Anyway, I mixed all the ingredients save the water together, and then added the water and mixed that. Which means the ingredients can be combined ahead of time, and just turned into batter when ready to bake.
Super simple and super easy, even if I did use both coconut sugar and date sugar. The main criticism people have of my recipes is that they can have too many ingredients. Hopefully this will seem simple all the same.
The frosting is thick and gooey, and made of good things like dates, coconut oil, and cacao. The two together make a really nice dessert that has none of the sin and all of the virtue.
Chocolate Layer Cake:
ingredients:
1/4 cup finely ground chia
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup date sugar
1 cup coconut sugar
1 cup chickpea flour
1 cup almond flour (or use raw sunflower seeds and make a fine flour by grinding them up)
1/2 cup raw cacao powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground vanilla bean
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 cups water
directions:
1. In a mixing bowl, combine the ground chia, tapioca starch, date sugar, coconut sugar chickpea flour, almond flour, cacao, baking soda, ground vanilla bean, and sea salt. If you don't use ground vanilla bean and instead like vanilla extract, please don't add that here.
2. Stir all the ingredients together until it's a nice homogeneous mixture.
3. It's a dry, shelf-stable concoction, and you can either use it now, or put it in a sealed container to make your cake later.
4. If you choose to use it now, prepare 2 round 8 inch baking pans by covering them well with coconut oil and using parchment paper rounds to line them. Preheat your oven to 345.
5. add in the 2 cups of water to your dry ingredients, and mix really really well. If you're using vanilla extract instead of ground vanilla bean, you can add it here. Yay! Mix!
6. evenly divide the batter into the 2 pans.
7. bake at 345 for about 40 minutes, or until the top is resilient.
8. remove from the oven, let cool a little in the pans, then run a knife around the edge of the pans, and gently tip out the cakes and place on a cooling rack
9. I often let cakes cool before removing the baking parchment.
Thick Gooey Ganache Frosting:
You'll need an immersion blender or another blender for this ...
ingredients:
1 1/2 cup pitted honey dates
1 cup hot water (just boiled is good)
1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup raw cacao
directions:
1. combine the hot water, dates, and coconut oil. Let sit for at least 10 minutes to fully soften dates.
2. add the sea salt and vanilla extract, and puree with an immersion blender until beautifully smooth,
3. stir in the cacao
4. cool. I stuck it in the refrigerator for a little while.
5. use. It was perfect for generously filling and frosting an 8 inch double decker round cake. Or eat by the spoonful. I dare ya. Double-dog, double-decker dare you.
When the cake is cool and the frosting chilled, assemble your cake. When you layer a cake, get an appropriate plate, and place the first layer top side down. The bottom side is flat and even, and makes a much more receptive layer for frosting. Some pros will shave off the top of the cake to make it flatter, but I'm of the flip-it-over school of cake layering. Put a generous portion of the frosting on the first layer, and spread it gently towards the edges. Top with the second layer, nesting it securely onto the bed of frosting you have put down. Make sure the second layer goes top side down, so the flat bottom (tee hee) is upper-most. Scoop frosting onto the second layer, and smooth out towards the edges, and along the sides. This part can take a little practice, but with patience your cake will look very nice. This frosting will show the painterly brush strokes of your application, and not a smooth glassy finish because it's a little sticky. If you want a really smooth glazed look, there is a glaze I made in the past for cake that will achieve that.
