How to make a gluten-free chocolate cake

A chocolate cherry loaf cake that’s low calorie and gluten and dairy free – we’ve found the ideal lighter treat for the bank holiday 

By Hannah Sherwood

I’m in Bake Off mode, but with an eye on a growing baking trend – gluten-free cakes. So I’ve eschewed my usual sugar, butter, flour and chocolate cake for a lighter recipe, using cocoa and black beans…

In her book Cut the Carbs! Tori Haschka proves you can cook without white carbs and the result will still taste good, filling you up without making you feel bloated or sluggish.

Not that we’re advocating cutting out carbs – a healthy diet needs bread, pasta and rice, preferably wholegrain. Tori adopted a carb-free lifestyle for health reasons, so her book is good for people who have intolerances, particularly to gluten. She says her chocolate, black bean and cherry cake is the simplest cake ever, so I just had to give it a go to see how it compared to a standard chocolate cake.

The prep…

After reading the method and weighing out the ingredients, I begin to understand why Tori declares it a breeze to make; it’s a bung-everything-in-the-food-mixer-jobby (apart from the cherries) and blitz. That’s it!

There’s no flour – instead, you use a tin of black beans (rinsed). It’s also fat free, but there are three eggs so the mixture is rather runny. Unlike some chocolate cakes, this recipe only uses cocoa powder, again helping to keep the fat and sugar levels down. The only slight labour involved was pitting the cherries, but really it was a minor task.

The bake…

The batter was runny, nothing like a normal cake batter, which is thick and creamy, so I was dubious when popping the loaf tin in the oven. 35 minutes later and it had risen slightly and smelt chocolatey and, more importantly, like I wanted to eat it! It turned out of the tin easily, almost resembling a brownie. It’s best enjoyed warm and, as Tori says, would be great served as a dessert with a small dollop of reduced-fat crème fraîche.

The taste factor

The flavour was still good the next day and if I hadn’t told the HFG team it didn’t have flour or any fat in, I’m not sure they would have guessed.

It’s a fab, easy bake and at only 97 calories a slice (based on 10 servings), could almost be classed as a cake that is actually healthy! Compared with a standard slice of chocolate cake with butter icing, you’re saving 210 calories, 15.7g fat, 5.2g saturates and 11.3g sugar…

See and enjoy the recipe here:

1 x 400g tin of black beans, rinsed

3 eggs

100g caster sugar

1 shot (30 ml) espresso or 1tbsp strong filter coffee (you can use decaf if you prefer)

3tbsp cocoa powder

1tsp baking powder (check it is gluten free if cooking for a coeliac crowd)

125g cherries, pitted (can be frozen, and you can also substitute other berries), plus extra to serve

Icing sugar, yogurt, crème fraîche or fresh cherries, to serve (optional)

Equipment

20 x 12.5cm loaf tin, greased and lined with baking paper

1 Heat the oven to 180˚C/fan 160°C/gas 4. Using a stick blender and mixing bowl, blender or food processor, combine all the ingredients except the cherries and blitz until smooth. The batter will appear quite runny, but don’t worry. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and scatter the cherries over the top. Bake the loaf for 35 min, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out with a few fudgy crumbs on it.

2 Leave to cool in the tin for 5 min, then turn it out. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm with more cherries, yogurt or half-fat crème fraîche for dessert, or allow it to cool and enjoy it with a cup of tea.

 

Per serving (based on 10): 97kcal, 2.3g fat, 0.6g sat fat, 12g sugar, 0.2g salt

Low cal, low sat fat, low salt, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free

Cauliflower’s next chapter… Pizza

By Hannah Sherwood

First it was cauliflower rice, now it’s cauliflower-crust pizza – it seems the one-time wallflower vegetable is relishing its time in the spotlight.

It may sound like a strange idea, but swapping traditional pizza base ingredients for a combination of gluten-free flour and, you guessed it, cauliflower is great if you have an intolerance, plus with just 34kcal in 100g, it’s kinder to your waistline and is a nifty way to sneak veg into the diets of fussy eaters. Cauliflower also provides fibre and is a source of potassium, good intakes of which help to control blood pressure when combined with less salt in our diet. It also helps to boost intakes of several B vitamins, including B1, B6 and folate, and is a rich source of vitamin C.

Taking my inspiration from a recipe by Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley, here’s how I got on…

The prep

Coarsely grate or whizz 140g cauliflower in a food processor until it resembles breadcrumbs. I used a food processor, mainly for convenience but also to save covering my kitchen in cauliflower splinters, as I did the last time I attempted to grate the veg! If using a food processor, add 1 beaten egg white, 50g ground almonds, 40g gluten-free flour (I used quinoa flour) and a little ground black pepper, then whiz until combined (or mix together in a bowl).

Be warned, it won’t resemble traditional pizza dough – it’s more of a paste.

