Tasty Tuesday {Gluten Free Chocolate Skillet Cake}

You guys.

I found this recipe for a Chocolate Skillet cake and I died.

Really.  I'm going to make it again.

Some friends were coming over and I wanted to try out my newly seasoned cast iron skillet (that I'm now obsessed with).  One of my friends is gluten-intolerant, so I thought I would try and make it gluten free.  Luckily, the only ingredient containing gluten in the original recipe was the all-purpose flour.  After researching how to substitute it with all this fancy xanthium gum or whatever, I decided to just go simple, and purchase some Gluten free all-purpose flour from Trader Joe's.  So much easier.

Well, it turned out amazing.  It was so moist and everyone loved it.  At least, I think, considering it was totally devoured.  Add some ice cream on top, grab a spoon and dig in!

Yum.

Make it this weekend, people, it's that good and that easy.

So good that I didn't even take a few seconds to grab a normal camera and only snapped these photos in horrible lighting with my cell phone.  I'm sorry, I'm not sorry.

Gluten Free Chocolate Skillet Cake

For the cake:
1 cup all-purpose gluten free flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 T cocoa powder
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup buttermilk (or make your own using this trick)
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

For the frosting:
1/4 cup butter
2 T cocoa powder
4 T milk
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

1.  Preheat the oven to 350* F.
2.  In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt together and set aside.
3.  In a 10" cast iron skillet, bring the butter, vegetable oil, cocoa powder, and water to a boil.  Remove from the heat and whisk in the dry ingredients well.  Mix in the buttermilk, egg and vanilla.
4.  Bake the skillet cake for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
5.  While the cake starts to cool, make the frosting.  In a medium saucepan, bring the butter, cocoa, and milk to a boil.  Remove them from the heat and add the powdered sugar, nuts and vanilla.  Stir to combine.
6.  Pour over the warm cake, spread with a spatula, and serve with a few scoops of vanilla ice cream (you can also add caramel sauce and whipped cream if you're feeling crazy).

You're welcome, folks.