Double Chocolate Clementine Vita-mix Cake
In February of 2007 I found out I could not eat gluten ever again. Not too long after that I found out I couldn’t eat rice or dairy. For the past 3 years I have learned how to convert my cooking pretty easily to accommodate this. I have finally started to take on baking as the last frontier in the world of making things for myself and my family. Let me say it’s been a very long time since I’ve had a chocolate cake with chocolate icing.
Well the wait is over! Let me tell you, I think I’m in love. This chocolate cake with chocolate glaze is the most moist, delicious cake I’ve ever eaten. It doesn’t have that strange texture you can sometimes get from gluten free baking. My whole family is so excited. They are begging me to make this cake again. I had to search but I found one last bag of Clementines so we’ll be having cake again this weekend, but then not for some time. Not because I couldn’t try it with oranges or another fruit, because we would over eat.
So if I were you I would stop reading this right now, run to the grocery store and grab any clementines left you can find. If you are out of luck, well give it a try with some oranges.
I can thank Shirley from gluten free easily for helping to make this happen. Back in December last year she shared her recipe for Double-Chocolate Clementine Cake on her blog and also through Friday Foodie Fix when the Secret Ingredient was Clementine. As soon as I saw it I knew I was going to have to give it a try. I had already decided 2010 was going to be my year to learn about baking gluten and dairy free.
With my husband’s birthday coming I thought this would be a great cake to make. Now I happen to have a bad habit of not reading the entire recipe when baking before I start and it often gets me into trouble.
OK, ready to go. First thing it said was to cook the clementines for 2 hours. What, we had to leave the house in 1 hour. Well I was not going to finish my day with no cake. Luckily I had just purchased a Vita-Mix Professional 500. I’m still learning all about this wonderful machine but let me say, I don’t know why I waited so long to get one. Yeah, it costs a lot of money but not like buying a car. Save up a little at a time and get yourself one of these gems. Amazing smoothies, sherbets right from the container in 5 minutes and even hot soup! Deep breaths Diane, deep breaths. I’m so in love with this. I really wish I had purchased it at the beginning of my gluten free journey. Eating those amazing green smoothies is so good for your body.
But back to my cake dilemma. So I thought with the soup setting on the Vita-Mix I am able to make steaming hot creamy soups in 5 minutes so why not clementines for this cake. So I scrubbed them, tossed them in with a splash of OJ, set it to hot soup and pushed start. I even Skyped Shirley to ask if this would work. She had not tried it before but was anxious to hear.
When the Vita-Mix turned off, yes it automaticly turns off at the end of the pre-programmed cycles, I had a hot velvelty creamy mixture of clementines that looked divine. It looked so good I had to taste it. Wow, talk about tart. Suggestion, don’t taste it until it’s baked into the cake.
So I baked the cake and cupcakes and set them out to cool. The glaze also called to be made in a sauce pan so I thought, why not. I tossed all of the ingredients into the Vita-Mix and hit hot soup. The most amazing hot chocolate glaze came out of that pitcher I could have shrunk myself and jumped in.
So here is Shirley’s recipe with my adaptations. As a serving suggestion that made this cake even better if you can imagine that, I served it with my Easy Gluten and Dairy Free Whipped Cream that I make from coconut milk.
One more thing that makes this cake even more special to me. After I had made the cake and it sat out a day or two we decided to wait until the following weekend to eat it. I wrapped it and tossed it into the freezer. When we were ready to eat I took it out that morning so it could thaw. It tasted like I had just made it. So are you thinking what I’m thinking. Move over shrimp and fruit, make room for a little more cake in the freezer!
Clementines creamed ready for chocolate cake
This was so effective that I had to take a taste, but don’t. Wait until it’s baked into the cake with a little sweetness.
Dry ingredients for cake
Now if for some reason you already have this mixed together it would be like having your own cake mix that tastes better and costs less.
Chocolate Clementine Cupcakes hot from the oven
I got almost an entire pan of these cupcakes in addition to the cake.
Cooled cake waiting for glaze
When I took the cake out of the oven it was a little higher and then it settled. After it cooled I took it out of this pan to pour the glaze over the top.
