gluten free chocolate cake

Almost Fat Free Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

Published on December 24, 2016 by nathaliejasmin2019Leave a comment

I apologise for that very lengthy title, but I just couldn’t NOT share all the attributes of this marvellous creation of mine. In fact, I should have added moist, fudgy, scrumptious, dreamy, chocolatey, rich, moreish, delightful, satisfying, luxurious, decadent, silky…

I wanted to make a cake for my daughter’s birthday, and in my research about healthy baking I repeatedly stumbled across the tip to use black beans instead of oil/butter and flour. Wut? Yes, that’s right. If you have been following me for some time, you know that I am crazy about legumes. I use them to replace meat (try my lentil bolognese and vegan pâté), cheese and dairy (hello vegan garlic sauce! Or how about some vegan cream cheese? Recipes coming soon so stay tuned!). They are cheap, satisfying, healthy, can be stored almost indefinitely and are incredibly yummy and versatile. But if you thought that the use of legumes is limited to savoury goodies, it’s time to tap into new bean realms.

Almost Fat Free Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

So I conquered my pantry, kidnapped two beautiful tins of black beans and this is what I did with it. To be honest, I wasn’t so sure how this experiment would turn out. When it comes to baking, I tend to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Just gluten free like back in the day when I started my new journey of no worries baking simply doesn’t cut it anymore these days. I want vegan, oil-free and possible also refined sugar free. Speaking of which, I wish I could say that this cake was sugar free. Unfortunately it isn’t. I am going to try a version with dates soon as I think they might go well in here, but I wanted to take it two steps at a time, not three steps, so for the moment, this uses plain old cane sugar. I’d love for you to try this with alternative sugars so if you do, let me know if it works! So this is not low-sugar or low-carb, but I hope that the lack of oil, butter, gluten, dairy and eggs makes up for it. Plus, beans = fibre and protein FTW.

Oh, and have I mentioned that this is a really easy one? No separating of eggs (it’s vegan – duh!), only one bowl, no first-mix-the-wet-ingredients-then-mix-the-dry-ingredients-then-sift-the-flour-crap that ain’t nobody got time for. The baking time is a little longer than I prefer (45 minutes), but the actual active hands-on time is less than 15. So no excuses!

So what does a cake made of black beans look, smell and taste like? The answer is: nothing short of divine.

Almost Fat Free Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

Makes 1 8-inch (20cm) round cake

2 cups almond milk, divided
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tins black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup apple sauce
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup+ gluten-free flour
3 tsp gluten-free baking powder
1 cup organic cane sugar
1 cup raw organic cacao

Preheat oven to 180 °C and lightly grease an 8-inch or 20-cm bake tin with coconut oil. Mix 1.5 cups of the almond milk with the vinegar in a large mixing bowl and let sit for a minute to let the two ingredients react with each other. Blitz the drained and rinsed black beans together with the remaining half cup almond milk until a paste forms. A coarse texture is okay, but there should not be any large lumps.

Add the bean paste together with the apple sauce and vanilla to the almond milk-vinegar mix and beat until combined and a bit frothy. Add the flour, baking powder, cane sugar and cocoa and beat on high until very smooth. There will probably still be some bean skins, but that will resolve during baking. The texture of the batter should be that of a very thick custard. If in doubt, add a couple more tablespoons of flour. Taste the raw batter (no risk of salmonella) and add a bit more sugar if you have a sweet tooth (some of the sweetness will go away during baking).

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake on the middle rack for 40-45 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test. Let the cake cool completely before serving.

Enjoy!

Super Moist and Fudgy Chocolate Cake {vg, gf}

Published on March 8, 2015 by nathaliejasmin2019Leave a comment

An almost paleo chocolate cake – you really can have it all!If you like chocolate, you are in for a treat. Let me introduce to you a luscious chocolate cake which is not only whipped up in a jiffy, but makes for a perfect breakfast on the go, dessert or afternoon snack – and, most of all, it is absolutely moreish and -almost- paleo. Yes, this is not a misprint! You can absolutely have your cake and eat it all on a paleo diet, provided you find a high quality, sugar-free or low-sugar dark chocolate (I’d settle for nothing less but Lindt Excellence 90% – it is technically not sugar free, but with 6.7 g of sugar per 100g, is unrivalled among dark chocolates. Plus it just is the best tasting dark chocolate I have ever tasted. You can read up more on dark chocolate here).

