Gluten free experiment......with chocolate

A very dear friend of mine recently found out he was gluten intolerant which is a tragedy as nothing beats fresh bread with olive oil....especially when waiting for a main meal or to nibble on of an afternoon. Not to mention all the pastry, cakes, slices, biscuits etc. etc. etc. that can't be had. It really would be my worst nightmare, that is why I feel so bad for Andrew, especially since he is in the hospitality industry.

I know some would argue that he is lucky that now there is so much available which is gluten free, and I do agree but come on, nothing compares to the real thing.

Well last week Andrew and his lovely wife had a baby boy, and he is absolutely gorgeous. Of course when I visit I want to take some food to celebrate the occasion, but it took me a while to think of what to make. I can just imagine how much he would be missing bread so I decided to make some gluten free bread...........but that wasn't all. I also wanted to do something with chocolate (the next best thing of course).......flourless chocolate cake anyone? But how to spice it up? I decided to add a nut base by roasting some almonds and blending them with butter, not too much as they should still be course, you don't want a meal, but enough so you can mould them into the ramekin.


Once done I made the flourless chocolate cake and then spooned some mixture into the ramekins. I did not expect them to take long at all to cook, as fondant and souffle's are both under 20mins, so after about 22 mins they were done. I took them out and while hot I couldn't resist but had to break one open.

As soon as I did my eyes instantly went wider as I saw the soft, almost molten, chocolate centre collapse over the plate. The smell just wafted right into my face and that spoon somehow went from one side of the bench onto the plate. Ok so it was 9:30 at night, but really, who could resist. The only thing that would have made this dish better was some creamy vanilla bean ice cream.....

Mind you tonight was only the test. I will redo this recipe on Saturday to take over to Andrew.

The bread however, was not so successful. I used a gluten free plain flour and added yeast, sugar, milk and a little oil to it. It turned out extremely dense and rock hard on the outside. I'm sure it would be fine if you were to toast it, but definitely not up to my standard to give away.

I did also buy white rice flour, xantham gum, chickpea flour and millet flour today, so I will look up recipes which require these ingredients instead and try again on Saturday for some light and fluffy gluten free bread.....

If anyone can help me, or tell me where to find tapioca flour, I would greatly appreciate it.

View recipe here