Chocolate Espresso Celebration Cake

By Dan Hutton on January 19, 2019 in

As my young family grows, there is increasing pressure to perform extraordinary multi-tasks throughout the festive season. Christmas shopping, gift wrapping, Santa impersonating, the reporting of behaviour to said Santa and extra catering make it a very demanding time of year. It’s the time-saving recipes that help me to get ahead, or at least minimise that stress.

When you are responsible for the extra catering, making every- one happy isn’t as easy as it used to be. Gone are the days when people were willing to eat conventional trifle, pudding and cake. With the rise of vegan, paleo and other diets, food allergies and sensitivities, together with the fussiness
of children, it’s hard to make everyone happy with one quick recipe. Or is it?

I was recently confronted with this challenge. With a little dark chocolate, a shot of your favourite espresso and some other allergy-sensitive ingredients, this chocolate espresso celebration cake will help you to rise above.

Top your cake with fresh berries and serve with vanilla ice-cream. To make it more festive you can add the same classic spices that you’d find in a Christmas cake or panforte. It’s a small cake – 18cm to be precise – but it only takes five minutes to prep and 35 minutes to bake, so it’s easy to whip up a few batches. Enjoy!

TOOLS

Small saucepan and wooden spoon Blender
Mixing bowl
18cm round cake tin
INGREDIENTS
100g dark chocolate 100g coconut oil 250ml coconut cream 1⁄4 cup hot water
1 shot espresso coffee
250g dried pitted dates, chopped 1⁄2 cup coconut sugar
1⁄2 cup buckwheat flour
1⁄4 cup cacao powder
1 teaspoon psyllium husk
1 teaspoon vanilla bean powder
1 teaspoon aluminium-free bi-carb soda

METHOD

1. Preheat fan-forced oven to 160 ̊C;

2. Grease the round cake tin with coconut oil, line with baking paper and set aside;

3. In a small saucepan, gently melt the dark chocolate and coconut oil;

4. Add the melted liquid to the blender together with the coconut cream, hot water and espresso shot, then blitz until smooth;

5. In a separate mixing bowl combine coconut sugar, buckwheat flour, cacao powder, psyllium husk, vanilla bean powder and bi-carb soda, then pour in the mixture from the blender and combine with a wooden spoon;

6. Scrape into the cake tin and bake for 35 minutes, then allow to cool before serving.

Cath Noonan is a self-confessed health-foodie, recipe creator, and nutrition student, as well as the founder of healthy food blog, I Heart Scratch. Check out the delicious food pics on her Instagram account, @i_heart_scratch, and find more recipes by visiting www.iheartscratch.com.au.