Paleo Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Coconut Whip

 PaleO-M-G.

It's my first attempt at a Paleo cake.

Of course, I am not committed to the Paleo Diet as a lifestyle- ya'll know I love me some raw milk and cheese. But I do see its merits in other ways and it seems to work well for a lot of people.

We had a little get-together at our house last night for Labor Day and it was just the right time to try my hand at baking Paleo-style. A few of our dear friends are eating Paleo and I wanted to make sure everyone could enjoy a treat and no one had to abstain. Let them eat cake, am I right?

To be honest, I was a little nervous about this recipe at first. I've been having some success with alternative baking, but you never know what could happen with a new recipe.

Thankfully, even though I thought it was a definite fail going into the oven, the cake was a hit with our friends. It has a nice, moist crumb which is difficult to achieve when working with coconut flour and without refined sugar. Perfect with a glass of milk, er.. coconut milk.

I was also nervous about the coconut whip- I thought my coconut cream was not solid enough to whip, but it came out just fine. Like coconutty "whipped topping," if you will. And as for that skinny middle layer of frosting, I was afraid there wouldn't be enough whip to top the cake, so I went easy on the middle. There was plenty left over, so I will be a little more liberal with the middle layer next time. This time I just ate the leftover whip 0with a spoon (this is also perfectly acceptable).

I think I will be doing some more experimenting with this cake in the future. I can already think of some fun variations- mint chocolate, mocha, chocolate raspberry, chocolate peanut butter...  maybe I'll get back into the baking business. Is there a market out there for paleo cakes?

I'm going to go ponder that idea over the last slice.

Paleo Chocolate Cake
(makes 1 9-inch double-layer cake)
via Paleo Spirit

Ingredients

• 1 cup coconut flour
• 3/4 cup high cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon celtic sea salt
• 9 eggs
• 3/4 cup coconut oil (butter or ghee), melted (more for greasing pans)
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 3/4 cup brewed coffee (or water)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• parchment paper for lining cake pans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
3. Combine coconut flour, cacao, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, with whisk attachment, whisk the eggs.
5. Add the oil/butter/ghee, maple syrup, coffee and vanilla extract and continue to mix until combined.
6. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
7. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are incorporated – about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of mixing bowl (you may need to do this a couple of times) and beat cake batter on high speed for about one full minute so that the batter is fluffy.
8. Divide batter between the two prepared pans.
9. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
10. Allow to cool on a wire rack for about 10-15 minutes. Use a knife to loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and turn out onto the wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Vanilla Coconut Whip
by Oven Love

Ingredients

• 2 cans full-fat coconut milk, refrigerated for 24 hours or more
• a few drops Vanilla liquid Stevia or about 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Remove coconut milk from the refrigerator. Open cans and carefully scoop out the top layer of coconut cream into a mixing bowl, leaving the clear-ish part of the coconut milk in the can (save this for other uses- smoothies, etc).
2. Mix on high with the whisk attachment for about 5 minutes or until stiff peaks of cream form. Add your Stevia or vanilla extract to taste. Spread on top of cooled cake as a frosting, or use in any other application that calls for whipped cream.
   

PS- I just shaved a little chocolate onto the top of the cake, but you could dust with cocoa powder or top with chopped fruit, nuts or berries as well.