I was inspired to make this cake after watching a recent episode of BBC1’s Country File. It was featured by a farmer growing quinoa in the UK and evidently succeeding. The culmination of the clip was the said farmer and presenter enjoying a slice of his chocolate quinoa cake. I had hoped the recipe would be featured on the Country File website but not so. A bit of searching on ‘tinternet revealed a number of recipes which, on a closer look, were actually all the same recipe and all in US quantity measurements. A recipe with metric quantities was definitely needed. So here is is. And it’s a cracker …
Ingredients for the cake:
130g quinoa, uncooked weight (should amount to approx. 450g cooked weight)
325 ml water
75 ml milk
4 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
150g butter, melted and cooled
300g caster sugar
120g cocoa powder
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ salt
Ingredients for the decoration (optional):
This quantity is enough to ice the sides of the cake too as in the picture. If you only want to do the middle and top, then reduce the ganache cream and chocolate quantities by a third. Please note I haven’t included instructions or ingredients to make the chocolate twirls I used to decorate mine.
450ml double cream
270g chocolate – 170g dark & 100g of milk
180g full fat cream cheese
180g white chocolate
Method
1. Rinse the quinoa. Put in a medium saucepan with the cold water. Bring the quinoa and water to a boil. Cover, reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the covered saucepan on the hob for another 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and allow the quinoa to cool.
2. Melt the butter on a low heat and leave to cool.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lightly grease & line the bottom of two 20 cm round cake tins with parchment paper.
4. Combine the milk, eggs and vanilla in a blender or food processor. Add 450g of cooked quinoa and the melted butter and continue to blend until smooth.
5. Sieve together the sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and stir until well combined.
6. Add the contents of the blender and mix well.
7. Divide the mixture evenly between the 2 tins and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
8. Remove the cake from the oven and cool completely in the tins before serving.
9. While the cake is cooling make the icing.
10. Start with the ganache. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place into a heat proof bowl.
11. Bring the cream to the boil in a small saucepan and pour over the chopped chocolate. Give the bowl a little shake and one stir to ensure all the chocolate is covered in cream and leave for 5 mins. Then gently stir until the cream and chocolate is fully incorporated. Cover with cling film and leave to cool until it thickens and can be applied to the cake. Ice the cake as desired. If icing the sides, follow the instructions I provide here about first icing a ‘crumb’ layer to ensure a smooth and crumb free finish.
12. Beat the cream cheese in a bowl for approximately 3 minutes until smooth. Melt the white chocolate and add to the cream cheese beating until smooth and fully incorporated. Leave to cool in the fridge until set then pipe onto the cake as desired.
