Healthy Chocolate Cake

Healthy chocolate cake is not an oxymoron. If it’s your birthday and you feel like you deserve a chocolate cake here’s a recipe that will lessen the caloric damage while still satisfying your craving.

Here’s an easy recipe for a healthy chocolate cake. It’s made with almond flour and it’s grain-free and Paleo-friendly, and is the perfect gluten-free desert to make for a birthday!

Healthy Substitutions

• Almond flour. Almond meal will most likely work, but it will create a slightly more dense cake. Do not substitute other flours and expect similar results. Instead, look for a recipe that already calls for the flour you want to use.

• Maple syrup. You can usually swap a little less honey for maple syrup. (Honey is sweeter and has a stronger flavor, so that’s why I would use a little less.) I don’t know how coconut sugar or another granulated sugar would work, but you’d probably need to use a little more in that case, since 1/2 cup of maple syrup is sweeter than 1/2 cup of coconut sugar.

• Olive oil. I call for olive oil in this recipe because it doesn’t solidify when it touches cold ingredients, like an egg from the fridge. I can’t taste it all, but you can use avocado oil, or melted coconut oil or butter, if you’d prefer.

Healthy Chocolate Cake: Chocolate Almond Flour Cake

Ingredients: (makes 8 servings)

• 3/4 cup blanched almond flour (88 grams)
• 1/2 cup cacao powder (41 grams)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder (8 grams)
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt (3 grams)
• 3/4 cup maple syrup (240 grams)
• 4 large eggs (200 grams)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (9 grams)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (23 grams; or other oil)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF and prepare two 6-inch pans or one 8-inch pan. Lightly grease the pan with oil, then press a square of parchment paper in the bottom to ensure easy removal later. The oil will help hold the parchment paper in place, so it won’t wiggle around.

2. In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, cacao powder, baking powder, salt, maple syrup, eggs, vanilla, and olive oil. Use a whisk to mix until smooth, breaking up any clumps.

3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s) then bake at 350ºF until the center puffs up and feels relatively firm to a light touch. This takes about 28 to 30 minutes for the 6-inch pans, and 35 to 38 minutes for the 8-inch pan, but you can start watching the cake about 5 minutes earlier, in case your oven is different than mine.

4. Let the cake cool completely before frosting. If you need to frost the two-layer cake, you might want to make a double batch of frosting to have plenty for the sides and middle layer. This cake is very moist, so store it tightly covered in the fridge for up to 5 days. I like to bring it to room temperature for at least 1 hour before serving.