Chocolate Cake: And a Secret Ingredient

I am always on the lookout for healthy dessert recipes.  I have done my share of experimenting with desserts in the raw food world and for the past eight months I have been experimenting with vegan baked goods that are as natural and healthy and delicious as possible.  My first baking attempts without flour lead to my delicious creation of chocolate chip banana peanut butter cookies.  These little guys are only sweetened with dates and use coconut flour (my version of coconut flour is grinding up unsweetened coconut flakes) making them gluten free as well as vegan.  For Christmas and Valentines day I experimented with vegan sugar cookies.  One sugar cookie version used organic white flour and the other used whole wheat flour.  I still would like to try a gluten free recipe for sugar cookies, just haven't done it yet.  I wander how almond flour would work for a sugar cookie...

This week I was browsing through foodie blogs, when I ran across a flour less cake with quinoa as the main ingredient.  When I first saw this recipe on the blog healthful pursuit  I knew I had to try it.  I already had a large amount of cooked quinoa in the fridge that I was eating with my salads.  I took this as a sign from the Universe that I should make this chocolate cake.  So, how was it?  Well, there isn't any cake left and I made it yesterday.  That tells you two things: I have no self control when it comes to healthy vegan desserts and it was delicious!  You can try the version from healthful pursuit or my own adaptation of the recipe which is below.  By the way, do you have any interesting flour less baking recipes?

Quinoa Chocolate Cake

• 3 cups of cooked quinoa
• 1/2 cup of agave nectar
• 2 pureed bananas
• 1 cup of coconut meat (from a young thai coconut)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup cacao powder or cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp Himalayan rock salt

Instructions

• In a medium saucepan, combine quinoa and water. Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer for 10 minutes.
• Remove from heat [keep covered!] and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Once complete, fluff with fork and set aside.
• Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350F
• Lightly grease one square pan
• Combine all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth.
• In a large bowl, whisk together cacao powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the contents of the blender to the bowl and mix well with a hand mixer.
• Cook the cake for 30 - 40 minutes. You can test to determine if the cake is done by inserting a toothpick in the middle.
• Allow cakes to cool for a couple of hours before removing from the pans and topping with icing.
• Serve with chocolate avocado icing on top ( 1 avocado, 1 banana, 1/4 cup of chocolate, 1/4 cup of agave nectar blended until smooth)
• Enjoy!!!