Recipe: Chocolate Cake with Blackberry Buttercream, Nut-Free, Gluten-Free

Namaste Foods kindly sent me some samples of things to try. Namaste is a top 8 free food company and they have their own dedicated facility, more about them on the Namaste Foods website.

I use the Namaste Foods spice cake mix and make all kinds of variations - here’s my cinnamon spice swirl and pumpkin spice cake with marshmallow frosting recipes. Everyone loves those cakes and they say, "Oh wow, this doesn’t taste allergen-friendly or gluten-free!" But they are and I can make the Namaste Foods  spice cake and serve it with confidence knowing it’s safe for me and my guests will love.

So recently, Namaste Foods sent me their chocolate cake mix to try. My review is: it’s decent. A little bouncy, a little bland, not fantastic, but okay. I gave it to taste testers who do not have specialized diets and they liked it and said the same thing I said: bouncy texture, chocolate taste was bland, but they gobbled it down. One reviewer said: "Sloane baked a magical and delicious cake and wow!"

Namaste Foods is safe; tremendous plus! And very easy to make which is another plus. Two rounds or 24 cakes come in one package, which is a great deal; another plus.  And as a blank canvas to create culinary, food allergy safe treats, the chocolate cake mix works; another plus. 

It doesn’t take much to elevate something from yummy to Oh My Gawd. A few days ago I cooked up blackberries that weren’t really tasty to eat raw into a quick “jam” (quick jams are so easy: washed fruit, sugar and lemon juice, cooked until cooked.) I thought, hmm how about if I added this preserve to buttercream frosting? And voila genius born.

If you like raspberries and chocolate as a pairing, it’s like that, but deeper. The blackberries turn the frosting a beautiful, deep pink; some of the fruit was still uncooked and made the frosting juicy with drupelets that pop in your mouth (no dearies, I didn’t strain it; I like to taste fruit!) and I created this.

I made a gorgeous blackberry buttercream frosting and that turned a plain, safe, allergen-friendly chocolate cake into something really special. This isn’t so much a recipe as a concept: take something that’s a plain canvas and elevate it with ingredients that are safe for you, delicious to your palate and make something beautiful.

***

Blackberry Buttercream
1 stick organic butter, softened
1 box Dominos confectioners sugar
½ cup blackberry preserves (not jam)


Whip the softened butter first (I do by hand, work those muscles!). Add the sugar cup by cup and keep whipping. After cup two, pour in ¼ cup of the preserves, then alternate with cups of sugar and preserves. Taste along the way, the fun part.

Note: You are looking to add moisture, like macerated berries or pureed fruit, not anything with gelatin so not jam!

Other flavor ideas, lemon, orange, other berries, cinnamon, coffee. Go crazy, allergen-free bakers!

***

Thank you Namaste Foods for the many delicious mixes and goods your company creates for everyone!