I wasn't going to post this recipe for a couple of days, but I just had to. You'll soon see why. The other day whilst I was talking to David he told me that he had a recipe for me that I absolutely had to try out because it was just so incredibly phenomenal. He was just raving about it like crazy.
David's best buddy is called Paolo, and he's allergic to gluten. His girlfriend Robin, who is also David's housemate, decided to find a gluten-free cake recipe to make just for him, because she is awesome like that. I should also note that I have never met Paolo or Robin, but heard so much about them (plus David's other Canadian friends) that I almost feel like I have. Almost. Anyway, Robin found, with the help of her Momma, a gluten-free quinoa chocolate cake recipe, and, true to David's word, it is awesome. Now is that a great girlfriend, or what?
I've done my fair share of good girlfriend deeds, mostly in the form of cooking, because Lord knows I love to feed, but I've never specifically had to make something for someone because of a dietary issue.
There is something very satisfying about being able to present somebody with something unexpected. The memory is something that sticks with you, because you can still remember just how surprised and happy the other person looked. It's a great feeling, a real meal for the soul. Maybe that's why when I've cooked for others I often don't feel as hungry myself. That and the fact that I've been around cooking smells all day...
Now this recipe calls for a very interesting ingredient: quinoa. I've never used quinoa before, barely really eaten it (I don't eat a lot of tabbouleh), so I was intrigued to discover how it would turn out. The end result had a beautifully nutty texture and was so ridiculously moist. It was just perfect. Confession time: before discovering that quinoa was pronounced 'kin-wah' I always thought it was 'kin-oh-ah'. Yep. That's just how unversed in Middle-Eastern cooking I am.
A couple of substitutions - Robin uses a little maca in her version, but I couldn't find any so I went without. I also substituted real milk for soy milk, because that's my intolerance. Also, and this is really just a personal preference: I am a real one for manual labour. When I say that I mean that when things must be whipped I do them by hand, crushed and minced, I do them by hand. It gives me a personal satisfaction. But I actually used my little hand immersion blender to blend up the ingredients, because I wasn't sure what was going to happen with the quinoa, then, to even things out, did everything else by hand. So it's your choice, but you probably do need a food processor of some kind for this one.
Anyway, you should definitely try this cake out. I was so pleased with the results I'm definitely going to be making this again, probably also for one evening during the ten-week catering job I'm doing at the end of the month (details to come next post). Get your quinoa out and bake it up, baby cakes!
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Seeing Science Everywhere
11 years ago
