Paleo Chocolate Cake

Our oldest has a birthday coming up.  Instead of taking a break from Paleo to allow a store-bought, chemical-laden cake, I'm working on several Paleo desserts to make sure her birthday is a happy one for her  whole body, gut included.  I mean, really, no one wants the nasty rash that accompanies her wheat-feasting. That's not the sort of birthday gift she's looking forward to.

I had intended this dish to be brownies, but they really weren't brownie-like in my opinion. Maybe that's because I'm used to the gooey, fudgy kind that come from box mixes (why do those things have to be so good?).

This recipe is pretty simple, and you could call them brownies or call them cake. You could top them with walnuts or a Paleo icing.  And yanno, your kids will still love them either way.

And they will still want to lick the bowl. They'll sneak into it when you're not looking, and instead of scolding them, you will probably grab your camera instead.

Paleo Chocolate Cake

What you'll need:

1/2 cup butter (that's one stick)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
6 eggs
1/2 to 3/4 cup maple syrup, honey, or agave (Depends on how sweet you prefer it. I used 1/2 cup. Also, I need to go grocery shopping so I used a combination of all three because I was running out of everything.)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips (optional)
Chopped raw walnuts (optional)



What to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2.Melt the butter in a saucepan or in the microwave. I've been trying to avoid using the microwave, so I did it on the stovetop over low heat.

3. While you're doing that, get out a medium mixing bowl and beat eggs, maple syrup, baking powder, and vanilla together. (Save back the coconut flour. Don't add it yet!)

4.  Is the butter melted yet?  Great. Remove from heat and add cocoa powder to the melted butter, whisking in thoroughly with a fork.

5. Add cocoa and butter mixture into the medium bowl with the egg mixture and mix well.

6. Add coconut flour and mix together (an electric beater works best) until no longer lumpy.  I added in chocolate chips at this point for an extra bite of chocolate-y goodness. You could add walnuts in here, or you could save them and put them on the top for a pretty touch. Let it sit for a couple minutes to the coconut flour can soak up some of the moisture.

7. Grease an 8x8 or 9x9 pan.  There are several ways to do this. You can use spray or you could put a dollop of butter or coconut oil in the pan and put it in the oven for a couple minutes.  Once melted, remove the pan (with hot pads!) and tilt/rotate the pan until it's completely greased up. Pour in the batter and top with walnuts (if you want)!

8. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.  It depends on what pan you are using, so set your timer for 18 minutes and give it a check.  I used an 8x8 pan and it took about 22 minutes. (The middle was still very wet at 18 minutes. I probably could have pulled it out at 20, and let it sit for a bit, and because it retains heat, it would have finished baking and have been a bit more moist.)  Smaller pans will have longer baking time. The bigger the pan the quicker it will bake.  You can test it with a toothpick or knife inserted in the middle. If it's still really gooey and sticks to the knife, then it's not quite finished.

I'm thinking that, next time, I might add in a touch of coconut cream. I'll have to continue working on a brownie recipe I really like.  I'm pretty sure this recipe would make a great cupcake with chocolate avocado pudding for icing.  Also, I don't really MEASURE stuff, I eyeball it, to it's totally possible that I may have put a little too much cocoa, which could have accounted for it not being so fudgy. Either way, it was really tasty, especially since I haven't had a brownie, or chocolate cake, in a long time.

Gluten-free baking used to seem to daunting. I mean, most recipes called for a mixture of flours (rice flour, tapioca flour, sorghum, etc) plus add in other strange stuff I had never heard of.  It seemed like such a huge hassle, and not only that, it required me to have a zillion different kinds of flours on hand (most of which were pretty expensive) or buy that pricey gluten-free flour mixture.

Grain-free baking is such a breeze. Normally, there are not a lot more steps than what I was once accustomed to. And, if it's grain-free, then it's already gluten-free, so my gluten-free friends and family don't have to worry about the dishes we make. They can indulge!