The cooking

There’s no rolling or Italian-style tossing involved with this pizza base – you’ll end up in a sticky mess if you try! Instead, line a baking sheet with baking paper, then dollop the cauliflower mixture in the middle and use a spatula to spread it into a 25–30cm diameter circle. It can be a little tricky to work with, but be patient and you’ll get there. Bake in a hot oven (about 210C/fan190C/gas 6) for 15 min or until golden and starting to crisp at the edge. Flip the base and cook on the other side for 5 min more – I found the best way to do this was to cut another piece of baking paper, lay it on top of the base, then flip it so the new piece of paper is on the bottom (peel away and discard the original piece of baking paper).

Now for the fun part – the toppings. You can add whatever you like, but I chose to spread my pizza base with tomato puree, then scatter over slices of tomato, goat’s cheese, grilled aubergine and parma ham, plus a sprinkling of oregano for seasoning (no need for salt with the saltiness of the cheese and ham!). Pop it back in the oven for 5–7 min to heat through, then serve with a simple salad.

How did I rate it?

The cauliflower crust had a lovely flavour and texture, and wasn’t at all stodgy. It sliced and held together well and left me feeling full, but not bloated.

The down side?

The dough was quite sticky to work with – I had to make sure I didn’t spread it out too thinly as it may have broken when flipped over. 

How to make courgetti

By Hannah Sherwood

Struggling to get your five-a-day? Try this nifty way of using cheap, cheerful and seasonal courgettes in place of pasta or noodles…

Shops and allotments are filled with courgettes in July and August. They’re delicious eaten raw, grilled or stuffed – but why not take their versatility to new heights? In round two of my quest for vegetable alternatives to starchy carbs, I’m turning courgettes into ‘spaghetti’ – or as food fashionistas call it, courgetti. Yes, you read that right – this new cool plate filler on the block is delicious served with Italian dishes, or with Asian stir-fries.

Nutrition wise, the figures stack up: a 100g serving of courgetti provides 1.2g fibre, 360mg potassium, 52mcg folate, 100mcg vitamin A and 21mg vitamin C – all for just 18 calories. Courgettes also contain two antioxidants – lutein and zeaxanthin – that help to keep the eyes healthy and protect against age-related macular degeneration, which can cause blindness.

Here’s how I made my courgetti…

The prep bit

One trimmed medium courgette will serve one person. Using a julienne peeler, spiraliser or similar attachment for a mandoline, cut the courgette into strips. (If your knife skills are top-notch, you could cut the courgette into spaghetti style strips by hand.)

The cooking

The quickest and easiest way to cook courgetti is in a frying pan, over a medium-high heat, with a tiny splash of oil – I used garlic-infused rapeseed oil (courgettes contain a lot of water so you really don’t need to use much oil). At this point you can get creative and add herbs or spices depending on the dish you’re cooking. I tossed some crushed garlic and ground black pepper through my courgetti, to go with the spinach, bacon and reduced-fat crème fraîche sauce I served it with. 

How did I rate it?

It’s another delicious veggie alternative to carbs such as pasta or noodles, and is particularly good during the summer as it’s much lighter than pasta.

Tool kit

You need a julienne peeler or spiraliser to get the best courgetti – Amazon and eBay sell them quite cheaply, and Lakeland will be selling one online later this year.

How to make cauliflower rice

By Hannah Sherwood

Cauliflower is having its moment in the sun – it’s the summer food trend that everyone’s talking about. Step aside cauli cheese and the few boiled florets accompanying your Sunday roast. Using it as a healthy ‘carb’ to replace pasta, rice or grains is now in vogue.

At HFG, we’re not into fad diets, but there are some food fashions that are tasty, healthy and make good sense. Cooking cauliflower to make ‘rice’ is one of them.

Our nutritionists give cauliflower the thumbs-up because it’s low in calories (34 per 100g), but high in fibre (2g per 100g). It provides a potassium boost (a mineral that helps keep blood pressure down), it’s got useful amounts of B vitamin folate (crucial for women of child-bearing age as it helps prevent birth defects), beta-carotene (an antioxidant used by the body to make vitamin A, needed for healthy skin and eyes) and lutein (which protects sight).

Here’s how I made it…

The prep bit

Take one cauliflower, peel the leaves off and chop the woody stump off the stalk. Cut the cauliflower in half. Using the coarse side of a grater, grate the cauliflower – watch your fingers – so that it resembles rice. Chop any larger bits leftover with a knife.

The cooking

For ultimate convenience, you could cook the grated cauliflower in the microwave with a splash of water. For more flavour, lightly fry it (that’s what I did). Heat a drizzle of olive/rapeseed oil in a non-stick frying pan, add half a teaspoon of cumin seeds and toast until fragrant, then add 1 small chopped garlic clove and stir in the cauliflower. Cook on a medium to high heat for 3–5 min, stirring. Add 1tsp turmeric, half a teaspoon of garam masala and stir through roughly chopped coriander.

How did I rate it?

Highly! It makes a healthy and substantial change from rice and can be served with a variety of dishes – tagines, curries, salads... On this occasion, I added Indian spices to flavour my cauliflower and served it with a turkey curry.

It doesn’t require any fancy gadgets, either – just a grater!

The down side…

It does require more effort than simply popping a pan of water on to boil rice/pasta/potatoes, and you do end up with little bits of cauliflower dotted around the kitchen. A small price to pay.