Sunday, October 26, 2014

Tasty Delights--Flourless Chocolate Torte + review Let UsAll Eat Cake


A delightful collection of gluten-free takes on your favorite cake recipes, from everyday coffee cakes, layered cakes, and cupcakes to show-stopping special occasion masterpieces.

Celebrate your favorite holidays and special occasions from birthdays to bake sales, Halloween to Christmas—and even the everyday—with delectable gluten-free cakes. In this delightful collection, Catherine Ruehle, a pastry chef and cake artist turned wellness foods chef, shares sixty classic cake recipes that are every bit as indulgent as the gluten-heavy ones we adore, but gluten-free, all-natural, and with alternatives given for vegan, dairy-free, and nut-free renditions. A few of the luscious cakes that await: Pink Velvet Strawberry Cake made electrifyingly pink with strawberries instead of food dye, Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes that children of all ages will be thrilled to find in their lunchboxes, and a dramatic White and Dark Chocolate Checkerboard Cake that’s a cinch to prepare in advance. With positivity and careful guidance, Ruehle provides basic and advanced decorating, piping, and plating techniques that will take your cakes from pretty to breathtaking. So go ahead: lick the frosting off the beaters, cut yourself a nice big slice, and let us all eat cake!

Type: Cookbook
Difficulty: moderate to difficult (dedication required)
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Value: Overall--Okay. If gluten free--Excellent


One of the ladies in my book club is "gluten free" and when I saw Let Us Eat Cake I just had to get it since it's a baking book of only gluten-free recipes. Cakes, pies, torts, etc all created by a pastry chef that for medical reasons had to go gluten/dairy free and wanted to still bake and provide help for others in need of tasty treats that took into consideration gluten free living.

And it's a gorgeous cookbook. It's not for your every day baker though. These recipes take some serious commitment--from hunting down ingredients to prep. But if you're gluten free or want to bake something for friends/family that can't have gluten it might be worth the pick up.


The recipes are all amazing. They look and sound delicious. I would love to try...pretty much all of them. But I did have some trouble loving the layout of those recipes. Many of the recipes were just "starting points" and then you would need to turn to a different section of the cookbook for the rest of the recipe ingredients/steps. 

Ex--For a Banana Cream Cupcake recipe--On it's actual page the recipe is...
White Crke batter (pg44)
Pastry Cream (pg166)
Chocolate Ganache (pg 162) 
2 ripe bananas coarsely chopped. 

I just don't care for that set up. It's exhausting to me trying to sort it all out, flip pages, etc. I understood the reasoning and how it would save page time but I just don't care for the set up.

 Ingredients are also somewhat challenging but I think that would be the case with most gluten free recipes so I don't really hold that against the cookbook though it is something to consider if you're just wanting to do a bit of relaxing baking. You'll have to shop a good bit for ingredients.


All of the images in the book are delicious. There are a good number of photos though many recipes came without photos which was a tad disappointing. Those that are there though...make you want to lick the page. They're warm and inviting with an almost vintage look and definitely had me wanting to make pretty much everything.

Well being a gluten-free cook book for starters. That can also be dairy free. Each recipe has alternatives where they're possible. It was nice to find a book with just these recipes that those with allergies or medical conditions--like the author--could make and enjoy.

Plus there's a rather large section at the end of the cookbook on tips and techniques.
From which tips to use when decorating to coloring frosting to having a gluten-free pantry.
I really loved this section of the cookbook and it's images.

Boston Creme Pie
Mocha Coffee Cake
Texas Sheet Cake
Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes
Flourless Chocolate Torte w/ Cherry-Berry Puree (tried)

I opted for trying the Flourless Chocolate Torte.
Mainly because...hello...chocolate! But also I didn't have to buy too many ingredients for it.
Many of the others required multiple ingredient "flour" you needed to mix which I wasn't willing to do for just one recipe.


This one was VERY easy to make.

Melt chocolate and mix everything in then pour into tort pan and bake.

I went a little fancy after with this one. I'd seen a Pinterest Pin. Yes. Pinterest AGAIN.
You lay lace over the dessert then sift on powdered sugar then remove the lace.

I love that! I only had lace ribbon but would so do this again with a different pattern.


This was EXTREMELY rich. Like a couple bites of the plain torte and you'd be done. lol
I'd definitely recommend the fruit puree with it to counteract the chocolate.
Or ice cream (what I did) or whipped cream.
It wasn't bad at all. It did stick to my dish so I'd go heavy on the spray it calls for. But it was tasty overall.

Do you have a favorite gluten-free dessert?


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More Tasty Delights & Dazzling Disasters
More Cookbook Reviews
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