Everyone needs a ‘go to’ Chocolate Cake! And this one, inspired by Tania Hubbard, ticks all the boxes – quick, easy, delicious, easily converted to the Thermomix and secretly healthy. Gluten free, grain free, dairy free and everything but taste-free!!
Always a guaranteed crowd pleaser, it can be jazzed up for all occasions. Add a bit of green icing (spinach based food colouring of course) and you have an amazing Incredible Hulk kids Birthday Cake! A delicious present for the teachers’ morning tea – just add a few shots of coffee (they do spend the whole day with your kids!). After something a little more sophisticated perhaps for a dinner party dessert? Just add some raspberries or decorate with some mint and strawberries.
I remember clearly, the day when my then 3-year-old, on the eve of his 4th Birthday, was asked what sort of cake he wanted for his Birthday. He responded by saying “I just want one with real sugar and real flour please Mum!” Ohhhhh the woes of being the son of a nutritionist – it’s a hard life! But that was the day I discovered my ‘Go To Chocolate Chia Seed Cake’ and we have never looked back since.
Almond meal instead of flour makes it gluten and grain free. It still has sugar for sweetening, however, I choose organic coconut sugar or rapadura sugar. Sugar is still sugar and eating too much can be detrimental to our health. However organic coconut sugar or rapadura sugar are less processed and have a higher nutrient value which makes them a better choice than processed white or raw sugar. The Chia seeds and eggs, both high in protein and Omega 3 essential fatty acids, give it a gooey, mousse like centre that melts in your mouth.
So, this same son just turned 9 on the weekend, and still, five years on, we whip out the ‘Go To Chocolate Chia Seed Cake’ and every birthday it continues to delight – and 9-year-old boys can be the harshest of critics!
What special occasion will you cook the ‘Go To Chocolate Chia Seed Cake’ for? (I’m thinking breakfast…tomorrow!!!)
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp chia seeds, soaked in 1 cup of water for 15 minutes
- 1 cup almond meal (add whole almonds to the thermomix first to make the meal – then add other dry ingredients)
- ¾ cup rapadura or organic coconut sugar
- ½ cup raw cacao
- 125g room temperature coconut oil
- 5 eggs
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Pinch of salt
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180C
- Line a spring form pan with non-stick baking paper
- Soak the chia seeds in 1 cup of water for 15 minutes, stirring regularly
- Place cocoa, eggs, almond meal, sugar, salt, bicarb and coconut oil in a bowl (or in thermomix)
- Whisk to combine well and break up any lumps
- Add chia seed jelly and whisk until well combined (on reverse, sp 4 in the thermomix)
- Pour into lined tin
- Bake in oven for 30 – 45 mins or until skewer comes out dry
- Let the cake cool for 5 – 10 minutes and finish cooling on a wire rack
