chocolate + date brownies

Serves 20

Poppy bakes...

1. Preheat oven to 190ºC.
   
   
2. Line slice tray with baking paper.
   
   
3. Break
   160g 70% dark chocolate (I use Loving Earth) into mixing bowl and mill 10seconds / speed 9.
   
   
4. Add
   150g dates (approximately 9-10), pitted and diced into mixing bowl and chop 15 seconds / speed 10. (I find that if I don't dice them, depending on the brand of date, that my thermomix struggles to chop them and ends up heating up the chocolate which makes it very hard to mix together.)
   
   
5. Add
   180g coconut oil and cook 5 minutes / 60ºC / speed 2.
   
   
6. Add
   30g coconut flour,
   4 eggs,
   1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract,
   1/4 teaspoon celtic sea salt and mix 20 seconds / speed 8.
   
   
7. Scrape down sides and mix for another 10 seconds / speed 6.
   
   
8. Scrape mixture into slice tray and bake for 15 minutes or until just firm before it burns.
   
   
9. Remove from oven, cool, cut into squares and keep in the fridge.

flourless chocolate cake

Poppy bakes...

My best critic is my husband; so the fact he likes this cake makes it a winner! It is a variation of the popular Thermomix Magic Bean Cake, but if you don't have a Thermomix, you can do the exact same process with a blender and mixer or food processor. I love how it contains red kidney beans as a flour replacement, but you can't taste them. You can make this cake vegan too by using a flax egg or egg replacer.

Serves 10


CAKE

1. Preheat oven to 180º and line a cake tin.
   
   
2. Puree
   400g red kidney beans or butter beans, drained and rinsed,
   1 tablespoon water,
   1 egg and
   1 teaspoon vanilla extract until smooth on speed 7; then set aside.
   
   
3. Without washing the mixing bowl, beat
   125g butter and
   140g coconut sugar for 30 seconds on speed 5.
   
   
4. Add
   4 eggs and beat for 20 seconds on speed 4.
   
   
5. Add bean mixture back in and combine for 5 seconds on speed 4.
   
   
6. Add
   65g cacao powder,
   1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder,
   1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda and
   1/4 teaspoon celtic sea salt and blend for 10 seconds on speed 4.
   
   
7. Pour batter into cake tin and bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
   
   
8. Allow the cake to cool, then remove from tin. You can simply decorate it with
   raspberries and
   desiccated coconut; and/or serve with a generous dollop of
   coconut ice cream.

JAM

To take this cake to the next level, you can add some raspberry jam to cut through the dark chocolate taste.

1. To make the jam filling, in a small sauce pan heat
   1/2 lemon, juiced,
   1 tablespoon coconut sugar and
   2 teaspoon rice malt syrup.
   
   
2. Once the coconut sugar has dissolved, add
   1 cup raspberries,
   1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and
   2 tablespoon white chia seeds; gently mashing the raspberries with a fork.
   
   
3. Remove from the heat and cool in the fridge until the chia seeds have absorbed most of the liquid to form a jam.
   
   
4. Slice cooled cake in half and spread the jam between the two layers.
   

ICING

This is the best healthy chocolate icing! I don't have any pictures yet but I will be making this for my daughter's next birthday cake, so I'll share some pictures soon.

1. Pour
   150g dark chocolate buttons into a stainless steel mixing bowl over a boiling pot of water and slowly stir with a whisk until melted.
   
   
2. Add
   1 cup coconut cream and slowly whisk together until combined.
   
   
3. Cool in the fridge until the right consistency to spread onto the cooled cake.

CHOCOLATE SHELL 

This is another icing option which creates a thinner and harder layer of chocolate around the cake which I use when I make this cake in my Wilton 5 Layer Cake Tin Set.

1. Melt
   150g dark chocolate and
   3 tablespoons coconut oil in a double boiler, refrigerate for about 20 minutes just before it sets then whisk until fluffy. Pipe or spread over cake - voila!

In this picture I have spread the raspberry jam between the 5 layers and encased the cake in the chocolate shell and topped with freeze dried raspberries.

chocolate + avocado mousse cake

Serves 12

Poppy bakes…

1. Line a cake tin with baking paper.
   
   
2. Mix together
   1 cup gluten free self raising flour,
   3 tablespoons cacao powder and
   1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt.
   
   
3. Beat in
   2 eggs,
   4 tablespoons coconut oil,
   6 tablespoons maple syrup,
   3 tablespoons rice milk and
   teaspoon vanilla extract.
   
   
4. Pour into cake tin and bake at 185ºC for 25 minutes, then allow to cool to room temperature before placing in the fridge to chill.
   
   
5. Blend
   2 avocados,
   4 tablespoons cacao powder,
   1.5 tablespoons coconut cream,
   6 tablespoons coconut oil,
   4 tablespoons maple syrup and
   tablespoon vanilla extract.
   
   
6. Pour mousse on top of cold cake and set in the fridge.

chocolate + strawberry cake

Serves 2

Ingredients

4 tablespoons gluten free self raising flour

4 tablespoons coconut sugar

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

3 tablespoons rice milk

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 egg

punnet strawberries

coconut ice cream

Method

1. Combine all ingredients (except strawberries and ice cream) and whisk well with a fork
2. Cut strawberries into bite-size pieces and add
3. Pour into a mini cake tin, small oven-proof bowl or 2 ramekins (or you can mix it in the bowl you plan to cook it in)
4. Bake in a fan forced oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes
5. Serve with your choice of coconut ice cream and strawberries

Notes
You can double, triple or quadruple this recipe to make a larger cake. I like being able to make a single serve cake for my husband and I for a one-off bit of indulgence. You can also cook this cake in the microwave by cooking on high for 1.5 - 3 minutes. Pictured below is an organic coconut ice cream I have come across called Coco Luscious...