I was overjoyed when I perfected this healthy chocolate cake, overjoyed I tell you.
There is NOTHING nasty in it, nothing at all.
And yet, the kids love it. Oh, happy day. Small wins in motherhood.
I came up with this tasty yet healthy chocolate cake when I was looking for a simple after school snack to take in the car when I picked the twins up from school. I had bought some coconut flour, it took me ages to pluck up the courage to start using it. And it wasn’t easy to work with…. but I persisted….
I also wanted to try using my macadamia nut butter in a cake, and gave it a whirl whilst creating this one… it works well, but it isn’t compulsory.
It took more than a few trials to create a nutritious chocolate cake that the kids would actually eat, even though it has no sugar or flour in it.
Super Healthy Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 30 g (1/4 cup/ 1 oz) cocoa or cacao powder
- 35g (1/4 cup / 1 1/4 oz) coconut flour*
- 1 tsp (5 g) gluten free baking powder
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- Pinch of sea salt
- 4 eggs
- 60g (1/4 cup/ 3 tbs) honey or maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 60g (1/4 cup / 2 oz) macadamia nut butter (or oil or melted coconut oil or butter)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 150 C.
- Mix the cocoa, coconut flour, baking powder, cinnamon and sea salt in a bowl
- Add the eggs, honey, vanilla and macadamia nut butter
- Mix well until smooth and combined.
- Spoon into muffin cases, I make 6 – 8 with this amount. Or you could try it as a round cake.
- Bake muffin size cakes for 15 – 20 minutes.
Notes
Less is more when cooking this cake, it’s much better slightly underdone as it gets dry when overcooked. It's better to have a fudgy, brownie-like consistency.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 325Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 129mgSodium: 180mgCarbohydrates: 41gFiber: 8gSugar: 3gProtein: 14g
If this recipe appeals, you’ll love my Super Healthy Banana Bread recipe!
This Simple Spiced Zucchini Cake is also excellent.
Why did I spend so many years making cakes with butter and white flour and sugar when there are such great healthier recipes around?
Looks interesting ,thanks Seanna.
I’m on a healthy cake frenzy, made the lovely banana bread that’s on the blog, the one that uses grouns almonds, today. My boys all wolfed down heaps – nutrition win!! Good thing after too much junk food in the holidays.
Looks good Seana, I woul have to try. I might replace the coconut flour with almond flour althought it would probably make it drier/more compact. We’ll see! PS: I’ve never used macadamia nut butter nor coconut oil, can you believe that?!
Hi Cyndie, I have read some info on substituting flours of all types, maybe on Stonesoup?? I know the coconut flour only needs a quarter of the amound of wheat flour as it absorbs so much liquid, mad isn’t it?
It took me a while to find recipes that worked with the coconut flour.
Seana it looks amazing I will definitely try it. I have some chestnut flour might try that. As I’m sugar free I might try without sugar or with xylitol which I sometimes use instead. X
YUMMO! Thanks for sharing!
I haven’t seen many chocolate cakes that don’t have cane sugar. What a great recipe and it would certainly be okay to let the kids have a second slice xx
Hi Charlie, pop over for a slice!
I will try making it with butter instead of the nut butter so that I can send it to school. Solid nourishment.
Healthy cake? You caught my attention 😉
I love when everyday food items can be made healthy, especially chocolate cake. I’ve been wanting to try coconut flour for ages too. I might just be tempted now. Thanks so much for linking up to Thriving on Thursdays.
Anne xx
I first came by this recipe at http://www.thehealthychef.com/2012/09/naked-chocolate-cake, last year. I have since made it several. It is such a simple, quick bake, and is always a real hit!
Hello yes that’s the one I adapted. Isn’t The Healthy Chef a handy site. Do try it with the macadamia nut butter. Gives a terrific flavour.
This cake will be perfect for my daughters birthday
My girls love to bake but I’m looking for alternatives to the regular sugar filled cakes. I have coconut flour but hadn’t found a recipe they like yet. We will be trying this one next.
I love to bake and I love chocolate
I can’t wait to try this recipe
Thanks
I am so excited to try this recipe! However I’d like to use regular flour instead of coconut flour (but allergies in the family). Do I need to make any adjustments to the other ingredients?
I am so sorry to report I have never tried it with normal flour. I suspect you might need less liquid… but maybe you could google around about the different flours??