This is a genius cake. A Chocolate leftover rice cake. Have you ever heard of that? This is a lovely fudgy chocolate cake that just happens to use up your leftover rice. Bonus!
How do you bake rice into a chocolate cake?
I dreamt it up one day. I was making the well loved and famed orange and almond cake. The one with boiled oranges and I forgot to buy the oranges! After I swore a bit I decided to replace the oranges with leftover rice. And, this cake was born.
The cake is made with lovely dark cocoa. That’s what gives it its deep flavour. When using rice for this recipe, I used steamed rice. This is probably drier than boiled leftover rice. If you have boiled rice it will be easier to puree but it might be just a bit wetter than steamed rice. You may need to add an extra 1/4 cup (25gm) almond meal (flour). Basmati rice is a bit dry for use in this recipe
I love rice, I try not to eat too much of it at home in Australia….where I am carb-conscious …. but there are certain places in the world that you would not dream of skipping it. Italy for example……..or when in Asia it just feels right, breakfast lunch and dinner.
Times when rice is king!
There were times when I was in the Cambodian jungle that I prayed I could be eating rice. The jungle is green and dense and full crawling, flying, jumping creatures. If the bugs don’t get you the almost 100% humidity will. You feel tired just putting one foot in front of the other. While you are swatting mosquitoes and sweating, you can only dream of sitting in the shade and eating some fluffy rice.
The Elephant Valley Project is in Mondulkiri, a northern province in Cambodia. Here, a motley crew of Elephants are living a well deserved life of luxury. After surviving lives of incredible work loads farming and lifting and sometimes being used to carry tourists in painful heavy baskets, they are resting. Some have been tortured and beaten but now spend their days foraging in the jungle, safe and protected. Elephants eat a lot and did you know they are vegetarians? Here they wander the forest uprooting trees and foraging for juicy bits of greenery and sometimes they feel the need to raid local farms that have delicious crops growing, causing all kinds of trouble.
Here at the EVP in Cambodia, they are regularly offered Banana palms as a morning treat. These need to be hacked into large chunks before they are shared amongst the herd. They grow on hilly slopes in the sun while the Elephants like to wait in the shade down by the river. I did say banana palms, the whole tree, yes. Going down a slope generally means you have to go back up. It is incredibly tiring and slow work. Food here tastes extra amazing for humans that have been feeding elephants!
Elephant Pretzels
There were days that we joked about the lunch hooter going off………We PRAYED for the lunch hooter.
Some times I include a layer of salted caramel. This is super delicious too. If you want to do that you can get a recipe here  (it makes a takeaway container, keep the leftover in the fridge to use it on other things).
Watch the video to see how easy it is
Chocolate Leftover Rice Cake- Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 250 gm cooked rice nice and moist
- 250 gm caster sugar
- 1 Tablespoon golden syrup
- 6 whole eggs extra large or 70 gm
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 200 gm almond meal
- 50 gm cocoa just under 1/2 cup
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Chocolate Frosting
- 150 gm dark chocolate chopped or buttons
- 150 ml cream heavy or thickened
Instructions
- You will need 20 cm ( 9") cake tin. I like to use a springform tin if possible. This mixture can also be made into cupcakes and set the oven at 180C (350 F) deg for 15-20 minutes.
- Put the rice and sugar into the food processor and buzz till smooth. This will take just a few minutes. It needs to be quite smooth
- Add the eggs, vanilla, almond meal, cocoa powder and baking powder .
- Puree till combined.
- Pour into a 20 cm ( 9") cake tin or cupcake papers 3/4 full. Bake at 180 C(350 F) deg for 15-20 minutes for cupcakes and 40-45 minutes for a 23 cm. A skewer should come out clean when the cake is tested.
- Let the cake sit on a rack for a few minutes before turning out and cooling completely
- Heat the cream in a jug or a sauce pan till warm but not boiling. Take off the heat and add the chocolate . Stir till melted. Cool . Beat in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Pipe or spread onto the cakes.
- I spread a layer of salted caramel on the cake before ganaching it.
Notes
More than an elephants tale ………………..Chocolate Left over Rice Cake, Gluten Free
Chocolate Leftover Rice Cake seen first on My Kitchen Stories
I made this cake tonight using steamed rice leftover from last night’s dinner. The cake was amazingly moist, and had a balanced texture and delicious chocolatey taste as one would expect from a regular (non-GF) chocolate cake. I just love a good cake, but since I don’t eat wheat finding a great cake recipe, particularly one that also suits the palate of my three young children, has been a challenge. Having baked a great many gluten-free cakes, some with more success in the eating than others, I can honestly say this is a winning recipe. Thank you very much for sharing it, Tania.
(Note: this cake took 45 minutes to bake in a 23 cm silicone cake ‘tin’ at 180 degrees C).
