This post is also available in（こちらの言語版もある）: Japanese
I suppose if the New Year is about new beginnings and what not, it’s only fitting that my first baking endeavor of 2015 was also my first fore into gluten-free baking. I had heard that a lot of gluten-free sweets aren’t very good or are a pain to make with not a lot of taste pay off, so up until now whenever I received an invitation to someone who can’t eaten gluten’s home I would just play it safe and bring along something that didn’t rely on gluten anyway. However, recently a friend of mine who suffers from a gluten allergy asked me if it would be at all possible to make a gluten-free version of the absinthe cake balls and that served as the impetus for me to finally take the plunge and take on gluten-free baking. I had to make a few adaptions to the original absinthe cupcake recipe, but the results were more than acceptable in terms of taste and texture–in fact, the gluten-free version may even be a bit better for you as its slightly springier texture requires less icing to form balls. If you want to make a decadent gluten-free treat that doesn’t seem, well, gluten-free, give this a try.
Taking on this challenge from my friend served as the opportunity for me to do some more serious studying up about gluten-free baking and the issues involved. For instance, gluten-free baked goods have a tendency not to rise right if you merely swap the all-purpose flour for something like rice flour, so you can either add xanthan gum or stick with a recipe with lots of eggs like a chiffon cake that doesn’t rely so much on the gluten. Well, the original absinthe cake bites use a pretty average cupcake recipe, which of course relies on gluten, so I wound up swapping the 1/2 cup (64 g) of all-purpose flour for 1/2 cup (164 g) of rice flour and 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum.
I wanted to know if this substitution would work for not just cake bites but also cupcakes so I poured the batter into both a loaf pan and a couple of silicon cupcake molds. Compared to the original version, the cake in the bread pan seemed to take a bit longer to bake, but both the bread pan cake and the cupcakes rose just fine. Their taste and texture was also good. Actually, the texture was a bit more springy than the original version so it required less frosting to form the balls, which means the gluten-free version is a bit less fattening.
I personally thought they turned out well, but of course that’s not what matters. What matters is that the friend I made them for enjoyed them and even asked me to make them again next time. Moreover, since another friend who doesn’t suffer from a gluten allergy ate them and said they were good, that means they’re not just “good enough” in a sea of pretty mediocre gluten-free baked goods but are actually tasty.
Speaking of allergies, it’s unfortunately not the case that I’ve managed to live unaffected by them until now. The reason that I have never uploaded a recipe that contains dark or milk chocolate to this blog until now is that I can’t eat anything with cocoa powder without getting pretty dang sick. However, I realized I need to branch out a bit and had heard that dark chocolate and absinthe go really well together so I decided to try dipping half the absinthe cake balls in dark chocolate this time. I of course couldn’t sample them myself so can’t say from first hand experience whether or not they are as good as the white chocolate ones, but my friends ate them right up along side the white chocolate ones so I guess there’s my answer. It was actually easier to coat the cake balls in the dark chocolate than the white chocolate so If you can eat “proper” (read: not white chocolate) it might be worth it to dip them in the dark stuff.
- For gluten-free absinthe cake:
- ½ cup (64 g) rice flour
- ½ cup (100g) sugar
- 3 Tbsp (42 g) butter, room temperature
- ¼ cup (50 ml) absinthe
- ¼ cup (50 ml) milk
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ tsp xanthan gum
- 1 egg, room temperature
- For absinthe frosting:
- 2 cups (255 g) powdered sugar
- ½ cup (113 g) butter, room temperature
- 1½-2 Tbsp absinthe
- Green food coloring (if desired)
- For coating:
- 135-180 g of white, milk, or dark chocolate bars
- A small amount of vegetable oil (for thinning if necessary)
- Make gluten-free absinthe cake: preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Prepare a loaf pan, set aside.
- Mix together absinthe and milk. Set aside.
- Whisk together rice flour, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on medium-high speed to cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add egg and beat well on medium speed.
- Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat until well on low speed until combined.
- Pour the batter into a loaf pan and bake 22-28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.
- Break the cooled cake into pieces and finely crumble it in the food processor (or by hand if you don't have a food processor).
- Put the finely crumbled cake in a bowl, add frosting a little at a time, incorporating it together with your hands until you can easily form balls.
- Roll the mixture into ping pong ball-sized balls and refrigerate 2 hours-overnight (if you don't have time you can freeze them for about 15 minutes).
- Melt chocolate in the microwave. If it's too thick for dipping stir in a little vegetable oil to thin it out.
- One at a time, use a spoon to drop chilled cake balls in the melted chocolate and once they are fully coated transfer them to a parchment paper-covered cookie sheet to harden (if you don't have much time you can put them in the fridge until they harden).
- Enjoy!
- Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then move the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely
★ You could use this cake recipe to make gluten-free absinthe cupcakes as well. Just pour the batter into a cupcake pan instead and reduce the baking time to 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
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