When Life Gives You Lemons

I'm irritated.  To my husband- these words are not new and are ones that he probably hears too much of.  To that, I say... I'm irritated.  

Somedays, I think that I am starting to get the hang of the gluten free cooking thing.  And some days (like today), it just ticks me off.  I like to cook.  But I LOVE to bake.  There is something so satisfying in pulling your little creation out of the oven and saying "Wha-la!  I'm awesome!"  I never really had to go through a lot of trial and error with traditional baking- I followed the recipe and it worked.  Easy- peasy.  I guess gluten free baking is the universe's way of telling me it has a sense of humor.  

I have thrown out three batches of lemon bars now because THEY JUST AREN'T WORKING!!  It makes me... irritated.  Okay- maybe there's another adjective or two that I could use- but don't exactly feel comfortable spewing them out in blog-land.  Grrrrr....  I think it's the crust that isn't right yet- I just can't figure out the shortbread.  It ends up too hard- think brick with lemon custard on top.  Appetizing right? Not even in the slightest.

So since I can't share my triumph in lemon bars... Instead- I'll share my Chocolate Almond Cake recipe instead- it was inspired by a cake I used to make found in Kim Warren's Family Comfort Favorites and a flourless cake recipe that was on a Channel 2 News lunch segment years ago.  I love it.  The recipe works and it tastes good- even if my lemon bars don't.

Flourless Chocolate Almond Cake

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter

4 eggs, whites and yolks separated

1 cup granulated sugar

5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

1 1/2 scant cups almond meal

Handful of chocolate chips

Strawberries

Whipped Cream or Powdered Sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease either a 10" round cake pan, or a muffin tin of paper liners.  If you are using the 10" pan- you can use butter and then dust it with cocoa powder to make sure the cake doesn't stick.  If you are doing the cupcakes- just spray the heck out of the muffin liners.

Over medium heat- melt chocolate and butter in a sauce pan.  

While chocolate is melting- beat the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until they get to be a really bright yellow color.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.  Fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture by using a spatula.  Be really careful you don't mix it too much- otherwise you'll deflate your egg whites.

 Next fold in your almond flour and the melted chocolate into your eggy mixture.  Pour into pan and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top.  

Bake for about 30 minutes.  

Let cool.  

You can either leave the cake be at this point and garnish with a little powdered sugar and the berries- or you can wait until it cools completely before you pile gobs of whipped cream over the top.  Once the cake is completely covered- cover it again with the berries of your choice (strawberries and raspberries are my favorite)!