Chocolate Quinoa Cake (Includes a quick Ganache Recipe)

Chocolate cake that uses quinoa instead of flour. Amazing!

 I've been playing around with making "healthy" sweets.   Well, healthier anyway.  And I have some friends who are gluten intolerant.  As in, just plain can't eat the stuff. I saw a recipe for chocolate quinoa cake and my interest was piqued.  However, so was my skepticism.  Seriously, could a cooked grain- actually a cooked seed, make a light, moist cake with an actual cake-like texture? Only one way to find out.  I made it. 

It was good.  The texture was a little dense, but not bad and I actually like that anyway.  My family devoured it.  They really didn't know the difference.  It stayed moist for 3 days.  That's how long I managed to hide the last few pieces, 3 days. I expected a weird texture or flavor.  Instead I got a really nice cake that I can make for people who can't eat traditional flour.  I think it's probably a bit healthier too.  Don't get me wrong.  There is sugar in it.  It is a treat, like any cake.  However, it is a treat that is a little better for you without sacrificing flavor.  Because I would rather have a small amount of fantastic, rather than a big amount of only okay.  So to have fantastic that is better for me; bonus!


I am going to direct you to the link that harbors the recipe that I used.  I normally make my own recipes, so I don't often redirect you, but it's not my recipe and I want to be fair.  But please come back and see me again.  I am posting my recipe for Whole Wheat Lemon Yogurt Blueberry Cake soon.  It was divine!

Any way the link is here: Chocolate Quinoa Cake

Oh- by the way, you may notice that my frosting is quite different.  I made a simple ganache by heating 1/2 c. cream (don't let it boil) and adding about 1 and 1/2 cups chocolate chips.  I use a mixture of semi-sweet and dark chocolate.  I stir until melted and let it set up to a pudding like consistency. I make this ahead of time and store it in the fridge.  When I made this cake, I pulled it out and spread it on the warm cake.  Then I added some more chocolate chips and let them melt into the cake a bit.  I spread it out with a knife.  It was a little like eating a layer of fudge on the cake.  Very yummy!