It’s my birthday this weekend and to celebrate I’m eating cake…a lot of it since there are only three of us sharing! Of course, my b’day cake is not cake as most people know it. Far from being ‘naughty but nice’, this Almond Coconut & Blueberry Cake is a superfood extravaganza that looks like cake, tastes like cake, emotionally satisfies like cake yet does no harm. Seriously, what sort of a celebration is it if you know you’re going to suffer afterwards? On the other hand, do puritans ever have fun?
Sweet-toothed, cake scoffers and fans of ‘The Great British Bake Off’ take note: high carbohydrate intake (sugar and grains) makes you fat, diseased and sends you to an early grave. Unfortunately, it appears there’s a growing army of people disassociated from cooking healthy dinners but magnetised towards the kitchen when it involves baking cake.
Today’s recipe for Almond Coconut & Blueberry Cake goes with the flow. Yummy, sweet-tasting, light and moist, this lovely cake is something for sugar addicts to drool over. It’s also perfect for the likes of me, who wants nourishment not punishment from life’s celebrations!
The final word goes to a recent scientific study published in The Lancet (29 August 2017)
"High carbohydrate intake was associated with higher risk of total mortality, whereas total fat and individual types of fat were related to lower total mortality. Total fat and types of fat were not associated with cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction, or cardiovascular disease mortality, whereas saturated fat had an inverse association with stroke. Global dietary guidelines should be reconsidered in light of these findings."
To translate, high fat and low carb is the future of cake and, birthday or not, this simple to make Almond Coconut & Blueberry Cake is way to go to bake yourself happy!
Almond Coconut & Blueberry Cake (serves 12)
Ingredients
100g organic coconut butter (not all coconut butters are created equal, I recommend Biona’s Coconut Bliss)
150g organic virgin coconut oil (or use organic grass-fed unsalted butter, if you prefer)
1½ tsp gluten free baking powder
60g Sukrin:1
4 large organic eggs
1½ tsp pure vanilla extract
60ml organic maple syrup
Instructions
Line the base and sides of a 21cm springform baking tin with non-stick parchment paper and preheat the oven to 180℃ / 350℉ / Gas mark 4
Gently melt the Coconut Bliss and coconut oil (or unsalted butter) together in a saucepan set over a very low heat. Do not let it get too hot, it needs to be no warmer than blood heat to melt the two ingredients together.
Place the ground almonds, tiger nut flour, baking powder and Sukrin:1 into a separate bowl and aerate with a whisk until there are no lumps and all the ingredients are evenly incorporated into the mix.
In another bowl, lightly whisk the eggs together with the vanilla extract and maple syrup.
Make a well in the dry ingredients, then pour the wet ingredients (egg mix and melted butter/oil) into the dry mix and whisk thoroughly.
Add 150g blueberries to the batter, folding them in with a spoon.
Pour the cake batter into the tin and sprinkle the rest of the blueberries on top together with the flaked almonds (in that order)
Bake for about an hour, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted into the centre of the cake. comes out clean. Cook longer, if needed (mine took 1 hour 5 minutes!)
Cool the cake in its tin, then turn out carefully and remove the paper before placing the cake the right way up on to a cake stand or serving plate. For a simple but charming birthday cake, place a single lighted candle in the centre of the cake.
Serve at room temperature with a cup of tea. Alternatively, serve warm for dessert with a dollop of organic créme fraîche.
Fat 32.5g Protein 8g Carbohydrate 13g - per slice