This cake has a lovely tang to it, is never too sweet, and keeps your blood sugar nice and stable. Just the right thing to round off a great meal. It lasts a long time in the fridge and is very portable. Yes, I think you’ll really love this one. And if you are like me, you should have all the ingredients ready to go in your pantry – I really hope you always have a few bars of Lindt Excellence 90% in your cupboard! It definitely belongs on the list for essential pantry items…

Besides lovely lovely choccie, this gem packs a few other fit foods, such as raw cocoa, organic butter, cinnamon, eggs, almonds, and honey, so you can indulge a bit knowing you’ll do your body and mind something good.

Makes one loaf

150g organic coconut oil
150g very dark chocolate (at least 85% cocoa), roughly chopped
150g organic rice malt or maple syrup
juice of 2 large or 3 small oranges
2 flax eggs (1 flax egg = 1 tbsp milled flaxseed dissolved in 4 tbsp filtered water)
100g almond meal
45g tapioca starch, sifted
45g potato starch, sifted
30g raw organic cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/5 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 160 °C. Melt butter, chocolate, honey, and orange juice in a small saucepan over medium heat until well combined. Turn off the heat and let stand for about 20 minutes.
Fold in the beaten eggs, almond meal, sifted starches, cocoa powder, cinnamon and baking soda and stir batter until smooth.
Grease a loaf pan or line it with baking paper and pour in the batter. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

This beauty stores best in foil in the fridge for up to two weeks. Although it stays nice and fresh at room temperature, storing it in the fridge will not only result in a nice fudgy texture, but will make the cake also less messy and therefore more lunchbox-friendly.

Enjoy!

Decadent Flourless Chocolate Mud Cake (Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Almost Paleo!)

Published on May 19, 2014 by nathaliejasmin20194 Comments

THIS. IS. THE. CHOCOLATE. CAKE.

I promised you some time ago to publish a more nutritious, starch free chocolate cake recipe. I tend to keep my promises. I wanted to create the most perfect chocolate cake recipe in the world, and here it is. Don’t even look at anything else! It happens to be not only gluten free, but entirely grain free. It is actually virtually Paleo. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that this cake could be served in the best chocolateries and pâtisseries in Paris and would pass. This will be the richest, most luscious, most delightful, most exquisite, ambrosial, and, yup, most decadent chocolate cake you EVER devour.

Since I like to make decadence healthy you can actually afford indulging in this treasure. I promise you that this is the most guilt-free yet most guilty-tasting chocolate cake you’ll ever sink your teeth in. It is actually only a handful of ingredients, but it is of utter importance that all of these ingredients are of pristine quality. I used real Lindt 70% chocolate, so use the best dark chocolate you can lay your hands on.

Thanks to this indulgence being flourless, it is and stays gooey, melt-in-the-mouth and moist and does not dry out. The egg whites make the cake fluffy and moist without the nasty sponginess of flour-full cakes. This cake doesn’t puff up much, but I think towering cakes should be left to weddings anyway!

Serve this cake on the best plates you have, get your nicest tablecloth out, light a candle, and play some Handel – anything else wouldn’t do this lavish delicacy justice. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Makes one medium-size round cake

150 g organic coconut oil or butter or a mixture of the two
150 g high-quality dark chocolate (70%; I used Lindt Excellence)
50 g cocoa powder
6 eggs, separated
100 g honey (or coconut sugar)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
pinch of sea salt

For the frosting

150 g high-quality dark chocolate (70%; I used Lindt Excellence)
3 tbsp coconut cream
pinch of sea salt
optional: ca. 30 g milk or white chocolate and 1 tsp coconut oil for the pattern

Preheat the oven to 130 °C. This is important. Although this seems like s low temperature, too much heat will cause the cake to burn outside and the gases to expand too rapidly, leaving a deflated cake with a pancake-y texture. Melt the fat, vanilla, (cinnamon) and chocolate in a double boiler while stirring, turn off the heat once half the chocolate is melted and keep stirring. Take the chocolate off the boiler. Meanwhile, cream the yolks with honey or sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat the egg whites with the sea salt in a very clean, separate bowl on high until stiff peaks form. Pour the melted chocolate-fat-mix into the yolk mix, stirring. Finally, fold in the whites VERY CAREFULLY. Bake for 40 minutes. There should still be a bit of chocolate on the toothpick!

Let the cake cool and prepare the frosting by melting all the frosting ingredients together and icing the cake. You might want to put a ring around the cake to help the frosting build up on top of the cake and not running down on the sides. Refrigerate. If you like you can melt a bit of white or milk chocolate with coconut oil to “paint” a pattern on top of the cake. Serve with icecream (link) or apricot coulis. The cake will last in the fridge for almost two weeks.

Enjoy!