Dairy free Chocolate cake & dairy in my pills!!!!

The Chocolate Experiment

I've had enough I'm bored and tired of this now. For one day I would just love to not have any pain or discomfort because of my IBS. Or Just to have one day off from having to use anxiety management techniques would be great.  I'm just tired of being tired all the time......

I went to the chemist today to pick up a prescription for the gastro reflux Iv been experiencing lately, only to discover that the pills contain Lactose......   Not really ideal for someone that's lactose intolerant.  I did the only logical thing I could think of.  I went back to the chemist to ask the pharmacists for advice, rather than have a panic attack.  

All she could say was "give it a try to see if it works", basically throwing my own philosophy back at me.  Bah humbug.  

I'm really lucky that I am only intolerant to dairy, rather than allergic.  No matter how bad the pain gets, I know it's not life threatening.  Then there are people who avoid dairy for religious or ethical reasons.  What do you do in that situation?  Especially as she informed me that lactose as a cheap bulking product is added to most pill form medication.  

To take my mind of the whole situation I decided to do some recipe tasting using chocolate.  Last week I make a chocolate Wacky cake batter and split it into 4 bowls.  In each one I added an extra ingredient to see if it enhanced or changed the flavour of the chocolate.

What can i say, I'm a baking geek.

 I am not a huge fan of chocolate cake, so I wanted to bake one even I loved for a change.  I custom make cakes for my friends and family's tastes, so why not my own.

Television Chefs and cook books will tell you to buy the best chocolate possible, however not every one can afford to do that I know I can't.  Dairy free chocolate bars are more expensive, so I prefer to use cocoa powder when baking chocolate cakes and cookies.

I got the inspiration for the experiment from the guys at PPK Post Punk Kitchen.  They add both vanilla and a little almond extra in their recipe.  It really works you can't taste the extracts, however it still enhanced the chocolate flavour.   I started to wonder about what other flavours would work.

 Buying a small bottle of extract costs less, than using expensive ingredients.  The wacky cake recipe itself came out of necessity due to food rationing after the 2nd world war.

The proof is in the pudding or in this case the Cake...

Peppermint chocolate cake

Mint and chocolate are a classic flavour match that I have always loved.  The two ingredients just go wonderfully together.  Who doesn't  love mint and chocolate chip ice cream, or after dinner mints.  Unfortunately Iv yet to find a dairy free alternative for these. So at Christmas I made my own dark chocolate dipped peppermint creams.

Now Iv found another use for the peppermint extract I bought.  This cake tasted great on his own and doesn't need any frosting or glaze to top it.


(Add 1 tsp Peppermint extract to a normal wacky cake recipe)

Coffee and Chocolate

I'd heard of mocha drink and cake, a 50 - 50 split of chocolate and coffee.  However I'd never thought of adding it to enhancer the chocolate flavour, until I watched an episode of Barefoot Contessa cooking show.

Adding a little coffee deepens the flavour of the chocolate, making it more rounded.  For my personal taste, I much prefer a chocolate cake with the coffee added.  You don't really taste it, it just gives a big flavour boost to the cake.

(To make a mocha cake, replace the water your wacky cake recipe with the same qty of coffee.  Or dissolve 1 tsp of coffee granules into a little hot water, before adding to the cake batter)
 

Garam Masala spiced chocolate cake

This isn't such a big leap as you would think.  Most Garam Masala spices mixes contain
- cinnamon
- cloves
- ginger
- nutmeg

All ingredients that are commonly used in baking.  Using Garam Masala made for a delicious spiced chocolate cake.  I loved this one as the flavours complimented the chocolate and turned an average cake into something special.

(Add 1 - 2 tsp of Garam Masala spice blend to your wacky cake batter)

Balsamic Vinegar 

The combined reaction of the vinegar and the bicarbonate of soda in the cake batter of a wacky cake is what makes the cake rise.  There's not enough vinegar to affect the taste, but could using different flavoured ones make a difference.  I normally use Apple Cider vinegar to bake, since apples are a pretty neutral flavour.

Yes it does.... it adds a certain 'je ne sais quoi'   There's something different, but you can't really what it is.  The cake tasted of creamy dark chocolate, the balsamic compliments rather than overriding the taste.

(Replace the same quantity of vinegar in your recipe with the balsamic vinegar)



I used the same cocoa powder and batter for each taste test, and also didn't add any frosting/butter cream to detract from the taste.

Each ingredient changed the taste of the cake so that you would think different chocolate had been used in each.  It felt like I was eating a box of Mixed chocolates, lol.

Wacky cake recipe

Budget Baking tip:  Just because you can't afford the most expensive baking ingredients, does not mean that you can't bake a Delicious tasting cake xxxxx