This little blog has been going a few weeks now so I thought I should let you in on a secret.

I just love cake.

One of my earliest memories is standing on a chair, cracking eggs into a mixing bowl to make mountains of cake for our family’s next camping trip, walk or school bake sale. Little has changed since, except the fact that I can now reach the worktop and I have made it one of my missions in life to ensure that cake can be a regular part of my life and day. Life is too short to not eat cake.

All that said and done, I only want to eat food that will do my body, mind and soul good, which has meant I have become an expert at making awesome cakes that are normally filled with vegetables.

(Please don’t be put off, I have fed my cakes to the biggest health cynics, the blokiest of blokes, the fussiest of children and last night this cake went down a storm with a whole dinner party.)

Cooking grain-free means I use a lot of vegetables in my baking as it brings moisture and a lovely texture to cakes. It also makes it cheaper as using nut flours can be expensive and vegetables may make them stretch further. It also means that a slice of cake can be one of your ‘five’ (people it should really be about 8-12) a day and that can’t be a bad thing surely?

This Grain Free Beetroot Chocolate Fudge Cake is filled with beetroot, a brilliant way to reduce blood pressure, increase stamina and increase your antioxidant intake (the dark red/purple colour is a sign they are antioxidant rich). It also contains good fats from butter and coconut oil, more antioxidants found in cocoa and plenty of protein found in the nut flours. This recipe is a particularly rich and luxurious one, I made it for a birthday cake so I would not recommend eating this regularly i.e. every day, but it is brilliant for a celebration.

And if you love cake as much as I do then make sure you get your hand on my free recipe eBook with some of my favourite cake recipes and become part go my Super  Naturally Healthy Tribe and get weekly tips from me straight to your inbox!

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Chocolate Fudge Cake

Kezia Hall

A grown up chocolate fudge cake that is gluten and grain free, paleo, GAPS and SCD friendly, but doesn't taste remotely healthy!

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Prep Time 45 minutes mins

Servings 10

Ingredients

  

• CAKE
• 500 g cooked beetroot not in vinegar
• 5 large eggs free range and/or organic
• 1/2 tspn vanilla essence no sugar added
• 3/4-1 cup of honey really it is to taste so check mixture and add according to your own preference
• 250 g organic butter
• 150 g cocoa again this is preference i love really dark chocolate so i put a lot in, but use less if you prefer a 'milkier' chocolate taste
• 200 g nut flour I used half almond/ half coconut
• 4 tbspn of strong coffee
• 1 tspn bicarb/gluten free baking powder
• 1 ripe mashed banana
• ICING
• 100 g cocoa again personal preference
• 3-5 tbspn honey
• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• 40 g dark chocolate optional - not GAPS/SCD legal
• 1 tbsp strong coffee
• A few drops of vanilla essence
• 1 cup of homemade soured cream

Instructions

 

• Line and prepare 2 cake tins. Preheat oven to 140 (fan assisted , 160 none assisted) degrees celsius
• Grate the beetroot, drain of excess liquid and put aside.
• Melt butter and cocoa and honey on a low heat. Leave to cool.
• Whisk eggs and banana until they are fluffy.
• Fold the nut flours into the eggs, then add the beetroot, chocolate sauce and coffee and gently fold in until thoroughly mixed. (At this stage taste mixture as you may want to add more sweetener or cocoa).
• Divide into 2 cake tins and place in the middle of the oven for an 1hour - 1hr30mins (checking regularly as ovens vary and nut flours burn easy).
• Then cover in foil for remaining half hour.
• It should bounce back when cooked or leave no mixture when cocktail stick is inserted.
• Allow to cool.
• To make frosting melt coconut oil, coffee, honey and cocoa on a low heat. Allow to cool and add other ingredients.
• Add the soured cream and very gently beat until it is thoroughly mixed.
• Use to sandwich the cake together to to serve on the side. (The icing will go firm it put in fridge).

Notes

This would also be great for cup cakes, just reduce the cooking time. You can also omit the coffee but it does add a rich quality without tasting too strongly of coffee.
A natural way to decorate it is by using fresh flowers - they look beautiful and are a much healthier alternative to sugary chemical filled sprinkles!
To be strictly GAPS/SCD omit the dark chocolate in frosting - I had ran out of cocoa so i used it as a last resort.

Adapted from Inspired by the BBC Cook Yourself Thin series.

What is your favourite vegetable cake? Whats you go to birthday cake recipe?