Burren Wild Baker & My Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
Published in 2017, Burren Wild Baker highlights the creations of Kasha Kola (now Kasha Connally), pastry chef and head chocolatier for Hazel Mountain Chocolate in Oughtmama, Bellharbour, County Clare, Ireland.
I visited the Burren in 2018 and was captivated by its beautiful and rocky landscape. While exploring, we stopped at Hazel Mountain Chocolate and sampled the most fabulous gluten-free cakes and pastries I’ve ever had. So I bought this cookbook determined to recreate these fabulous desserts.
Over the past several years I have, in fact, made a number of the recipes contained in this cookbook. What you have to know is that the recipes use a variety of gluten-free flours such as potato, rice, buckwheat and almond. They also call for caster sugar, a finely ground granulated sugar. Most, if not all, of the ingredients can be ordered online if not found locally.
Another thing is that it appears Burren Wild Baker is now out of print. However, Hazel Mountain Chocolate offers the Hazel Mountain Cookbook through its online store. This cookbook features Kasha Connolly’s cakes and savory recipes and includes a gluten-free version for each recipe. Of course, I’ve ordered a copy!
Also, if you can’t wait - the recipe for the Halva Chocolate Cake that’s the subject of this post can be found under Gluten Free and Desserts on my site at In My Kitchen, and several other recipes have been published on Hazel Mountain Chocolate’s Blog.
When baking, I’ve found that exact measurements almost always yield better results. So I invested in a food scale - one that can weigh out both in pounds and kilograms. It comes in really handy when working with recipes like the ones contained in Burren Wild Baker that calculate ingredient amounts using grams. You can find a variety of different options on Amazon - just search for food scales.
There was one ingredient that I was unfamiliar with and had to go searching for - honey halva. Halva is a sweet snack made from sesame seed or other nut butters. It actually wasn’t that difficult to find, and I ordered it from Amazon. It comes in a 3-pack and you’ll use almost all of it for this recipe.
This recipe makes one cake using a 9-inch pan and requires you to cut the cake in half. The next time I make it, I plan on doubling the recipe and using two 9-inch cake pans so I don’t have to cut the cake in half and will have a more majestic dessert.
So here’s the end result. It’s not as pretty as the photo in Burren Wild Baker, but it tastes awesome! It’s definitely one that will be made again.
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