocoa. This will ensure a clean release after baking.) Add the vanilla and then add your already beaten eggs. To this mixture, add about half of the dry mixture (or a third if it seems easier for you). Mix until it's just coming together and then add some of the sour cream. Again, mix until just together and then add more of the dry. Keep alternating until all of the mix and sour cream are just combined into the batter. DO NOT OVER MIX!

Finally, CAREFULLY measure out one cup of boiling water. If you're mixing by hand, add the water slowly in two installments. If you're using a stand or hand mixer, just add it nice and easy on low. You want minimal air bubbles here. Gently pour the mixture into your prepared pans, using a spatula laid across the top if the pans to help eyeball even distribution and to make sure you don't overfill the pans.

Carefully put your pans in the oven and bake for around 45-55 minutes, but DO NOT OVER BAKE! If you know your oven tends to bake things more quickly, than start checking for doneness at 35 minutes. Use the standard toothpick or skewer method (insert into the center of cake and remove from oven when you see no uncooked batter left on the tester but ideally when the cake is still moist enough to leave crumbs on the probe of your choice.)

Ah... the smell alone will drive lesser mind wild! Cool on a wire rack for about ten minutes, then upend out of their pans to cool the rest of the way. They should slide right out, but if not take a skinny spatula and gently run it along the edge where cake meets pan.

If your cake has baked up too high and has formed a "lip", wait until it is completely cooled and remove the extra with a sharp, serrated knife. Eat this bit as your reward for a job well done :)

Now, you can frost this cake any way you want to with any kind of frosting - even one from a can if you must, but for the love of all things yummy why would you frost it with anything other than chocolate?? And frosting can be really easy to make! Here's a very simple butter frosting recipe:

Take two sticks of softened butter and beat until fluffy. Add one box of confectioners sugar. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Add as much dutch processed cocoa as you want until you reach your desired level of chocolatey-ness. If you really want to add some serious chocolate taste, go ahead and melt yourself a square of bakers chocolate and add that to the frosting (be careful not to add it when it's still too hot!) You might want to double this recipe if you like a lot of frosting on your cake.

Decorate your cake or leave it plain. A simple Hershey's kiss on the top is a charming touch. Serve any way you like, or just eat it with your bare hands! Either way, I hope you and your loved ones will enjoy this recipe as the first of many that will give us "Celiacies" and gluten free eaters back our Yumm!