Cookie Caramel Cream Chocolate Cake – Added Sugar-Free (for real!)
Sugar. These days it can feel a bit like a can’t live with it, can’t bake without it sort of situation.
As a parent, I frequently feel the pull between wanting to provide the healthiest option for my kids….
But also not wanting them to feel excluded from the fun, and consequently resentful of the ‘healthier options’ we have selected as a family.
This feeling, this pull, is about the decision to fit in, or to ‘fit out.’ Fitting out can be the decision to try something different from the norm, or at least different from your norm, or the norm of your family or community. There can be a surprising amount of stress and anxiety at first when deciding to do something different, that will cause you to fit out rather than fit in. It can be a bit confronting how much the approval of our peers can matter, even if we don’t realize it.
What is unsurprising is that as active, busy parents, some days we are just not looking for the drama associated with being different. There, I said it. Some days, I just don’t want to explain myself or the food decisions I make for our family.
But it does not have to be this way! To be frank, I am not a natural baker. It has taken me a long time to work out what you can substitute, what you can’t, and how to make something both healthy and tasty. Sometimes my creations don’t look that amazing, but I figure two out of three ain’t bad.
Which makes me absolutely delighted to share with one of my added sugar-free cakes that was a raging success, with parents and children alike.
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This creation was the cake for my son’s fourth birthday. We opted to go added sugar-free for the cake, and this meant no honey, maple syrup, rice malt syrup, or any other sweeteners. While these natural sources of sugar most certainly have health benefits over heavily processed and refined sugar, they are still sugar at a metabolic level.
Instead, we opted for whole foods that would give the cake a sweet and delicious taste. This version of the cake is not dairy free, although it could easily be made so, as noted below.
This cake in its complete form is free from added sugar, gluten, and nuts. The gluten and nut free prep were so all of my son’s little mates could enjoy the cake and the party. But if you are making this at home and want to swap out the buckwheat flour for whatever your favourite flour is, that will work as well. Nuts could also take the place of the seeds if you wanted to include them and increase the protein content of your cake.
Back to the birthday party….
The ultimate test was when the cake was serviced to the group of excited 4-year-olds! I watched, nervously, as they grabbed their piece and took a bite….. And devoured it!
This cake was a lot of fun to make. It has several parts, all of which I have made and eaten on their own. Putting them together as a birthday cake made it that next level special for a special little dudes big day.
The Cake
3 Bananas
8 medjool dates, blended to a combined sticky consistency (pit removed)
¼ cup coconut yogourt
½ cup coconut cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups buckwheat flour
½ cup brown rice flour
1 tbsp Hemp flour
1 ½ cups ground seeds (sunflower, pepitas, chia)
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp clove
1 peeled carrot, chopped
½ cup desiccated coconut
½ cup organic cacao
3 eggs
100-200 g 90% dark chocolate
1 cup whole frozen or fresh berries
Combine all ingredients (excluding the eggs, chocolate, and berries) in your food processor and combine, starting at a slow speed and increasing. The batter should be well mixed with no large chunks of ingredients.
Add eggs and dark chocolate, combine.
Remove from food processor and fold in berries
Place in greased cake tin and cook at 180 degrees Celsius until cooked through (test by piercing with a fork).
Time will depend on the oven tin you use, this one took about 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool before removing from cake tin.
Set aside.
The Base
¾ cup of Buckwheat flour
⅓ cup cacao
1 cup desiccated coconut
¼ cup coconut oil
¼ cup coconut cream
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking soda
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 apple, cored and rough chopped
100 grams 90% dark chocolate (optional)
Place all ingredients in the food processor and blend on high speed to get a coarse consistency.
Press mixture into the base of the same cake tin used previously, ensuring it is well greased.
Bake at 180 degrees for 12 minutes. If the base begins to brown, remove from oven.
*the base will appear soft while still hot. Remove from oven and allow to cool until no longer warm to the touch. Once cooled, place in fridge (this is an optional step, but once the base is cold it will be less likely to break when removed from cake tin base).
Set aside.
The Caramel
10 medjool dates
2 tbsp cacao
2 tbsp separated coconut (the thick stuff)
2 tbsp spoon water
This step is simple! Place all the ingredients (minus the water) in your blender or food processor and combine until you get a caramel like texture. Only add the water if the caramel is not becoming creamy. The quantity of water necessary can vary depending on how dry the dates are, as dryer dates require more water and fresh dates will not need any additional water.
Remove and set aside.
Once these three components have been allowed to cool, you are ready to put them together!
Place a sheet of baking paper on a plate or platter (it just need to be the size of the cake or larger). This will make it easier to slide off to move to a different location.
NOTE: this will make it easy to slide off – be careful!
Spread caramel as evenly as possible over the base. This is done best when caramel is at room temperature.
Place cake layer on top of caramel.
Congratulation – you have done the hard part! It’s not going to look all that pretty right now, but don’t fret – the final step is to cover this cake with icing!
If you would like this cake to be dairy free, use separated coconut cream (see below for details of how to separate coconut cream). If using coconut cream, I advise waiting until shortly before serving to ice the cake. Coconut cream, even separated, is quite watery, and can slide off or soak into the cake.
The Cream (icing)
Whipping cream or separated coconut cream
1 tbsp cacao
(for a sweeter frosting, blend in 2 medjool dates)
Whip cream as instructed, combining cacao in the blender or food processor.
Cover cake with icing cream and store in the fridge until ready to serve!
Enjoy xx
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**How to separate coconut cream: Use a tin of 100% pure coconut cream. Place tin in fridge overnight. The water will separate from the thick cream. Open the tin and drain out the liquid (safe and use!).
