Individual Chocolate Cakes with Strawberry Cream
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 4 servings
Ingredients
  • For the cake:
  • ½ cup sugar, divided
  • ⅓ cup water
  • 1 ½ Tbsp dairy free margarine, melted and cooled
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 2 large egg whites
  • ⅓ cup Bette Hagman’s 3 flour gluten free blend from The Gluten Free Gourmet cookbook (see notes for how to make blend)
  • ¼ cup cocoa powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • For the chocolate sauce:
  • ¼ cup water
  • 2 Tbsp sugar
  • 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 Tbsp dairy free margarine
  • ½ tsp sweet rice flour (also called glutinous rice flour, found in Asian markets)
  • For the Strawberry Cream
  • One 14 oz can full fat coconut milk or coconut cream (see notes on what to buy)
  • ⅓ cup strawberry preserves
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • A few fresh strawberries, sliced
Instructions
Please note – the can of coconut milk/cream must be put in the refrigerator a day ahead of time, so the cream separates from the water.
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
To make cakes:
  1. Grease 4 ramekins with margarine and sprinkle with 2 Tbsp sugar. Invert ramekins and tap out excess sugar.
  2. Mix 3 Tbsp sugar, ⅓ cup water, 1 ½ Tbsp margarine and 2 egg yolks in a large bowl.
  3. Mix ⅓ cup gluten free flour mix, ¼ cup cocoa and pinch of salt in a bowl.
  4. Add flour mixture to egg yolk mixture and stir to combine.
  5. Place egg whites in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until foamy.
  6. Gradually add 3 Tbsp sugar, beating and continue beating just until peaks form that do not collapse.
  7. Stir ¼ of egg white mixture in yolk mixture.
  8. Then fold in remaining egg white mixture.
  9. Pour batter into ramekins and place on a sheet pan.
  10. Bake in center of oven at 350 degrees F about 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
  11. Cool on a wire rack.
To make the chocolate sauce:
  1. Mix all ingredients: water through sweet rice flour in a small sauce pan over medium heat.
  2. Heat whisking until mixture thickens. Keep warm.
To make strawberry cream.
  1. Open can of coconut milk/cream from the bottom (the water usually settles on the bottom) and drain out the water.
  2. Spoon out hard cream into a large bowl.
  3. Add ½ tsp vanilla and strawberry preserves.
  4. Beat with an electric mixture on high until it forms a nice fluffy cream.
Please note if you store the strawberry cream in the refrigerator, you may have to rebeat it before use as it may harden.
To assemble cakes:
  1. Run a knife around the edges of the ramekins.
  2. Invert each onto a small plate to release cake.
  3. Drizzle chocolate sauce over cakes.
  4. Cover top of cakes with a few strawberry slices and then a dollop of strawberry cream.
  5. Trim one strawberry slice for each cake into the shape of a heart and insert standing up into the cream and between the strawberry slices underneath (they’ll help hold it in place).
  6. Serve immediately.
Notes
To make Bette Hagman’s gluten-free 3-flour blend mix 2 cups white rice flour, ⅔ cup potato starch flour and ⅓ cup tapioca starch flour. You’ll have some leftover for other baking needs.

Making the coconut cream depends on allowing the fat and water to separate while the can of coconut milk sits in the fridge overnight. Unfortunately most producers have added emulsifiers that can interfere with the settling out. One brand, which still seems to work well is Native Forest. Trader Joe’s sells a coconut cream (higher fat content than coconut milk), which works well. Asian groceries may have brands without the emulsifiers (xanthun gum or guar gum). You may want to buy a couple different brands and try them out. The key thing is you want a thick hard layer of “cream” that you use and a layer of water, which you discard.
Recipe by Savory Nature at http://savorynature.com/2015/02/10/chocolate-cakes-with-strawberry-cream/