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Healthy Dark Chocolate Cake & Fudge Frosting

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 Cups Gluten-Free Oat Flour or grind oatmeal in food processor until fine flour develops
  • 1/3 Cup Vanilla or Chocolate Protein Powder or substitute 1 tsp Xanthan Gum, 1/4 c Potato or Corn Starch, & 1/4 c Additional Oat Flour
  • 3/4 Cup Cocoa
  • 2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 Cup Soured Milk or Buttermilk I use unsweetened plain almond milk, sour milk by adding 2 Tbsp White Vinegar
  • 1 Cup Strong Black Coffee or 2 tsp instant coffee plus 1 cup boiling water
  • 12 Dates pitted
  • 1/2 Cup Canola or Coconut Oil melted
  • 2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Frosting:

  • 4 Dates pitted
  • 1/2 Cup Creamy Natural Cashew Butter or nut butter of choice, using peanut butter will provide a nice peanut butter chocolate flavor
  • 1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
  • 1/8 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1 tsp Honey or Maple Syrup
  • Plain unsweetened Almond Milk, as needed

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350f. Grease 2 9" round pans, or 12 lined cupcake tins, with coconut oil.
  • In small sauce pan, boil 1 cup coffee. Chop pitted dates and add to boiling coffee. Remove from heat and allow dates to soak in the coffee for at least 10 minutes while preparing the remaining cake ingredients.
  • In medium bowl (or electric stand mixer bowl), add the Oat Flour, Protein Powder (or substitute ingredients), Cocoa, Baking Soda, Baking Powder, and Salt. Whisk thoroughly until well combined.
  • Add soured Milk (or buttermilk), Oil, and Vanilla extract. Mix for a few minutes until combined.
  • Add eggs one at a time, whisking thoroughly after each, until smooth batter forms.
  • Using an immersion blender or a smoothie blender, puree the coffee/date mixture until dates are smooth. Gradually pour this coffee and date mixture into the cake batter, mixing until silky smooth.
  • Pour cake batter into prepared and greased cake pans.
  • Bake cakes for 30-40 minutes (or 20-25 minutes for cupcakes) until done and inserted toothpick comes out clean.
  • Cool in cake pans for 5-10 minutes before removing from pans to finish cooling on cooling racks.

Frosting:

  • Chop pitted dates in small bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to soak for at least 10 minutes until softened.
  • In food processor or smoothie blender, puree the softened dates, honey or maple, vanilla, and nut butter. Add 1-2 tablespoon of almond milk if needed to obtain smooth mixture.
  • In small bowl, blend the date/nut butter mixture with cocoa powder and salt.
  • Add almond milk or cocoa powder as needed to create frosting consistency.