Cakes are made for celebration, right? I mean, of course the most common and enjoyed is birthday cake. Then there's often graduation cake, valentines day cake (for your sweetheart---or is that only at my house…mom makes a strawberry heart cake every year for dad), congratulations cakes, best wishes cakes (like that employee at work who’s taking another job and leaving the company)….anyway, you get the picture.
I’ve been dreaming of a cake to make for my own celebration. My blogger anniversary! One year ago this month I started blogging as “Food Intolerances Cook” (with GF, dairy-free, sugar-free recipes and reviews). At some point during the year I had to test gluten and things again and went off the diet but eventually jumped back on. Then I changed over to word press as I liked the format and stats better…with that I changed the name of my blog to The Frugally Rich Life. This is what I have been doing with my blog and why I do it….and what I want to continue/start doing.
- My purposes with this blog are to blog gluten-free, dairy-free, and (refined) sugar-free. I will always, always be sugar-free and most likely always be gluten-free and dairy-free.
- I also still want to include reviews of recipes and products.
- I want to offer suggestions on frugality. I am especially found of naturally healthy frugal things…(see my homemade frugal deodorant for example)
- Because this blog focuses on frugality, I encourage those that read it, to practice frugality in their own lives. This can be done in many ways. While some aren’t as health conscious as I, and/or are not ready to pay for things such as non-hydrogenated shortening and other oils lets say, I still want people to be able to make these foods frugally with what they have and know. This is why I have often included changes that someone can make if they are not following the same diet that I am personally on. Even if it makes me cringe ;) to type Crisco or white sugar or margarine as options, I think it is more important to first become more self-reliant and make your own recipes for much cheaper and often healthier than premade or mixes of store bought goods.
- I want to also focus on being frugal with your time and energy. Since I am not always good at this, I almost recently discontinued my blog. Because of this, I am going to try harder to be frugal with my time and energy and not stress about posting a ton…although I would love to a post at least once a week or more…but I’m going to try and be gentle with myself on that…and I hope you will too!
- I also want to share frugal ideas beyond food…
- I also want to share frugal ideas for food in and of itself, especially when you have food intolerances and/or allergies or/and are just trying to live within your means but healthily too.
- Here’s to another year of Fabulous, Fun Frugal Food (and more)
- and The Frugally Rich Life! Now, let’s eat cake!
Dark Rich Chocolate Cake
I adapted my cake from this recipe…
*Note: Since I am trying to better manage my time, I decided that I would use a recipe I’ve been meaning to blog about for quite a while (versus trying to find time to make a cake right now)—back when I was on the glutenous (not gluten-free) diet. I’m including instructions though to make it gluten-free and think it would still work great if you need to make it GF. 
Ingredients:
1/2 + 1/3 c. whole wheat flour or gluten-free flour blend (I made it with red ww flour—came out great, a little dry…can’t wait to try it with a GF flour blend)
1/4 c. honey or agave
1 t. or so vanilla
1/4 c. + 1 T cocoa
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
3/4 c. milk (or non-dairy milk sub)
1/4 c. melted butter (or earth balance)
1 egg
Directions: Mix honey and melted butter first. Add in milk and warm for 30 seconds in microwave if needed. Add in cocoa. Then all dry ingredients. Stir. Pour into greased (buttered) and floured round cake pan (that's what I did) or sq pan... bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Comes out perfectly and tastes just like I remember chocolate cake tasting! :) YEAH! :)
Besides making it GF, I also want to try making a yellow cake next time perhaps...:)
And as for the glaze: I couldn’t find a note of exactly what I did anywhere—but according to what I remember I think I just mixed a little honey with a little butter and added a little vanilla. It was liquid so it made the perfect glaze. Play around with this yourself or sub your favorite frosting or glaze recipe. I topped it with grated orange zest.
