Time to bake: How to create the ultimate gluten-free chocolate cake - The Dallas Morning News

As more people stay home and practice “social distancing,” many of us are turning to baking. And even those who are gluten-free need sweet treats.

This Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake is made with a gluten-free flour blend that will not change the flavor or texture of a traditional rich and moist chocolate cake.

The first step is finding the best gluten-free flour blend that works for your recipe. Although you can create your own flour blend, there are many great store-bought options. Most gluten-free flour blends consist of rice flour, potato starch, sorghum flour and tapioca flour. When baking cakes, cookies or breads, xanthan gum needs to be added into your flour blend if it is not already included in order to create the same consistency of baking with wheat. Xanthan gum is a binding agent that will thicken the batter and act as gluten.

Once you have chosen your gluten-free flour blend, the remainder of the ingredients are all very similar to a traditional chocolate cake. Creating a moist and flavorful chocolate cake is not hard to do when you are combining cocoa powder and boiling water to make it a strong chocolate flavor and adding in additional chocolate chips. Once the cake is baked, a rich chocolate ganache glaze is generously poured over the top, which is then garnished with semi sweet chocolate chips and chocolate sprinkles.

Kristen Massad of Dallas, a pastry chef and graduate of the French Culinary Institute in New York, blogs at joyoliver.com.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

1 3/4 cup gluten-free flour (I prefer Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1)

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup hot water

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Chocolate Ganache Glaze (recipe follows)

Chocolate sprinkles, for garnish

Chocolate chips, for garnish

Heat oven to 350 F and prepare a 10-inch Bundt pan with nonstick spray.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a mixing bowl with paddle attachment, mix the granulated sugar, buttermilk and vegetable oil until combined. Add in the eggs and vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients and mix until incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottoms of the bowl to get any ingredients that are stuck.

While the mixer is on low, slowly pour the hot water in and mix until all ingredients are combined (the batter will be thin). Fold the chocolate chips into the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove the Bundt pan from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before flipping it over to remove the cake.

Once the Bundt cake has cooled, flip the pan over onto a serving plate and allow the cake to release from the pan slowly.

Let cool, then drizzle the top of the Bundt cake with the Chocolate Ganache Glaze. Garnish with chocolate sprinkles and chocolate chips and allow the ganache to cool on the cake before serving.

Chocolate Ganache Glaze: In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring 1 cup heavy cream to a simmer. Once there are bubbles around the edge of the pan, turn the heat off. Pour 2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips into the heavy cream. Allow the chocolate to sit for 3-4 minutes before whisking. Whisk the chocolate ganache until smooth and shiny.

Makes 12 servings.

PER SERVING: 711 calories, 7 g protein, 102 carbohydrates, 2 g fiber, 70 g sugar, 38 g fat (17 g sat fat), 70 mg cholesterol, 505 mg sodium