What is nice about this recipe is that you can basically prepare everything ahead of time and then last minute, give it the 'finishing touch' .
You can work with the basics of my Wicked Chocolate Cake, so far one of the most popular cakes in my blog.
You need
•parchment paper
•a round 8 inch (20 cm) spring form pan
•food processor
•food ring tall 5,5 cm/2 inch and diameter 8 cm/3.15 inch
Ingredients (makes dessert for 4)
•1/2 cup (120 ml) of sunflower seed oil (1)
•2/3 cups (94 grams) of coconut flour
•1/2 cup (45 grams) unsweetened good quality cacao powder
•1/2 tsp baking soda
•1/2 tsp sea salt
•6 medium sized eggs
•3/4 cup (180 ml) agave nectar
•1/2 cup (120 ml) water
•1 tbs vanilla extract
Ingredients for filling and frosting
•8 ounces (230 grams) fat juicy dates, spitted
•4 ounces (115 grams) of dark (70 % or more) chocolate
•3 tbs (45 ml) of sunflower seed oil (1)
•pinch of black pepper
Ingredients for decoration
•20 pistachio nuts, unsalted and chopped
Baking the cake
•Preheat the oven to 170C (350F)
•grease the pan and line bottom and sides with parchment paper (cut a round circle for the bottom and then a strip to cover the side. The grease will make the paper stick to the pan).
•combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside
•whisk the eggs and once they are fluffy add the wet ingredients, bit by bit, letting them blend in nicely
•add the dry ingredients into the wet, allowing them to mix well till the batter has become a whole
•pour into the pan and make sure the mixture is spread evenly
•bake for 40 min (or until you insert a toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean)
•take it out of the oven and allow it to cool down for about 15 min. Then take it out of the spring form, put it on a wire rack and allow it to cool completely.
Date jam
•put dates into a food processor and section them to a paste
•scrape the dates out of the processor and put them into a small pan
•heat the pan slowly and add some water (probably about a medium glass), bit by bit, till you reach the ideal consistency to spread and a bit more (when the date paste cools down, it will harden some. So do not let it cool down completely before you apply it to the cake).
Chocolate frosting
•melt the chocolate in a small saucepan at low heat
•add the sunflower seed oil bit by bit
•add a pinch of black pepper
Putting it all together
•cut out 4 round cakes using the food ring and then slice each cake (now cool) in half
•spread the date jam on the cake and then top it with the next layer. Save the prettiest, flat layer for the top.
•just before serving, pour the hot chocolate over the cake tower and sprinkle the pistachio nuts on top
Tips & remarks
•I bake in an electric oven where the heat spreads very evenly. I have baked in a gas oven before and notice that for some reason, there is some 'heat loss'. So I have had to increase the heat in a gas oven by 5C/41F
•Unsalted pistachio nuts are difficult to find where I live. So I have sometimes bought the salted ones, rinsed them with water and let them dry before chopping them. Worked like a charm.
(1) Hard core paleo diets like to stay away from seed oils because they are extracted using heat. You could use coconut oil instead (keep away from the ones that have been chemically deodorized).