Hi there Tamie. Thank you for being lovely enough to let me know you liked it. I think its a real keeper too. One day I was making orange and almond cake with whole boiled oranges and I wondered what would happen if I used rice instead. I am not sure why I did but the result was this cake and I love it. Again Thanks!
Tania I will try the left over rice chocolate cake. Thank you for that the beetroot cus cus will give that a go as well. Love you my kitchen stories.
Love you my Trisha
Wow Tania! I would have never know that you could used leftover cooked rice to make a scrumptious cake. Definitely have to give this a try and soon. Thanks for sharing. I love your photos.
Nancy/SpicieFoodie recently posted..Spicy Cheese Pupusas or El Salvadoran Corn Cakes
Thanks Nancy. Fancy you saying that to me!
Hi Chef,
There is a great photo I would like to retake on my trip Africa, with my mum, it was the greatest expeirence of my life, the food was magical, but the photo retake was my mum on an elephant jungle experience. By the way way your recieps are TASTEie, and great.
Thank you Mark, all the best of luck
rice is a VERY surprising ingredient! what a perfectly moist cake, tania–well done!
grace recently posted..hot diggity dog!
Thank you Grace ….. I was amazed when I threw it together and it worked so well.
Aren’t elephants magnificent creatures? I went to an elephant orphanage in Sri Lanka and just being so close to these huge beasts felt like such a privilege.
As for these lovely little tasty chocolate goodies , they sound wonderful.
cityhippyfarmgirl recently posted..trying something new
oH how fantastic Sri lanka! Once you get close you just never forget it do you?
I thought this was going to be cooked using rice flour, I didn’t know you could make it with actual rice. I often have rice leftover at the bottom of my rice cooker – now I know I can turn it into something wonderful. Love how you’ve piped the icing Tania. And I’d love to hear more about your time in Cambodia with the elephants. So lovely they have been rescued and are no longer being abused. I hate cruelty to animals xx
Hotly Spiced recently posted..Exposed Secrets
Oh I dreamt of something like this in Cambodia where finding chocolate is like finding gold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Would have helped me up that god forsaken hill thats for sure!! I’ll give this baby a go1
Ha Ha to be sure,,,, even when you find chocolate its dodgy isnt it? Imagine if we had a few of these in our hut instead of those damn trail bars that were so crumbly they attracted all manner of insects!
What a brilliant idea! I only just threw out a big bowl of leftover rice – I’ll know what to do next time! Thanks Tania 😉
Chompchomp recently posted..Volcanic Stone Grill and Cafe
What an interesting method. A perfect recipe for the Thermomix. Love the elephant’s tail.
Celia sent me over to read about the elephants.
I’m so glad I came For the elephants and the cake! I am intrigued and since my niece just sent me some golden syrup I actually can and will make this. Thanks!
heidiannie recently posted..In My Kitchen-June 2012
Hello, visit anytime you like elephants or not!
Tania, this is such a fabulous post. What an adventure you had! But ugh…I’m a comforts girl, so I can’t imagine being in the Cambodian jungle by choice… 😉
Great recipe and a really innovative use of leftover rice. I’d probably just fry it up with an egg. 😉
celia recently posted..In My Kitchen, June 2012
Yes well thats the next choice. There was comfort when I was eating!
Cambodia, elephants and scrumptious looking (and probably tasting cake- with salted caramel…!) Bliss!
thank you Diane
I have bought the ingredients and I will make it tomorrow. I really want to try some gluten-free recipes. I will link back to you with the recipe when I blog about it.
I absolutely loved Cambodia as you might have seen on my last post. The people are so friendly.
Suzanne Perazzini recently posted..Favourite Place in the World No. 2 – Angkor WatÂÂ
Yes I agree Suzanne it was one of my favourite places too. Looking forward to your post
Rice and chocolate….what an unique combo! These cupcakes sure look awesome!
Angie@Angie’s Recipes recently posted..Dark Rye Bread with Oats and Longans
How unusual These are made with boiled rice? Great idea
I’ve never eaten a rice cake like this. It looks wonderful and simple to prepare. I can’t get golden syrup here where I live in Mexico (and I do love it so!), but could probably find a substitute. Thanks for posting the recipe.
Victoria at Flavors of the Sun recently posted..Zucchini Sticks: Fried or Baked?
Use a bit of honey Victoria
What an awesome idea! And an awesome adventure too. Love it!
Thanks , yes it was an awesome adventure and I am glad i did it!
Oh at first I thought it was made using rice flour when I saw the title but actual rice! I’m really intrigued! The crumb and texture looks great!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella recently posted..Pod Cookies aka the Inception Cookie
Give it a go Lorraine!
As long as I’ve eaten rice, I’ve never used it in a decadent cake like this. Can’t wait to try this recipe!
yummychunklet recently posted..Forever Nigella: Naan Pizza
Well I have made this one up. Cant see anything like this anywhere else.Give it go… nice moist rice.