At a recent conference in San Francisco, many people requested a healthy chocolate cake without eggs. Well, here it is! It’s a super-luscious, ooey gooey chocolate cake, soft and creamy, like a real chocolate decadence cake. The secret ingredients are sweet potato, chia seeds, and coconut butter. It’s very easy to make in a food processor or a blender. This is my second experiment in vegan cakes, and I think it came out fantastic. The first test had too much chia, and tasted grainy and boring. This second try has a deep dark chocolate flavor and a sensual, smooth texture. There’s just a hint of orange in it, because I think chocolate and orange are divine together. And it tastes even more decadent with 2-minute Paleo Chocolate Sauce on top! Serves 6.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups cooked sweet potato (about 275 grams)
- 1 large organic orange
- 1 cup Just Like Sugar Table Top natural chicory root sweetener (not Baking), or your favorite sweetener.
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds, ground fine
- 1/2 cup coconut butter, melted (Put the jar in a pan of hot water to melt)
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (Put jar in pan of hot water)
- Pinch salt
- 1/4 teaspoon decaffeinated coffee powder or crystals
- 1/2 cup pure cacao powder
- 2 tablespoons carob powder (optional for darker brown color)
- 1 1/2 cups almond meal/flour
Instructions
- Cut a circle of parchment paper to line an 8-inch round pan or springform pan. Preheat oven to 350º F.
- Peel the sweet potato, cut into cubes and place in a small saucepan with 1/2 inch of filtered water. Bring it to a boil and then turn down to simmer for 8 to 10 minutes or until soft. Drain well. Allow to cool, then place into a food processor or blender.
- Zest the orange into the machine. A micro-plane grater is helpful. Save an orange slice for a garnish, if you want. Use a knife to cut away the bitter white outer pith from the orange. If your orange has seeds, slice it crossways and remove seeds from each slice with the tip of a knife. Place orange pulp in the machine.
- Add sweetener and vanilla to the machine. Process well until orange pulp is liquefied and it is smooth and creamy.
- Grind chia seeds in a hand-held coffee grinder or high-speed blender. Add to the machine and mix well. Add coconut butter, coconut oil and mix again.
- Add salt, coffee powder, cacao, and optional carob, to the mixture in the food processor. Process well. Add almond meal last and mix well again. (If you’re not using a food processor, you can mix the dry ingredients by hand in a mixing bowl. In that case it’s best to sift in the coffee, cacao and carob to avoid lumps. Then add the wet ingredients to the mixing bowl and stir.)
- Spoon batter into baking pan and spread smooth. Bake 35 minutes. Cool in the pan for at least 2 hours. It takes time for it to cool to room temperature, and then the cake will be firm. Remove from the pan to a serving plate.
- Serve with Paleo Chocolate Sauce or a slice of orange. Enjoy!
