Transforming a chocolate, all-purpose-flour cake into a gluten-free treat

If you’re like me, often asked to bring the dessert to a party, you might also have noticed that there are more requests for gluten-free desserts. Of course, that could be a flourless cake. Or a terrific fruit salad. Or ice cream.

But the other night I wanted to bring a Bundt cake. In part, that’s because I’d like to get gluten-free baking to be a broader part of my choices. So I took an easy recipe from the food site Food 52. It’s called “Chocolate Bundt Cake,” and it comes from “KelseyTheNaptimeChef,” which might correctly lead you to believe it’s no muss, no fuss.

It’s got cocoa power and a cup of strong black coffee, along with the usual ingredients, including 1 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour. I added an unmeasured scoop of cinnamon (1 or 2 teaspoons, or somewhere in the middle to spark the chocolate flavor a little). And instead of the flour, I used a half cup of ground almonds and 1 1/4 cup of Cup4Cup, an all-purpose flour substitute that has no gluten and comes from the kitchens of chef Thomas Keller.

It cooked in 45 minutes, just like the original. And the diners were … really happy. To my taste, it wasn’t quite as wonderful as I’d like a moist chocolate cake to be, but it was pretty darn good. One test of my baking I often use is whether the host asks me to take it home or wants to keep it. It was helped along by generous dollops of really good, hand-whipped cream. And that’s the time to splurge an extra dollar or two on good cream.

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