Baking Love

I found the recipe for this cake at Epicurean Escapism who found it at My Kitchen: My Laboratory. Annie, of My Kitchen: My Laboratory says it is a twist she made to Alice Medrich’s Butter Cake. She calls it Oreo Butter Cake. I found the contrast of the Oreos with the white cake striking.

This was my first recipe using amaranth flour and I have to say I like it. To me it has an undertone that reminds me of sawdust, grass clippings, or metal, which could be the extra iron it has. I don’t know if I would use it in everything. More experiments!

I forgot to add the vanilla! Adding it at the end is not usual for cakes. The cake was good but it would have been better with the vanilla. (I make my own vanilla extract using vodka or rum and vanilla beans. Put 6 sliced vanilla pods in a small glass container, fill up with vodka or rum, place in a dark spot and shake every so often. Fill up with more vodka or rum as you use it.) I used full fat yoghurt instead of the nonfat. I didn’t have enough cookies for the top of the cake but it is still a good cake.

Black and White Oreo Cake

225g (2 cups) gluten-free flour blend(I used 1/3rd amaranth flour, 1/3rd cornflour (corn starch), and 1/3rd sweet rice flour)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons xanthan gum

85g (3/8 cup) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

170g (3/4 cup) sugar

2 eggs, beaten

240 ml (1 cup) nonfat unsweetened yoghurt

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

80g gluten-free chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreo-type), roughly crushed

Whole Oreos for decorating

Preheat the oven to 175C (350F) and grease or line an 8-inch (20 cm) round tin. Sift together the dry ingredients.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and creamy. Dribble in eggs slowly, about one tablespoon at a time, beating constantly for about 2 minutes.

On LOW speed, beat in 1/3rd of the flour mixture until just combined. Beat in 1/2 the yoghurt. Then beat in 1/2 of the remaining flour mixture, followed by the remaining yoghurt, and vanilla extract. Finally beat in the remaining flour mixture. Lastly, fold in the crushed cookies.

Pour the batter into prepared tin, arrange whole cookies on top and bake for about 40-50 minutes till skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool in tin for five minutes. Unmold and cool completely.