Kyle’s birthday cake

In my family we call this “the special plate”.  You get it on your birthday or when you do something that deserves kudos (like getting a new job or graduating or something like that).

But enough about the serving ware, let’s talk about this cake.

 

It’s sugar free, for one.

And vegan.

It’s pretty good also.

It does taste semi “healthy” but I really liked it.  Kyle did too.  We both agreed it was super rich and filling, so you get lots of bang for your buck. 

 

Mini Vegan Chocolate Birthday Cake [vegan, sugar free]

Cake Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup ground flax (I used the Linwood cocoa blend shown below)
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup NuNaturals stevia baking blend
• 1 tsp baking powder
• (large) pinch salt
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil (or canola or melted Earth Balance)
• 1 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or any non dairy milk)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Frosting Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup melted Earth Balance coconut spread
• 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup lucuma
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1/4 cup NuNaturals baking blend

Directions:

For the cake, mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately and then combine them.  Let the batter sit for a few minutes (so the flax can gel).  Pour it into a small greased baking dish (ideally one that holds 4 cups).  Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean).  Let it cool entirely before you frost it.

For the frosting, combine melted EB coconut spread, almond milk, and vanilla in a large bowl then add the dry ingredients slowly while mixing with an electric hand mixer.  [Alternatively, you could use a stand mixer (which is probably less messy because I created a kinda annoying cloud of powder while I did it).]  Once it has fully combined, place it in the fridge until you are ready to frost the cake.

Some photos of the process…

The cake.

   

The frosting.

Aaaand voila!

 

Notes (or predicted answers to questions I know I’ll get):

I used a 4 cup pyrex, but I’m pretty sure you cold use any small baking pan / ramekin that holds a similar volume.

If you don’t have access to NuNaturals baking blend, you can probably use regular sugar (they are supposed to sub 1:1).  If you don’t have access to lucuma, you can probably sub powdered sugar.  Obviously that takes away the sugar free quality of the recipe. 

I’m pretty sure the frosting will work with coconut oil. 

The flax I used was the Linwoods milled flaxseed cocoa & berries blend you see below, but I’m sure ground flax alone will work.  There wasn’t any berry flavor in my opinion.

 

Flavor wise this is not a sweet cake.  I figure it’s good to share that outright.  It’s a tasty cake though.  And after the first bite, my taste buds re-adjusted and suddenly I wanted more and more.  So for people who don’t eat sweets (or are trying to reduce their sugar intake) this is a good one.