Friday

Chocolate Hazelnut Teacakes

Shield your eyes, gentle reader, I've started another pottery class! As always, its with a fun group of people. In addition to my new-found infatuation with clay, I'm continuing my experiments with olive oil. As Beans and Caviar pointed out, choosing the right olive oil is critical.

I came across a recipe for Chocolate, Hazelnut, Banana and Olive Oil Teacakes at La Tartine Gourmand. She had me at "Chocolate"!! Her post was titled "A Healthy Sunday in March". sigh. I was whisking eggs by the time I reached "and Olive Oil Teacakes"!

Heres what I did:
1. The original recipe is featured here.
2. I substituted about a quarter cup dates, soaked in a little Grand Marnier for the banana. Since the dates were sweet, I reduced the sugar by a tablespoon.
3. Used walnuts instead of pecans.
4. Baked in a loaf pan instead of muffin cups.

The verdict:
The teacake is full of gentle sweetness and all kinds of goodness. Perfect for a late afternoon pick-me up with tea (ha), milk or hot chocolate. I ground the quinoa at home (as against buying quinoa flour) and so the texture of my teacake was a little grainy but otherwise I loved the end product. The cake gets its fluffiness from eggs. My favorite part about this cake is that its sweet but not a sugar-bomb. Plus its gluten-free. Nice change from my usual suspects!

Update: Made a modified version with 4 oz chocolate and no banana or dates. Used barley flour instead of quinoa flour and the results are still very good. Yum!



More Gluten Free alternatives at Gluten A Go Go! See you all at "Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free". The theme for April is Finger Food!

17 comments:

Meeta K. Wolff said...

I love such simple teacakes - they appeal to me a lot more than fancy tortes or iced cakes. I feel more guilt free when indulging in such cakes. I really love your substitutes too!

ServesYouRight said...

Thanks so much Meeta! You're right - now a lot of iced cakes taste too sweet to my palate! Theres probably a glycemic-index lession there!

Smita

Sangeetha said...

The tea cake looks delicious! Can't wait to try it.
By the way I was wondering if you have ever tried making the simple Britannia tea cakes or fruit breads that we get in India?
-"Sangz" :)

Mama Mia said...

i wanna take pottery too...

ServesYouRight said...

Sangz! Good to hear from you :-) Hmmm, Britannia tea cakes ... you got me thinking... I have been watching a recipe from David Lebovitz that I think would be close, and more importantly, delightful!!

Here it is:
Chocolate Cherry Fruitcake

Smita

ServesYouRight said...

Lina - go for it! Especially with your beatiful bento, the possibilities are endless!

Smita

Vani said...

Looks lovely & sounds delicious, Smitha! Can't go wrong with the ingredients there, as far as flavor goes, right?
Pottery - nice! A freind of mine who loves pottery always says that that is the most relaxing thing to do after a long or a bad day! :)

AnuZi said...

I have always had a thing for tea and coffee cakes. Your's looks amazing :o) Thanks for sharing chica.

Traveling Tummy said...

Hi Smita, I stumbled upon your blog and I love it! I will have to experiment with different types of flour, you make it seem so simple. Thanks for sharing!

Dhivya said...

lovely one:)

Unknown said...

this looks incredible!

ServesYouRight said...

Thank you Vani! I like working with clay (even though I'm no good at it!)

Anuzi - good to see ya :-)

Travelling tummy - Thank you! You're very kind!

Dhivya - Thank you!

Celine - Thank you :-)

Meera said...

That tea cake looks delicious. Feel like eating it! :-)

Sheltie Girl said...

Simta - The chocolate hazelnut cake looks simply scrumptious. Your cake has two of my favorite flavor combinations - chocolate & hazelnut. Your cake turned out beautifully.

Thanks for participating in the April edition of Go Ahead Honey It's Gluten Free.

Sheltie Girl @ Gluten a Go Go

Lisa Turner said...

What a perfect treat! I want this right now!

ServesYouRight said...

Meera, Sheltie-girl and Lisa - Thank you!

Traveling Tummy said...

Smita did you make the dish with the cake on it? I love it. The shape is so original and love the glaze as well.