Gluten Free Chocolate Cake With Strawberry Frosting

So it's my partners big 30th birthday tomorrow and of course I just had to bake him a cake for the special occasion, after all turning thirty and having a baby due any day now is a big deal. So when I asked him what kind of cake he would like me to make him he said chocolate strawberry cake, kind of an unusual request I thought but I can make it work. Strawberries at the grocery store in February aren't very appealing, so thankfully I had just enough left in the freezer that I got at the farm stand this summer, so I could make the frosting strawberry as requested. The rest was pretty easy whip up and I'm sure it will make the birthday boy, or man, very happy! Here's how I did it:

Ingredients for the chocolate cake: 

- 2 cup organic sugar

- 1 3/4 cup of gluten free King Arthur multi purpose flour mix

- 3/4 cup cocoa powder

- 1 teaspoon salt 

- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum

- 1 teaspoon baking powder 

- 1 teaspoon baking soda

- 2 organic free range eggs

- 1 cup milk 

- 1/2 cup organic canola oil

- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

- 1 cup boiling water 

Instructions: 

Preheat oven to 350 and grease 2 9 inch cake pans. Add sugar, flour, cocoa, salt, xanthan gum, baking powder and soda to mixing bowl and mix together. Then add the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla extract and mix with the dry ingredients. Then add boiling water and beat until well combined, mixture will be thin. Add batter evenly to both cake pans and bake 30-35 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting. 

Strawberry frosting ingredients:

- 1 cup of organic strawberries

- 2 sticks of butter, softened

- 3 1-2 cup of organic powdered sugar

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions: 

Purée the cup of strawberries in a blender and add it to a sauce pan. Reduce the strawberry purée by half over medium- low heat, it should take about 20 minutes or so. Allow it to cool completely. 

In a stand mixer, beat butter till fluffy and then add a cup of the powdered sugar and beat some more.  Once combined add 2 teaspoons of the purée and the vanilla extract and mix well. Then add 1/2 a cup of powdered sugar to 2 teaspoons of purée at a time until all ingredients are added and well combined. Now use frosting to frost the cake and enjoy a big hunk for all of your efforts!! :)

~Megan~