Chocolate Cupcakes (courtesy of Hersey's Cocoa)

Besides apple pie, what is more American, per se, than chocolate cake? Especially if it's adorned with a rich, chocolaty frosting to round out its chocolaty goodness?

Not much, I say.

That is why, in honor of annual celebration of our country's independence, I decided to make my next cupcake experiment based on a tried and true classic: Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake.

Behold, the key ingredient: Hershey's Cocoa:

The actual can used!

The recipe

Just to make sure I was keeping the whole experiment authentic and honest in terms of gluten products, I double-checked the ingredients on this Hershey's can. The one ingredient listed was cocoa. And that was all.

I decided to use this recipe as the basis of my experiment for a couple of reasons. First, while I know that there are several very good recipes out there for a gluten-free chocolate cake, and that there are some excellent ready-to-go gluten-free mixes out there, I really wanted to base both recipes off of the same foundation. Second, Hershey's is just, well, classic.

This week, the experiment was conducted in our much smaller kitchen in our apartment in the Bay area; the kids and I are up north with Glen this week for a July 4 holiday. As you can see, my sous chef was very happy to put on her new apron:

The apron fits!

Two seconds later, she ran off to play Barbies

It's difficult to decipher the recipe from the photo above, so, without further ado, here it is:


Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake


Regular cupcake recipe:

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups Hershey's cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (again, I used Clabbor Girl)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda (this time, I used Arm & Hammer)
1 teaspoon salt (I just used a pinch)
2 eggs
1 cup milk (I used whole milk)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

The batter came together quite nicely, as you can see. The dry ingredients, as expected, sifted together without any trouble.

As is the norm, I filled the cupcake tins about 2/3 full with batter. This batch would have easily yielded about 24 cupcakes, but I stopped at 18.

The oven we have in our Newark kitchen is a tad unpredictable, so I checked the cupcake's cooking progress every 7-10 minutes. The tester came out "clean" after about 20 minutes, and the cupcakes looked quite yummy and had a moist crumb.

Fresh from the oven

Gluten recipe cupcake, up close and personal

Now, for the gluten-free batch, the flour mixture I used came straight off of the shelves of Williams-Sonoma, the store I would gladly live in if given half the chance. I happened upon this brand when doing a search on "gluten free" on Williams-Sonoma's website. Up popped Thomas Keller's Cup4Cup brand. Heck, with a combination of Williams-Sonoma and Thomas Keller, I was feeling very optimistic about the impending results.

This product was $19.95 (plus tax, of course) at the Williams-Sonoma store in Palo Alto, CA. But, for a 3 lb bag, this is not a bad deal.

Gluten-free cupcake recipe:

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups Cup4Cup gluten-free flour
3/4 cups Hershey's cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (again, I used Clabbor Girl)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda (this time, I used Arm & Hammer)
1 teaspoon salt (I just used a pinch)
2 eggs
1 cup milk (I used whole milk)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

I prepared the batter as directed on the Hershey's can. The dry ingredients, once mixed, looked exactly like those with the gluten flour.

One of the first things I noticed once I incorporated the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients was the consistency of the batter. I was very intrigued by its viscosity. As you can see, the batter seemed to be a bit thicker:

Note how the dripping batter seemed to suspend itself in mid-air

So, slightly worried that the end product would turn out to be dense, chewy, or gummy, I filled the cupcake tins in the usual manner, and popped them into the oven. Again, I watched them like a hawk.

As they cooked and rose in the oven, I noticed that the tops of the gluten-free cupcakes took on a noticeable sheen. They were down-right glossy as they cooked. I wasn't quite sure what to make of this.

These, too, were cooked in about 20 minutes. As you can see, once removed from the oven, they looked remarkably similar to the gluten recipe, and they didn't collapse once taken out of the direct heat of my persnickety oven.

Once cooled, I opened up one of these little guys and found, again, a moist crumb of light texture.

Looks incredibly promising!

Then, the moment of truth was upon us. Glen (my hubby) and I each pinched off a piece of the cupcake in the photo above, and popped it into our respective mouths.

My first reaction: "WOW!"

It was incredible! A melt-in-your-mouth experience, with only a very slight taste differential in the actual cake itself. If anything, it needed a bit more cocoa. But, dang! In a blindfolded taste test, I likely would not be able to tell the difference between the two recipes. I was thrilled.

To finish each cupcake batch off, I prepared two different ganache toppings: a dark chocolate for the regular cupcakes, and a bittersweet for the gluten-free.

Dark chocolate ganache atop the regular cupcakes

Bittersweet chocolate ganache atop the gluten-free cupcakes

Then, it was time to test these batches with a wider audience. This time, I subjected my in-laws to these decadent little beauties during our annual July 4 family gathering. Pretty much everyone in the whole group knows about this blog, and they were more than happy to be the test audience for this round.

I opted not to tell them in advance which batch was which, but rather made them guess and tell me which batch they preferred. While I didn't get a vote from everyone, only a couple of people guessed the identity of each batch correctly. And a good cross-section of my experimental group said they ultimately preferred the gluten-free cupcakes over the regular. My husband didn't identify the batches correctly, but said he preferred the regular cupcakes just slightly more than the gluten free. My son? He went right for the cupcakes with the flags because, after all, it was July 4; gluten was besides the point.

So, I really enjoyed this particular experiment! Next week I'll offer yet a new batch of delicacies, using yet a different gluten-free baking mix.

I welcome and will look for your comments!