I was craving chocolate cake last night, and I knew I had a mix in the cupboard. It was the perfect time to try it. I was too tired to pull off a homemade cake, as I'm sure many can relate after a long day of work. I just wanted to sit on the couch, binge watch Fringe (I forgot how insane that series was!), and stuff my face with chocolately deliciousness.
The brand I had was Namaste Foods. I bought the mix online from Walmart. Surprisingly, Walmart has a good selection of gluten free mixes at reasonable prices (i.e. for 1 box of this 26 oz cake mix at Walmart it was $6 compared to $13+ at my favorite online store that starts with an "A" and ends with how the heck am I going to hide all these deliveries from my husband?!). I found more options with less price gauging at Walmart than I did on other popular sites.
You can use half or the whole box. I went whole. 4 eggs, some veggie oil and water, and good to go! The directions are easy. I used a small bundt cake pan and a mini bundt cake pan. For the small bundt cakes, they took about 25 minutes. The mini ones, which are only a couple bites, or bite-sized if you eat like my husband, took about 18 mins.
Of course, it's not a bundt cake without glaze. My glaze recipe is super simple. 2/3 cup of chocolate chips or chopped chocolate, 1/4 cup heavy cream, and 1/2 tsp vanilla added after the melting process. I'm old fashioned and prefer melting chocolate in a double boiler, but the microwave is fine as well. Just be sure to put on 50% power and cook until the cream begins to boil - not a full boil, just a few beginning bubbles. Then stir the chocolate and cream until it combines into a nice glaze. Add the vanilla. Then let it cool a bit. Pour the glaze over the top of your room temperature cakes. If it runs all the way down the side, most likely either the cake is not cool or the glaze has not cooled enough. You want it to be a nice, thick consistency like pouring hot fudge on a sundae.
You can use any type of chocolate. I love combining chocolates or making 2 glazes like a semi-sweet and white. If I had an orange last night, I definitely would have added some zest to the glaze while it was cooling. This goes for the vailla too. I used Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla. Experiment a little and see what fun you can have with the chocolate glaze. A pinch of cayenne or cinnamon for a kick, some rum or bourbon, almond or hazelnut instead of vanilla...so many options. Chocolate is awesome, and it's even better when you add your own flair to it. Also, for those shiny glazes, that's just a little light corn syrup. I personally could care less, but if you're looking to impress, it does make a difference.
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