Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

I'm not terribly knowledgable about gluten free recipes. I understand that there are individuals that have Celiac's Disease and cannot consume wheat. I'm certain I could not survive. Recently, someone requested that I experiment and make some gluten free desserts for them to try. I'll be honest, I procrastinated on this one for about a month. I just could not wrap my mind around the idea of baking without all purpose (wheat containing) flour. I just really wasn't even certain it could be done. Well, not and be worthy of ingesting. But, I finally found a recipe and set to work. Though still uncertain of the outcome, because the main starch (instead of flour) in this recipe is cornstarch. My mouth just wanted to dry up at the thought of all that cornstarch. If you've ever tasted straight cornstarch, you know what I mean. Its like putting baby powder on your tongue. Well, actually that's what a lot of baby powders are made of! But, I continued on, it was the best recipe I could come up with. In the end, I bet I ate about 1/4 of this cake by myself. It was really great! It really boggled my mind that it could be that good with no flour. Also, this contained very basic ingredients. No hard to find nut flours, etc.. It is somewhat similar to a CocaCola Cake, because it has a cooked (boiled) icing on it. Wow, was that icing good! Anyways. My girls even liked it and could not tell there was anything unusual about it. So, if you are looking to cut back on your flour consumption or you know someone that has a wheat allergy, make this for them. At the very least, make this icing and pour it over something or eat it with a spoon. It is not to be missed! Enjoy!

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
1/2 c butter
1 c water
1/4 c cocoa
1/2 c oil
2 c cornstarch
2 c white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 c buttermilk
2 eggs
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Boil butter, water, cocoa and oil until well melted and dissolved.
Sift cornstarch, sugar, salt and baking soda and pour boiled mixture over sifted mixture. Add buttermilk and eggs. Spread into a 9x13 pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out only with small crumbs. Immediately pour icing (recipe to follow) over cake and let cool completely.

Chocolate Icing:
1/4 c butter
1/4 c cocoa
1/3 c buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
3 c. powdered sugar

Bring butter and cocoa to a boil, stirring constantly. Add remaining ingrediends and beat until smooth. Pour over cake.