I have found a cake even the most gluten-loving person will love, and it doesn’t have gluten.
A few weeks ago, I read my first #BecauseGluten (and a subsequent one) at Wordier Than Thou’s Food For Thought at Story Brooke Craft Coffee Bar. I found out during the event that more than one person also follows this column — and the Edible Peace Patch Project/Eco Village people put me in touch with one of the richest, most decadent cakes I’ve ever eaten.
Here’s how it happened.
In 2007, Emmanuel Roux — the former owner of downtown St. Pete restaurant The Garden (RIP) — and his wife dined at Robert et Louise in Paris. After dinner, they ordered a chocolate cake. It impressed Roux so much that he asked how it was made, then went home and baked it himself. But, unlike the Robert et Louise version, he pulled off his without flour. He’s not a celiac or averse to gluten — he simply thought it tasted better flourless.
“I was not trying to do something that was gluten-free,” he says. “I adopted the recipe that tasted the best.”
He soon realized that, in addition to the cake tasting amazing, it hit a lot of the right notes for the gluten-averse and those of us who’ve been diagnosed with celiac disease.
“I vaguely knew about [celiac], and then I realized there was a whole group of people for which it is an issue.”
Most flourless chocolate cakes, as any celiac knows, taste delicious, but have the consistency of those hexagon pavers that make up St. Pete’s Old Northeast sidewalks. Not the one from Gateau O Chocolat. While it’s not “light and airy” — no gluten-free cake is — it is fluffy.
The other thing about this cake is: You can’t eat too much of it. I don’t mean that it’s low in calories, so you can down however much you’d like — I mean that one bite in and you’re thinking, “OMFG. I’m gonna eat this whole thing right now.” At the end of your second forkful, however, you realize you’re full. Barry referred to it as “fudge,” and although I think that’s a rather severe assessment, it is a rich dessert.
As I tasted it — OK, I did more than taste… I ate enough for three people — Roux and Story Brooke owner Story Stuart discussed the possibility of the cake being a part of the cafe’s regular rotation. (The place makes some tasty-AF gluten-free things already, BTW. Might I suggest the waffles?). According to Roux, the best way to deliver his dessert is in a single serving, which he does when supplying it for a catered event.
Sadly, that’s the only way to get the cake in person right now; I know of no cafes that carry it… yet. Happily, if you’re anything like most of the staff at CL, you have a few more holiday gatherings to attend, and no one ever turns down chocolate at a party.
Order one of Gateau O Chocolat’s cakes online. Just don’t mention it’s gluten-free.
This article appears in Dec 21-28, 2017.