Chocolate glaze waiting to be tasted
UPDATE: Made this again with Brad and he added chocolate chips from Enjoy Life. Now it’s a Triple Chocolate Clementine Cake and man was it good.
Cake Ingredients:
5 clementines
1/4 cup orange juice
6 eggs
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/3 cups Honeyville blanched almond flour (or finely ground raw almonds using your Vita-Mix) I tried jk gourmet almond flour and it worked great.
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder- I like Scharffen-Berger
Directions:
Scrub your clementines and cut into quarters. Check for seeds and remove if you find any. Add your orange juice and clementines to the Vita-Mix, secure the lid and select the Soup setting. If you have an older version check the directions for the setting used to make hot soup. This setting takes 5 minutes. You may need to tamper the clementines a little at first but the quickly incorporate.
During that time I mixed together the remaining ingredients, greased and lined my spring-form pan with parchment paper, put cupcake papers in that pan and cleaned my knife and cutting board. When the clementines were done I put them into a bowl so they could cool a little. I was afraid if I mixed them right in with the eggs I would end up with scrambled orange eggs.
Mix everything together and pour it into your prepared spring-form pan or cupcake pan or both like I did. Bake at a 375 degree oven for 40 minutes to 1 hour. With my pan being smaller than the size Shirley used, it took closer to 40 minutes to bake and so did the cupcakes. Make sure you test it with a toothpick that after inserted comes out clean. Shirley’s tip is to cover the cake with foil after 40 minutes so the top doesn’t get too brown.
Now is the time to be patient. Let this cake cool before you spring it loose. But of course the cupcakes are ready a little faster.
Glaze Ingredients:
4 TB of water
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 TB Olive Oil
2 pinches of Salt
This is a double version of Shirley’s glaze recipe. If you are making cupcakes you need more since you are covering more surface area. If you are making just one cake you can go back to a single recipe and cut this in half. But, nothing wrong with a little extra glaze!
Glaze Directions:
Put all of the ingredients into the Vita-Mix and use the hot soup setting. When it’s done just pour it over your cake and cupcakes. Of course don’t forget to put some wax paper under your cooling rack to catch any glaze that might drip off. After it cooled we pulled the paper out and peeled off the chocolate drips. It was like eating Dots. Remember that candy that comes on a long sheet of paper. Not sure if it’s still around but that chocolate glaze was not to be missed.
This is one terrific cake and I hope if you make it you will send us your photos too.
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This was also shared on Gluten Free Wednesdays and Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays.
This recipe looks wonderful and I would love to try it except that I'm allergic to almonds. I noticed that there are alot of great recipes that use almond flour. I wonder if there's another kind of flour that can be used for a recipe like this that doesn't have any nuts in it??
Jen- I'm still learning how to mix and match the gf flours. Check in with Amy at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free and Shirley at gluten free easily or Shauna at gluten free girl and the chef. If you find out some good options please come back and share them.
Oh, what a fabulous job you did, my dear! Just brilliant to use the soup setting of your Vita-Mix and make the modifications necessary to do that! That is definitely gfe all the way. 🙂 I'm glad you've already tested out the freezeability of this cake, too. I think freezing half immediately might be the best way to go … not only for preservation of the cake (it keeps great on the counter, as long as it lasts … he he), but one's own preservation. 😉
Bravo, Diane, bravo!
Shirley
Shirley- I'm over the moon with how this turned out. I'm so glad you shared that recipe and that I was behind as usual. I do love that Vita-Mix. I still can't believe it can make hot food in 5 minutes. It's crazy. If you don't have one it's a must on your wish list. I'm finding more and more things to do with it. I'm wondering if I could make the whole recipe in there. Add the flour first so it cools down and then the eggs. Might try that next.
