Quinoa Chocolate Cake (Gluten free)

Blogging Marathon #25: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Baking with Whole Grains
Dish: Quinoa Chocolate Cake
Chocolate is one of our household favorite ingredient. So when I plan to bake something sweet, I usually look for recipes with cocoa or chocolate chips. For the "Baking with Whole Grains" theme, I hit a jackpot when I searched for Quinoa Chocolate cake. I was hoping to find a recipe which used cooked quinoa, but what I found was this amazing gluten free chocolate cake that used only cooked quinoa and no flour at all.

I was a little skeptical trying this recipe since I've never baked any gluten free cakes and I wasn't sure how the texture would turn out to be. There are quite a few bloggers who have tried this cake and shared their delicious cakes, so after reading their testimonials I decided to give the recipe a try. I'm so glad that I tried it because this cake has to be one of the moistest and decadent chocolate cake EVER, I think it was even better than a cake with flour.

Recipe adapted from here:

Ingredients:

Quinoa - 2 cups, cooked

Milk - 1/3 cup (more to blend cooked quinoa)

Eggs - 4, at room temperature

Butter - ¾cups, 1½ sticks
Pure Vanilla Extract - 1tsp
Sugar - 1½cups
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder - 1 cup
Baking Powder - 1½tsp
Baking Soda - ½tsp
Salt - ½tsp

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 12 cup bundt cake pan or 2 8" round cake pans.
• Quinoa should be cooked a little soft so it is easy to blend into a smooth paste. Grind the cooked quinoa into a smooth paste using an immersion blender. Add milk as needed to get to a smooth consistency.
• Combine milk, eggs and vanilla in a food processor. Pulse until well combined. Next add melted butter and quinoa paste and pulse until smooth and mixed through.
• In a medium bowl, whisk sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 
• Add the contents of the food processor to the dry ingredients and gently mix until just incorporated. Do not over mix.
• Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 50-60 minutes if using the bundt cake pan and 40-45 minutes if using the smaller cake pans.
• Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing it onto the wire rack to cool completely.

I served the cake with a dollop of whipped cream and some berries. It's absolutely delicious!!!!!!!!!!

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up today for BM# 25.