So much to celebrate...

Hooray!  I'm so proud of myself.  I just installed my new wireless router and I didn't even get angry or cry during the process.  Even when it took me nearly two hours and ended up being a little switch on my laptop that I needed to turn on to use the wireless network.  Sometimes it amazes me that my job involves so much computer troubleshooting and yet I usually can't even burn a CD on my own at home without getting frustrated beyond belief.

But here I am.  Blogging from the comfort of my own futon.  Actually, our futon is anything but comfortable.  We spent the evening shopping around for mattresses again and finally found one that is made locally in the Twin Cities that we both really like (The Original Mattress Factory for anyone who'se interested).   In a couple of days I could be blogging from the comfort of my own actual mattress!

On Tuesday night I rushed home from teaching a neti pot class to make some awesome snacks for a game night with a few friends.  It's Mike's birthday this week and he HATES birthday parties.  But he agreed to having some friends over and eating birthday cake as long as it wasn't a "birthday party".  So I baked up some of Karina's gluten free foccacia bread.  Only this time, the dog didn't eat it all!

The bread was really great, except that I misread the recipe and added way too much salt.  Luckily my sweetie is a salt fiend and didn't mind one bit.  I also brought home a Rustica baguette and made Banh Mi sandwiches on both breads, using portobello mushrooms as my "meat".  

When I asked Mike what kind of cake he wanted, he decided he wanted to duplicate his favorite Mighty-O donut: the Don King donut.  They are chocolate with a white glaze and coconut on top!

I figured that this called for a bundt cake so that it would look like a giant donut!
The cake is gluten free and is a combination of a couple of recipes, mainly Karina's Banana Bundt Cake.  If you've never checked out her blog, please do!

Here are her ingredients and directions with my adaptations:

Double Chocolate GF Bundt Cake

Wet Ingredients:: 

1 medium very ripe bananas, cut up 

1/2 cup prunes

1 cup hot water 
1/2 cup applesauce 
1 tablespoon bourbon vanilla extract 
1/3 cup extra light olive oil 
2 tablespoons agave or maple syrup 
1 1/2 cups organic light brown sugar 

Dry Ingredients:: 

1 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup millet flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch

3/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 
1/4 teaspoon sea salt* (if your flour blend has no salt) 
2 teaspoons xanthan gum* (if your flour blend has no xanthan or guar gum added)


Add in last:: 

Egg Replacer for 2 large eggs (I used Ener-G Egg Replacer made with vanilla rice milk) 

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a Bundt® cake pan by rubbing a little oil in it. 

Place the banana chunks, prunes, and hot water into a blender and puree until smooth.  Add the applesauce, vanilla, olive oil, agave, and light brown sugar. Beat well. 

In a separate large bowl, measure and combine your dry ingredients (I use a whisk to do this). 

Add the wet ingredients into the dry mix, and beat for two minutes. 

Make and froth your Egg Replacer; add it to the batter and beat to combine. Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt® pan and bake in the center of a preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes until done. Check the center for doneness with a wooden pick. The cake should be firm, and may appear slightly golden brown at the edge, yet still be moist inside. 

Cool the cake on a wire rack before releasing it from the pan (by placing a serving plate on top of the cake pan and turning it upside down onto a plate).

My Bundt® pan is non-stick, so my cake slid right out- but if your pan is not non-stick, be sure the edges of the cake are loosened from the sides before you invert the pan. 

Yields 12 to 15 slices. Freeze extra slices.

For the frosting, I was going to do a thin buttercream, but my mixer has broken yet again.  [Don't worry, I'll raise hell with the repair shop and get my money back.  KitchenAid- why are you doing this to me?!]

So instead I just mixed some powdered sugar with a little coconut milk to make a glaze and drizzled that on the cooled cake and then sprinkled coconut on top.  It was really good!

The sandwiches and the cake were a hit, but we're just about out of cake and Mike's birthday is tomorrow.  Maybe time for another?...

It's time for bed now.