I belong to a Facebook group of wonderful women with food blogs and one of them, Carol Lovett, has written an e-book of grain-free desserts called Indulge. I offered to try a couple of recipes and this is the first one. I couldn’t be more pleased with the result. It was easy to prepare and even easier to eat. It is light and a great basic for various different flavours and desserts. This could be the cake part of a trifle for example or the base of lamingtons.
I decided to frost it with the coconut topping I have used before on my Banana Strawberry Muffins. Coconut cream whips up exactly like whipped cream and can be used as a substitute. Coconut is a healthy fat as long as it has not been hydrogenated but don’t buy it in a can because BPA (Bisphenol-A) is used in the can lining. BPA especially leaches into canned foods that are acidic, salty or fatty, such as coconut milk, tomatoes, soup, and vegetables. BPA is not a good thing to have running around in your body so buy all coconut products like oil, milk or cream in cartons or jars.
Anyway, I am getting sidetracked from this recipe. I love it because it tastes exactly like a cake made from normal flour and so I am now convinced that I will be able to be grain and sugar-free and still eat sweet treats. This cake could stay out of the fridge but I have kept it in the fridge because of the topping. I know it is equally good in or out because, see that cut piece of cake in the the photo, well, I ate it straight after the photo shoot before putting it in the fridge.
I have gone through the rest of the 70 cakes, cookies, slices etc. in the cookbook and they look super indulgent, just like the name of the book – Indulge. She also spends some time explaining the various ingredients you will need to make these recipes in a simple way, which has been very helpful for me. I will be sharing at least a couple more with you soon but meanwhile if you want to buy Carol’s book, you can and I would advise anyone who wants to try grain-free to at least have a look. Go to Carol’s blog Ditch The Wheat and scroll to the bottom of the page to see her cookbook. Click here to visit Ditch The Wheat.
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs, separated
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1/4 cup coconut flour, sifted
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- Coconut cream
- 1-2 tbsp date puree
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
- Line a 8"/20cm round cake tin with baking paper.
- In a large bowl combine the egg whites and cream of tartar.
- Whip until stiff peaks form.
- In a separate bowl, cream together honey and coconut oil.
- Beat in the egg yolks one at a time until the mixture is pale and creamy.
- Add the vanilla and beat to incorporate.
- Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt and add to the wet ingredients.
- Mix together and add a heaped tbsp of the egg whites to the cake batter to loosen it up a bit. Add more if you think it is necessary.
- Now fold in the rest of the egg whites gently until it is completely combined.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin.
- Put in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.
- The cake is done when a skewer comes out clean.
- Let cool before removing from the pan.
- When cool remove from the pan and frost with the coconut topping.
- Remove the thickest cream from the top of a 500ml carton of coconut cream which has been in the fridge overnight.
- Beat it until thick like whipped cream.
- Add the date puree and vanilla essence and beat again until incorporated.
- Spread over the cooled cake.
- Shave a few curls of unsweetened chocolate onto the top if you want.
I always thought that going grain free meant giving up cake
Glad you proved me wrong!
any chance I could replace the coconut oil?
it is not available here.
My mission is to prove it doesn’t mean no sweet treats. Butter is a perfect substitute if you are good with dairy. Use exactly the same quantity. Good luck.
Oh,this looks very delicious. I am so gonna make this cake! It fulfills all my criteria for a good healthy treat!
Treats are so essential in life so I am very pleased to have discovered this cake too. It’s easy to make and I can only imagine it would work every time.
What a great-looking cake! The frosting sounds fantastic. I’ll have to look for coconut cream in a jar. I don’t think I’ve seen that locally before, but I’d love to find it.
I know that we can get it in small cartons here, Lisa, in the supermarket. Maybe that’s your best choice.
Great photo! And a nice looking recipe, too. That frosting sounds so delish – I love coconut. Really good stuff – thanks for this.
I am using a lot of coconut these days in all its forms – milk, cream, oil and flour. It’s a great grain-free option.
That sounds delicious indeed. I’ve used coconut flour as part of a mix in a cake, but I’ve not used it as the only one. Mind you, it is so expensive in the UK, I’m not sure I could justify it anyway. Interesting what you say about BPAs. I haven’t heard of this as an issue so will try and find out more – it sounds just the sort of thing I really don’t want to hear. Tinned tomatoes form a major part of our cooking ingredients – as does tinned coconut milk.
Coconut flour is more expensive but you use way less of it because it is high fibre and absorbs a lot of moisture. In fact, you will see that this cake uses only 1/4 cup of coconut flour.
BPAs is an issue that has been around for some years now and a quick Google will show you lots of sites with scientific evidence. It’s better to buy tomatoes in a jar – even our small supermarket has them.
Good point about the small amount of coconut flour needed. I do sometimes bake with ground almonds instead of wheat, so I guess it would be similar. Anyway, I shall give it a try. Thank you.
Ground almonds work well for grain-free baking but they give a grittier texture. There is also almond flour which is much finer. I am staying away from nuts for the moment but they are certainly a great grain-free alternative.
What an innovative cake. I have used coconut flour a few times before but never in cakes, I will have to try this out soon. The cake looks very pretty too!
Thanks, Nik. The cake is surprisingly light considering the high fibre content of the coconut flour. It must be all those eggs.
You are pushing me into the right direction. I am so curious now about grain-free and refined-sugar-free foods. I know in my heart I should be cutting down on both – for health and weight loss reasons. Am I willing to take a risk and go for it? We’ll see…In the meantime, your GF and RSF desserts are very inspiring!
Jan, if you read anything about the paleo way of life, which is , among other things, eating grain and refined sugar-free, you will be persuaded that it is the way to go. There is a lot of eye-opening information about how much damage we are doing to our bodies by including grain and sugar in our diets.
Mmmm – Fantastic looking cake you got there
Thanks, it was very good.
Thank you for this cake recipe. I would like to give it a try for my dads upcoming birthday. Do you have any suggestions as to how to make this cake a chocolate cake instead of a vanilla one? Do you think if I added a little cocoa powder would I have to add anything else to balance out the addition of more dry ingredients? Or could I fold in chocolate chips?
Caiti, I would use only 2tbsp of coconut flour and then add 2 tbsp of cocoa powder. It will be a little denser than the original cake but should work well. If this is for a birthday party with a few people, I would double the recipe as this makes a relatively small cake. Good luck and happy birthday to your father.
Thank you
The cake looks delicious. Although i would like to substitute the honey for dates as sweetener. How much dates would you recommend in this case?
I would use a good tablespoon full and then taste it. Because you have removed a little bit of the liquid and because the coconut flour to liquid ratio is vital, I would add maybe a tablespoon of extra oil to get a good consistency. It will be a little bit of trial and error since you are changing the solid to liquid ratio.
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