Vanilla and chocolate spiced surprise mini cakes for the 3 years old of the blog (gluten free, dairy free, vegan)

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    As I was saying yesterday in my article dedicated to the 3 years anniversary of the blog, I wanted to share a recipe easy to do, a little original and that can me enjoyed by everyone whether you are gluten intolerant, dairy intolerant or vegan.


   I had already baked a "hidden cake" as a large cake with wheat flour, eggs and dairy but hadn't published the recipe and the photos as it sometimes happens for varied reasons.  

   Anyway, nothing genius in this recipe apart from the surprise hiding in the cake that is revealed when cut in half, it can be another shape and or another color, flavor...



   To propose a gluten free version, I used different gluten free flours, I used to make the mistake to only use one before when I made some gluten free recipes but it's better to use 2 or 3 (chickpeas, rice, corn, chestnut, quinoa, coconut...) to have the different nutrients and properties from each and add some corn or potato starch or even arrow-root. You can also, of course, use your favorite pre-made gluten free mix from the supermarket.


   If you want to prepare a hidden cake as a long cake to share, you can use this recipe or also a basic yogurt cake recipe, this is what I did before making the right adjustments to remove the wheat flour, the eggs and the butter. First, you must pre-cook the "inside cake" than slice it and cut shapes with a cookie-cutter. Then you can prepare the "outside cake", you pour 1/3 of the batter into cupcakes or muffins liners or muffins pans, then you place all the cut shapes in line and you pour the rest of the batter on them to cover the cake shapes.


For the mini-cakes version, I proceeded differently, I'll explain it in the recipe. 

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Vanilla and chocolate spiced surprise mini cakes

Prep time : 10 min + 10 min
Cook time : 25 min + 20 min
Serving : 10 mini cakes


Espelette chili cocoa cake

- 1 soy yogurt
- 6 tsp unsweetened apple sauce
- 40 g (1,41 oz) neuter oil or unsweetened almond butter (or other nuts)
- 80 g (2,82 oz) organic blond whole cane sugar
- 60 g (2,12 oz) almond powder
- 75 g (2,65 oz) unsweetened cocoa (you can use sweetened cocoa and skip the sugar in addition)
- 75 g (2,65 oz) gluten free flour mix + starch (I used 25 g (0,88 oz) chickpea flour + 25 g (0,88 oz) whole rice flour + 25 g (0,88 oz) potato starch)
- 1/2 pack gluten free baking powder (about 5 g (0,18 oz))
- 2 pinches of Espelette chili

• In a mixing bowl, mix the wet ingredients (yogurt, apple sauce, oil).

• Add the dry ingredients (sugar, almond powder, cocoa, flours, starch, baking powder and spice), mix well enough to have an homogeneous batter.. 

• Pour it in a greased and floured gratin dish or covered with baking parchment. Bake in a warm oven for 20 to 25 min at 180°C/350°F. The cake must be a little undercooked but not too must to be able to cut shapes with the cookie-cutter.

• Let it cool down and then cut shapes and set aside. You can keep the scraps to make pop-cakes if you like them or just eat them with a cup of tea or coffee.

Cake vanille

- 1 soy yogurt
- 6 tsp unsweetened apple sauce
- 40 g (1,41 oz) neuter oil or unsweetened almond butter (or other nuts)
- a few drops vanilla extract
- 80 g (2,82 oz) organic blond whole cane sugar
- 60 g (2,12 oz) almond powder
- 150 g (2,65 oz) gluten free flour mix + starch (I used 25 g (0,88 oz) chickpea flour + 25 g (0,88 oz) whole rice flour + 25 g (0,88 oz) potato starch)
- 1/2 pack gluten free baking powder (about 5 g (0,18 oz))

• Proceed as you did for cake #1 by mixing first the wet ingredients and then mixing-in the dry ones.

• Pour the 1/3 of the batter into cupcakes or muffins liners or pans, place a cocoa cake shape in each liner/pan and cover with the rest of the vanilla cake batter. 

• Bake again at 180°C/350°F for 15 to 20 minutes, test the cooking with a toothpick that must come out crumbless.

• Unmold the mini-cakes and let them cool down on a wire rack before enjoying them!! 

 

 And so here is the long cake version I made two years ago on a traditional yogurt cake basis :

      

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