Homemade Chocolate Cake with Caramel Sauce

This cake is so incredibly delicious, easy, and requires no butter! Which in my eyes is always a plus for a cake, because butter tends to run out quickly. I made this cake the same night the woman I was living with was making an apple cake with caramel sauce, and we decided to try the caramel sauce on the chocolate cake as well. It was incredible. The gluten free cake disappeared faster than the apple cake! This is a really good last minute dessert, as it does not take long to mix, takes only 30-40 minutes to bake, and is delicious even without frosting. If you like a mild cake, eat it plain, or if you like a richer cake, add the caramel sauce, and it transforms the taste completely.

What you will need:

• 1/3 cup oil
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9-inch round or square baking pan

-In a medium-size bowl, mix the oil with the sugar. Add the eggs. Mix until lighter and thicker. This will take a minute or two with your mixer, or build up some muscles in your arms if you are doing it by hand. Add the other ingredients. (I like to mix the cornstarch in some before measuring the remaining ingredients, to prevent clumping.) Beat well. The batter will become quite thick. Pour into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle tests cleanly.

Caramel Sauce (optional)

What you will need:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk

In a saucepan, melt the butter, brown sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring with a whisk, then remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla and milk.

Notes: This caramel sauce recipe makes quite a bit of sauce. It was more than enough for two cakes. I would recommend halving the recipe, so as to use less sugar and butter.

That's it! This recipe is so simple, that you can really do anything you want with it: frost it, add fruit, make two of them for a double layer cake, etc. Just make sure not to check on the cake too early, so that it doesn't fall.

(The cake recipe was the corn-based Homemade Chocolate Cake recipe from Roben Ryberg's "You Won't Believe It's Gluten Free." Oat flour, potato starch, and rice flour based versions also exist. The Caramel sauce recipe is from "Cooking from Quilt Country" by Marcia Adams.)