When Gluten is Your Bitch, Eat (Hazelnut Chocolate) Cake + Giveaway!

The following post was written by my dear friend, April Peveteaux, author of the newly released Gluten Is My Bitch: Rants, Recipes, & Ridiculousness for the Gluten-Free which hit bookstores everywhere yesterday. (Go, April!) 

April is one of the funniest people I know and when she was diagnosed with celiac several years ago she went and made celiac-ade. (If you aren't already familiar with her blog, I highly recommend it. Also, her book is hysterical. It's the perfect humorous cook book for humans.) 

Anyway. 

I'mma let April finish... because girlfriend wrote the best gluten-free book of all time and everyone should be able to eat and enjoy cake. This is life, isn't it? Sheesh, let's live this thing.

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That’s cake you guys. Delicious, gluten-free cake—which is totally not an oxymoron. And I’m about to tell you about it, thanks to the lovely Rebecca, proprietoress of this here blog. Raise your hand if you love Rebecca. I’m raising both hands, that’s how much I heart this gal. I’m typing with my elbows, obviously.

One reason of many? After I moved to Los Angeles and discovered I had the autoimmune disease of celiac, RW was one of the first people who was all, “Oh yeah, totally get it.”

Her mom—WWW —even had some gluten-free homemade goodness on hand the next time I was over. As you can see by her amazing recipes for well, everything, this family is g-free friendly to the max. So I’m psyched and honored to be posting here today to talk gluten-free food and life.

Celiac disease, for those of you unfamiliar, is an autoimmune disease wherein gluten attacks your body and tries to knock you down. But I’m all, “I’m going to kick your butt, gluten,” and so I go out and try to do that every single day and chronicle that on my blog, Gluten Is My Bitch. One way I accomplish this epic butt-kicking is through recreating my favorite comfort foods in a gluten-free fashion. And I do love the comfort.

I do still troll the “Eat Well” section here, and our family has adopted Rebecca’s quinoa huevos rancheros as our own.

I also can’t pass up a fresh, local vegetable with a drizzle of olive oil and shake of sea salt. Still, I’m the kind of gal who won’t turn down an opportunity to use a deep fat fryer, or liberally consume Nutella—which is naturally gluten-free, you guys. Which is what I use as icing for this gluten-free hazelnut chocolate cake via my cousin, Charis. Nutella. As Icing. Yes, it is as amazing as you think it is. Allow me to present you with one of my most favorite recipes from my book, Gluten Is My Bitch: Rants, Recipes, & Ridiculousness for the Gluten-Free. 

Gluten-Free Hazelnut Chocolate Cake

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

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Ingredients

1 cup + 2 tablespoons hazelnuts

6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

½ cup butter

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup Nutella

Strawberries, optional

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1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray springform pan with cooking spray, and line the bottom with wax paper.

2. Grind hazelnuts in food processor to a fine texture. Set aside.

3. Combine chocolate, salt, and butter in medium saucepan over medium heat, and stir until smooth. Add sugar, mix thoroughly, and remove from heat.

4. Beat each egg one at a time, and stir into chocolate mixture. Fold in hazelnuts, and pour batter into springform pan.

5. Bake for 45 minutes, or until toothpick comes out with moist crumbs.

6. Allow cake to cool before removing from pan. Heat Nutella and pour over cake. Slice and serve with strawberries.

Makes: 12 servings

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April is giving away two copies of her new book, Gluten Is My Bitch: Rants, Recipes, & Ridiculousness for the Gluten-Free (purchase your copy, here!). To win? Tell me something delicious. I'll pick two comments next Thursday, May 16th. Good luck and gluten-free cake love to all!

UPDATED: Congrats to decoybetty and Valerie Snowberry for winning GIMB! And thank you all for commenting! 

GGC + GIMB