Wednesday, February 25, 2009

GF Peanut Butter Chocolate Monkey Cake

My baby turns 2 today, and to celebrate my wild child, I decided on a monkey cake. She's really a climber, and gets into everything, and so she's my monkey. I found some cute ideas on the web, and then adjusted them to my own tastes, as well as making it gluten free. If you can't tell by now, special occasion cakes are my favorite, and I really love making cute cakes for my kids, but they still have to taste delicious.

I started off with my favorite chocolate cake recipe. These girls developed such a great recipe, that I just don't mess with it. Now, I didn't want a full two layer cake for this and so I actually ended up shaving cake off each 9 inch layer, and putting the leftovers in tupperware to save for a trifle later. For 2 9in round cake layers I bake them for 25 minutes, especially when I'll be cutting some off, it's best to make sure that the cake cooks completely and doesn't sink in the middle.

After letting the cake layers completely cool, I made the peanut butter frosting. I thought that peanut butter would be the perfect complement to my chocolate cake, and that it would be just the right color for my monkey's face. I'm always looking for great new frosting recipes, and therefore I'm usually trying new ones out while I'm making something special like this. I tried a recipe from the Cake Doctor that was really great before, but wanted to try something new. Martha Stewart Living last month had a whole section on cupcakes, and I decided to try out her frosting recipe, it looked like a good color for what I wanted. So, I used her recipe. I covered the entire cake with it, and while it was still soft, drew a face outline in the cake, and placed my chocolate wafer eyes on it for a reference point. I was honestly a little bit disappointed in the flavor, which I found wasn't sweet enough. I had intended to cover the cake with chocolate frosting, but wanted to make sure that it would taste really great to bring the whole cake together. I really wanted to use a ganache, because I happened to have plenty of heavy cream on hand, and decided that I would just let it cool in the fridge for a while, and try it out.

3/4 c heavy cream
8 oz (1 1/2 cups) Hershey's special dark chocolate chips
1 Tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it starts to boil. Be sure to stir the cream so that no skin forms on it. Remove from heat and pour over the choloate chips and add the corn syrup. Stir until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. You can leave it like this, but I added the vanilla to make it a touch sweeter. Stir the vanilla in after it's smooth.
In order for me to be able to use the ganache as a frosting, I let it cool in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Then, I simply used a butter knife to spread it around the face, and then down the sides. I then spooned a small amount into a ziplock sandwich bag, cut the tip off, and drew in the simple nose and mouth. I baked my favorite flourless peanut butter cookies, and pushed them into the sides of the cake to create the ears.

It's a simple, fun kid's birthday cake, that I'm also planning will taste wonderful for all the grown-ups who'll be eating it.By the way, everyone loved the cake, though the adults appreciated it the most. I thought it was worth adding a cutaway of the cake to see the layers of the peanut butter frosting and the texture of the cake. Wouldn't even know it was gluten-free!

8 comments:

Melissa said...

So cute, I can't wait to try this cake! Happy Birthday to the cute little monkey also-

ABSOLUTELY NOT MARTHA said...

hi! just wanted to mention that I’m doing a post about favorite gluten free food products on absolutely not martha. I’d LOVE to hear what yours is--just leave me a comment (if you haven’t already).

ABSOLUTELY NOT MARTHA said...

thanks, megan, for telling me your gf fave!

Unknown said...

This is too freaking cute! I want to make one for my husband.

ABSOLUTELY NOT MARTHA said...

hi there! thought you may like to check out today's celiac spotlight on ANM.

~Mariah~ said...

I just found your blog and I am really excited to try out some of these recipes! This one, in particular, is adorable! And I really like your philosophy of not settling for anything but the best taste in your gluten-free goods! That's awesome!

I know you already have a couple of gluten-free blogs listed on your site, but I wanted to tell you about mine too. It's It's called "Gluten-Free from A to Z." My boyfriend and I review gluten-free products, recipes, and restaurants. I'd love for you to check it out: http://glutenfree-a-z.blogspot.com/

Also, I want to start a list of useful gluten-free blogs on my site. Would it be ok for me to add yours? Would you be willing to add mine? Please let me know!

glutenfreeAtoZ@gmail.com I look forward to hearing from you!

Dr.Rutledge said...

Hi Megan,

I'm a physician and former faculty member at Harvard and Stanford Medical Schools. I discovered your blog while looking for the best health writers on the web. I reviewed your posts, and think your writing would be a great addition to the Celiac Disease Community on Wellsphere, a top 5 health website that has nearly 5 million visitors monthly. If you would like to learn more about how you can join our Health Blogger Network, republish your blog posts and be featured on the Wellsphere platform, just drop me an email at dr.rutledge@wellsphere.com.

Cheers,
Geoff

Jenny said...

OMG this is so cute I can't stand it. Must make for my boyfriend now!!!