OK, I'm gaining more confidence in the baking department, somewhat. Still need to know more about the principals behind why certain flours work and not work. But I'm having a blast trying things out. I almost added a photo I shared before of the first gf cake I made and the horrible icing. Brad took a bite and you could see he didn't know if he should swallow or spit it out. It's from 2008 when I started blogging. Here's the link if you want a good laugh. The icing slid off the cake which turned out to be a good thing. http://www.thewholegang.org/2008/08/oh-no-i-need-…
Uh oh. I think I have all of the ingredients to make this. Must…resist…cake…! Congrats, Diane, on your baking endeavors. Sounds and looks AMAZING. Keep it up. Baking with almond flour is actually quite nice – and who needs rice flour anyway? Elana at Elana's Pantry and Karina at Gluten-Free Goddess don't use it in their baking, and I'm imagining if you keep it up, you'll never miss it!
Alta- I really love the almond flour. I've made so many of Elana's recipes and I look forward to more. Just can't over do it on one ingredient. But I do love this cake. I may have to make it all cupcakes this next batch. Maybe they will last longer.
I'm with Alta. I have all the ingredients to make this. Glad to know it freezes well.
wendy
Wendy- If you make it take a photo and send it along. I want to have a gallery of goodness.
Wow, does that look decadent and delicious! 🙂
I don't have a Vita-Mix but am hoping that my food processor will work? I know, I need to get a Vita-Mix….it's definitely on my wish list!
JoAnn- Make sure you cook the clementines. With a Vita-Mix you can cook it right in there but that won't work in a food processor. Follow Shirley's original recipe. Keep that Vita-Mix on your wish list but not for too long. Order yourself one.
Love the story behind the cupcake. 🙂 I would never think to put clementines in a chocolate cake but it looks divine.
I didn't know a VitaMix did that! I want one now. That looks like an amazing cake. Thanks for sharing it on Gluten-Free Wednesday.
wow..wonderful….thank you so much. I am going to try these very soon.
Live Laugh and Enjoy
Fire-Eyes
Fire-Eyes- I just had a slice and it's really good. Let me know how you like it.
wow, this looks really yummy…the combination alone of orange and chocolate already sounds fantastic.
Woah that looks good. Do you know how versatile the vita-mix is with making cakes in general? It seems to be superb for GF recipes, I guess because of the fruit content. I would love to buy a vita-mix but I'm not sure how much it would help in baking?
Debbie- I use my VitaMix a lot. It's great for so many things you want to make. I wish I would have bought one a long time ago when I started living gluten free. I love it for getting really fast and well blended batters. It's perfect for pancakes too. I could give you a list a mile long. Go to the bottom of my blog and follow the link. You can get more info on the VitaMix and if you decide to buy one they will give you free shipping.
Wow! I have wanted a VitaMix for years, but kept thinking I didn't make smoothies enough to justify it (I can't seem to make myself get up early enough to make them before I go to work!). I've seen some of the other things it can do, but have been afraid it would be just like the other "gadgets" I've bought that ended up down in the cabinet for months at a time… including the coffee pot! 🙂 This cake is making me rethink that. WOW does it look good!
Laura you can make tons of things with a Vitamix. I love mine. Made pancakes the other day and a fruit sauce for the pancakes. Once you start making smoothies in a Vitamix you'll never go back. You'll either work it into your morning or even get it ready the night before and mix it in the morning. Green smoothies have made the biggest difference in my life. Of course a cake is fun too. Click the orange circle if you want to buy a Vitamix and that link will take you to the sales page so you get free shipping.
stupid or maybe obvious question, but when you quarter the clementines, are they peeled? It says scrub them and then cut so I'm thinking, why would I scrub them after they've been peeled. Sorry, it's been a long day. Thanks!
No peeling needed. You want the entire clementine. Scrub, cut and toss it in. Have fun!
Two questions: If I substitute oranges for clementines, how many oranges would I use? Secondly, the only springform pans I have are the shallow kind for making cheese cakes. The one shown in the picture is much deeper. Would the cheesecake pan work? I'd like to make this without wrecking it! 🙂
Wow those are great questions and I really don't know the answers. The pan I used was small in diameter but deeper than what you're talking about but that could work. You would just need to adjust the cooking time. As for the oranges I would probably weigh clementines and then use the same weight of oranges. But like I said, not totally sure. You should try it and then you'll know. So what if it's not perfect, you'll have learned more info to use the next time. Let me know how it works.