Thursday, February 11, 2010

Results of baking experiment and more

Gosh, it's been a long time since my last post! Mostly that's because things have been going along just fine. I am still avoiding dairy and most grains. I do think I've been having a few too many treats here and there, though, and I know I need to rein that in. I am pretty sure the cravings are due to PMS, though.

Speaking of PMS, it's been relatively mild this month and I am very thankful for that. I am definitely attributing it to the way I'm eating because last month was basically hell, and I can tell that I'm a lot more even tempered and mellow this month.

I've 'slipped' a couple times on the no dairy, no grains, but in keeping with my goal of making this a lifestyle change I'm not making a huge deal out of it. The dairy slip was a slice of cheese that melted onto my Carl's Jr. burger patty before I could get it off (long story... ugh. But, honestly, it was 'American' cheese, so how much milk does it really have anyway?), and the grains came in the form of corn tortillas I ate last week and this week with my pork tacos. As I mentioned in a previous post, I also had a teeny serving of rice a couple weeks ago. Other than that, it's been no dairy and no grains for me.


So, on to the baking experiment. I made this the weekend before last and meant to post it sooner but I procrastinated. I opted not to do a baking experiment last weekend because this one was, uh... delicious, and actually had a lot of sugar even though I only added relatively small amounts of honey.

If I were to do this again, I definitely would put the chocolate in between the layers and put the fruit on top, since most of it spilled out of the cake. The presentation is sub par but for a dairy free, grain free cake, this was delicious!

Also, I did prefer the texture of this cake to a straight coconut flour cake (which can seem rubbery if you ask me), but don't expect the texture to be like regular cake. It's dense, almost like cornbread. The flavor is good, though!

Chocolate cherry cake, adapted from this recipe at elana's pantry

2 cups blanched almond flour
¼ cup coconut flour
½ teaspoon sea salt
10 eggs
6 oz honey
1tablespoon vanilla extract
½ cup cherry filling, or fruit filling of your choice (see below)
1 batch vegan chocolate frosting (I used honey in place of the agave and walnut oil in place of grapeseed oil)


In a medium bowl, combine flours and salt
In a larger bowl, whisk together eggs, honey and vanilla
Whisk flours into egg mixture until well blended
Spray sides of cake pans with nonstick spray and line bottoms with parchment paper
Divide cake batter evenly between pans
Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes
Remove from oven when cakes are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean
Cool cakes for at least one hour
Run knife around cake to loosen from pan, remove from pan and peel off parchment
Place bottom layer on a cake plate and spread with filling
Place top layer on cake and frost entire cake with chocolate frosting



For cherry filling:
simmer a 10oz bag of frozen cherries and 1/4c apple juice until soft
puree cherries in a blender or food processor
put cherries back into pan and continue to simmer
combine 1/4c apple juice and 2 tsp of arrowroot powder. stir til smooth.
slowly add arrowroot mixture to simmering cherries until the mixture starts to thicken
remove from heat and cool until needed




the ingredients


pans and parchment


ready for the oven


cooling


the filling


right before all the filling spilled over the sides!


the finished product

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