Gluten Free Black Forest Cake: Yum!

Wow! My husband and I have been married for a year now! Our wedding cake was a delicious gluten-filled Black Forest Cake from in Creve Coeur.  They have some of the best desserts I have ever tasted. 

The original plan was to have La Bonne Bouchée make a new cake for our wedding anniversary. However, we could have never imagined I would not be able to eat the cake a year later due to my gluten intolerance. I decided to take my chances and make our own gluten-free Black Forest Cake from scratch. 

I was very happy to find all of the ingredients at Dierbergs. The cake turned out amazing and you would never know it was gluten free. My husband said it tasted even better than our wedding cake, but he’s my husband, so I am sure he is biased. 

We had also agreed that if he did not shove cake on my face on our wedding day (I did not want my makeup to be messed up), he could shove as much cake as he wanted in my face on our anniversary. He happily obliged as you can see in the picture. Happy baking!

Ingredients:

The cake:
1 1/2 cups white rice flour
3/4 cups tapioca flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1 cup cocoa
2/3 cup mayonnaise
1 cup milk (dairy, soy or rice)

The frosting and filling:
2 blocks cream cheese (or substitute)
4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa
1 can cherry pie filling (gluten free)

The chocolate shavings:
1 bag of chocolate chips
2 tablespoons of vegetable shortening

To make the chocolate shavings:

Melt the bag of chocolate chips and the vegetable shortening in a chocolate melter (a sauce pan will work as well, however the chocolate melter reduces the chances of the chocolate getting too hot). Line a loaf pan of plastic Tupperware with aluminum foil. Pour the melted chocolate into the dish and refrigerate for 2 hours. Once the chocolate has hardened, take a vegetable peeler along the edges of the chocolate chunk.  Change sides often as the heat from your hand will melt the chocolate.

To make the cake:
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Mix all dry ingredients except the cocoa and sugar in one bowl. Cream the eggs, sugar, mayo and cocoa in another bowl. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture, alternating with the milk. Whip together with an electric mixer for at least 5 minutes or until well blended. Pour into 2 nine-inch greased pans, bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, take cakes out of the pans and allow to cool for another 10 minutes.

Make the frosting:
Whip the cream cheese, sugar and cocoa together until well blended. Add water until the frosting is a thick, spreadable consistency; usually about a half a cup. Fill a frosting gun or bag with about 1/3 of the frosting and refrigerate till ready to use.

Assemble the cake:
Set one layer of cake on a plate. Spread a thin layer of frosting over the top of the cake, and frost the sides. Using the frosting gun or bag, pipe a rim of frosting around the outer edge of the cake (this is to hold the filling in, so don't skip this step!). Pipe swirls around the bottom of the cake. Fill the top of the first layer, inside the rim of frosting, with about 1/2 of the can of cherry pie filling. Place the second layer of cake on top. Put a layer of frosting on top of the second cake, and frost the sides. You will need to add extra frosting to the area where the two layers meet, to cover the gap and make sure no filling escapes. Pipe a rim of frosting around the top layer of the cake and add the rest of the cherry pie filling. Add the chocolate shavings on top.