Chocolate Quinoa Cake...Gluten-Free

Chocolate Quinoa Cake... Gluten-Free.  Since I've shared a couple of savory recipes using quinoa, I thought to also share a dessert recipe.... just to balance things out a bit:). Actually, I made this recipe quite a long time ago, just never got the chance to post it... photo isn't the best, but the idea is there. You can easily make a fancy version of this cake by frosting it with your favorite frosting. But if you don't want to frost the cake, then you can just serve it as an everyday snack cake, with a simple sprinkling of powdered sugar... and maybe a scoop of ice cream with a few berries:).

The recipe is simple to prepare... you'll just need to cook some quinoa and then blend the ingredients until smooth. There's no need to worry about over-mixing.... no gluten to worry about. The cake freezes well, so it's nice to be able to know that you can make it ahead and then frost later. The only thing is about this cake is that it contains quite a bit of sugar. I suppose it's there to balance out the amount of cocoa powder. But I ended up using quite a bit less sugar for mine( it will make the cake have a more bitter cocoa flavor, but I don't mind). I've posted the recipe with the full amount of sugar, and will leave the sugar amount to everyone's preference:).... if you cut down the sugar, you may want to us a bit less of the cocoa.

In case you're  interested, you can see another version of this cake that was baked by Megi from LindenTea... with agave, coconut oil and a bit less cocoa.  Really nice cake... for being gluten-free, I think it's great. Hope you enjoy...        

Note: The coconut is my personal addition, feel free to leave out... also, I added 1 TBS orange zest to mine. 

You will need: inspired by blog.babble and originally from the book Quinoa 365

2/3 cup golden quinoa

1 1/3 cup water

1/3 cup milk

4 large eggs

2 tsps pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup butter, melted and cooled

1 1/2 cups sugar*

1 cup cocoa powder(I used DARK Hershey's)

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup coconut, optional (I added)

*I only used 3/4 cup, but feel free to use the whole amount, especially if you are not frosting it or if you like yours sweeter.

Directions:

1. Wash and rinse quinoa well... do a few rinses.

2. In a saucepan, add quinoa and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes and then turn off heat and leave the covered saucepan on burner for an additional 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and allow the quinoa to cool.

3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. 
Lightly grease two 8-inch round or square cake pans and line with parchment paper.

4. Combine the milk, eggs and vanilla in a blender or food processor.... at this point I also added some orange zest. Add 2 cups cooked quinoa and the butter and continue to blend until smooth.... try to get it as smooth as you can( I didn't so you can see some of the quinoa flecks in the cake:).

5. Whisk together the sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Add the contents to the blender/food processor and mix well.

6. Divide the batter between the 2 pans. Bake on the center oven rack for 40 to 45 minutes or until a knife( toothpick) inserted in the center comes out clean.

7. Take cake out from oven and cool completely in the pan. Frost if desired. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 1 month.