Breakfast anyone? You have probably realized that I love sweet things without all the unhealthy ingredients involved. It always excites me when my healthy foods - and cakes - have the skeptics licking their plate and asking for more. I also love to be able to give my children cake for breakfast knowing it is probably far healthier than most breakfasts eaten around the world.
My brother @craigcryptoking, surprised us this weekend by driving across the country for our parents birthdays. It is also his first time visiting our homestead in the almost decade we've been here. Much cause for celebration and baking of cakes. My children got to enjoy a number of parties and woodlands picnics without any threat of peeling them off the walls because of a sugar high.
Our treats come in the form of fruit and a lot of dates. Most of the sweet dishes I make are with dates. I use dates when I bake this finger licking chocolate cake. It is a very dense cake so more like a brownie. I only use organic cacao powder and either coconut or olive oil. Just these three ingredients with nuts are permanent guests in my kitchen cupboards as I use them to make chocolate. But this week they went into the sticky brownie cake.
Although I do not have a gluten intolerance a number of my family members do - I also prefer to limit the quantity of wheat that I feed those I love. Balance and moderation is important. For the sticky brownie cake I used a combination of gluten-free flours. Chickpea, coconut and tapioca as well as a few spoons of coconut blossom sugar. You need some forward planning as the dates and chickpea flour need to soak overnight. But let's get started!
STICKY BROWNIE CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER TOPPING:
1 cup chickpea flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 cup depitted dates
1 1/2 cup warm water
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup coconut blossom sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup cacao powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspooon guar gum (or xanthum)
1/4 teaspoon salt
The night before you need the sticky brownie cake mix the chickpea flour, warm water and apple cider vinegar in a bowl. Add the dates. Then cover and leave for the night.
In the morning pop the chickpea mix into your food processor. Add the melted coconut oil and the coconut blossom sugar then blend until smooth. It takes a couple minutes.
Sieve the cacao, tapioca and coconut flour, baking soda, guar gum and salt. Then mix very quickly in the food processor.
Scrape the brownie mix into your pie dish and bake for 20 - 30 minutes at 180C. Check with a toothpick to make sure it has baked through. As a topping I use our "peanuts alone" peanut butter. It has no salt, no sugar or oil, no preservatives or other nasties. Just peanut butter and chunks of peanuts.
Over a low heat I melted 1 cup of peanut butter with 2 tablespoons of coconut oil and 2 tablespoons of date jam. You don't want to cook the topping just melt it. Then pour it over your hot sticky brownie cake and voila!!!
Baking must be effortless, delicious and healthy. This sticky brownie cake definitely ticks all my boxes. I think for tomorrow's breakfast we will climb our mountainside with a hot flask and the little woodlands tea set to have a Karoo picnic! The view is breathtaking from up there.
