Helen Tzouganatos Sokolatopita Recipe: Olive Oil Chocolate Cake
Helen Tzouganatos shares her recipe for Sokolatopita: a gluten and dairy free Olive Oil Chocolate Cake
Hey Gluten Free Fam,
We have a very special gluten free Olive Oil Chocolate Cake recipe from Helen Tzouganatos for you. As author of the cookbook Gluten-Free Mediterranean and host of SBS Food’s Loving Gluten Free television program, Helen provides us with a stunning and delicious chocolate cake recipe that anyone can make at home.
Why are we so excited about this particular recipe? This Sokolatopita treat is 100% gluten free and dairy free, making it the ideal dessert for family, friends and guests alike living with a variety of unique dietary requirements.
Helen will explain the inspiration behind the recipe, the ingredients needed and how to prepare it.
Sokolatopia Recipe: Olive Oil Chocolate Cake with Olive Oil Icing
Helen Tzouganatos:
“ Many people who don’t eat gluten also avoid or limit dairy, so I often get requests for cakes that are free of both. Olive oil is always my first choice for dairy free baking. It keeps cakes incredibly moist and has all the added health benefits minus the nasty additives found in commercial dairy free butter substitutes. In baking, light olive oil works best as the delicate flavour will not overpower your baked goods.
Chocolate and olive oil are a match made in heaven. The fruity notes of the oil pair beautifully with the bitterness of cocoa. If you’ve never made a chocolate olive oil icing, you’ll be surprised at how quickly it comes together and how amazingly luscious it tastes. This is not a dense, heavy cake. Expect a light, fluffy, airy sponge everyone will love. “
Image: Helen Tzouganatos ©
Olive Oil Chocolate Cake Ingredients
Cake:
90g (3/4 cup) dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of sea salt flakes
250ml (1 cup) light olive oil
125ml (1/2 cup) boiling water
370g (2 cups lightly packed) brown sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
170g (1 1/3 cups) gluten free plain flour, sifted
Fresh berries, to serve (optional)
Olive Oil Icing:
125g (1 cup) gluten free icing sugar mixture, sifted
40g (1/3 cup) dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted
125-170ml (1/2-2/3 cup) light olive oil
DF, GF, V
Serves: 12
Preparing and Cooking Olive Oil Chocolate Cake
Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan-forced) and line a 25cm x 30cm baking tin with baking paper.
Whisk together the cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a large bowl. Pour in the olive oil and boiling water and whisk to incorporate. Add the brown sugar, eggs and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Finally, whisk in the flour until combined.
Pour in the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin, then turn out onto a platter.
To make the olive oil icing, combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while continuously whisking until you achieve a thick spreadable consistency.
Spread the icing over the cooled cake and scatter with the berries (if using). Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
About Helen Tzouganatos
Helen Tzouganatos is a gluten free cookbook author, television presenter, recipe developer and busy mum of 3 kids from Sydney, Australia. She discovered she was a coeliac 17 years ago during IVF treatment and was advised by her doctor to eliminate gluten from her diet to heal the inflammation in her body.
There were not many gluten free offerings in the market at the time (you couldn’t even find a single loaf of gluten free bread in the supermarket and what was available in health food stores was horrible) so Helen started experimenting with gluten free ingredients at home.
She is Australia’s 'gluten free queen’, the first person people turn to when seeking a bouncy gluten free bread recipe or the trick to making meatballs fluffy without a single breadcrumb.
Helen has published three gluten free cookbooks, makes regular TV appearances and is the host of ‘Loving Gluten Free’ cooking show.
A note from Ben:
Helen’s Olive Chocolate Cake is a big hit in our house, with our young daughters and adults alike!
Keen to make this recipe? Give it a go and tag us on Instagram to let us know what you think! For more delicious gluten free recipes from Helen Tzouganatos, find her list of amazing recipes right here.
You can also hear Helen’s chat with me on Episode 60 of A Gluten Free Podcast. We discuss Helen’s coeliac disease diagnosis, gluten free food tips and her cookbook Gluten-Free Mediterranean.
