This recipe is from the lovely Nutrition Guru and The Chef. Tara has “a passion for busting diet myths and showing people simple and effective ways to live a healthy and happy life by eating whole foods… Together we aim to inspire people to try new ingredients, to live a healthy life, provide readers with exciting new recipes, share our cooking secrets and provide up to date credible nutrition information”.
This is my go-to Chocolate Cake recipe for any occasion – birthdays, picnics, and any other time I’m out to impress with a ‘healthier’ cake. It’s fail proof and absolutely delicious – Bella
Chocolate Cake
What you’ll need…
- 1.5 cups of cooked sweet potato (see method below)
- 85 grams dark chocolate
- 3 medium eggs
- 2 cups coconut sugar or rapadura sugar (I halved this quantity, still sweet enough!)
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or 1tbsp vanilla essence)
- 1/2 cup cacao powder
- 200 grams almond meal
- 1 1/2 teaspoon gluten free baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoons cinnamon
What to do…
- Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
- To cook the sweet potato, wash thoroughly, towel dry.
- Place whole on a lightly oiled baking tray and bake for approximately 30 minutes until soft when poked with a knife.
- When cooked, let cool on a wire rack.
- When cool, make a cut in the potato skin along the length and scoop out the flesh.
Discard the skin. - Blend or mash the potatoes until slightly smooth but still some ‘chunks’ remaining.
- Melt the chocolate (85grams) gently over a double boiler
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and oil.
- Slowly add the cooked potato, the melted chocolate and vanilla into the egg mixture.
- Beat until just combined. Don’t over work it.
- Sift the cacao. Add this and the almond meal, baking powder and salt to the wet ingredients.
- Fold the ingredients until everything is just combined. Don’t over mix the batter.
- Spread a teaspoon of olive oil over the surface of a 10 inch cake pan. Sprinkle some flour all over, and tap out the excess. Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake tin.
- Bake for approximately 50 minutes.
- Cake is ready when a tooth pick or skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Baking time may vary depending on the pan and oven you are using.
- Remove from oven and leave to cool in the pan.
Chocolate Ganache
What you’ll need…
- 1 cup cacao powder
- 1 cup water
- 4 tbsp honey or maple syrup
- 4 tbsp olive oil.
What to do…
- Place all ingredients except the olive oil in a small saucepan on high heat, stirring to combine.
- Let mixture bubble for 5 minutes, stirring to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Mixture will start to thicken.
- Add olive oil and stir vigorously to incorporate oil into the chocolate mixture.
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool before using it to top the cake
Decorate the cake with fresh, seasonal fruit. Enjoy with friends. Yum!
