Healthy Chocolate Cake

Remember a little while ago when I was being very vague about some important decisions I had to make?

Well, they have been made. The flight tickets have been booked. The Basset’s been vaccinated.

I’m moving to Amsterdam.

Yes, it’s a bit of a curveball and if you want to learn more about the whys, wheres and hows, you can read more here.

Basically this is a huge decision and one I haven’t taken lightly but I am so excited to start this new adventure. I just hope the airline doesn’t hate me for all the kitchen equipment I’ll be loading up my suitcase with.

What I have been taking lightly, however, is my desserts. Namely, this chocolate cake.

In an attempt to prep myself for having to ride everywhere on a bike in Amsterdam (which I am so excited about, by the way – except for when it rains. Which is pretty much all the time), I’ve been stepping up my time at the gym. However, for me, getting fit isn’t the issue. I’m one of those weird people who actually likes going to the gym (most of the time).

My issue is desserts. Every single chocolate-covered, caramel-smothered, nutty-buttered one of them. Desserts, my dear friends, are the exact reason that I will never look like Gisele Bundchen. Sorry, but I just can’t give them up.

So sometimes, in an attempt to make myself feel better about my one vice, I try and make things a little healthy. A bit like my healthy chocolate cupcakes, which don’t really taste healthy at all.

You see, it’s all about fooling your tastebuds into thinking that you’re eating something with eleventy billion calories in it, when really you’re not. It’s the future, people. And the only way I will ever get to look like Gisele Bundchen’s only slightly fatter sister.

Apparently, I’m not alone in this quest for trying to eat healthy stuff that doesn’t taste like healthy stuff. Did you know that March is National Nutrition Month? I didn’t, until just recently. But in honour of a recent campaign which aims to show how chocolate can be incorporated into a healthy lifestyle, I’m offering this up to the plate. Literally. Fill your plates.

Don’t think about how healthy this healthy chocolate cake is while you’re eating it. Just think of how great and fluffy it tastes. And maybe allow yourself a small dollop of cream.

Healthy Chocolate Cake

Recipe by Julia

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Ingredients

• 6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1/2 cup boiling water

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp plain flour (almond meal can be substituted)

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• Pinch of salt

• 1 cup sugar

• 3 eggs

• 2/3 cup coconut oil (olive oil may be substituted)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 170C / 325F. Line and grease a medium sized round or square baking tray (I used heart-shaped and it worked just fine)
• Sift the cocoa powder into a mixing bowl and whisk in the boiling water, until smooth and slightly thickened (it will still be runny). Whisk in the vanilla extract and then aside.
• In a separate bowl, stir together the flour (or almond meal), baking soda and salt.
• In a third bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil and eggs. Beat for around 3 minutes, until thick. The aim is to get as much air into the mixture as possible. Turn the speed down to low and then gradually start to pour in the cocoa mixture.
• Lastly, slowly tip in the flour mixture and continue to whisk until everything is combined and there is no flour left on the sides of the bowl.
• Pour the batter into the baking tin and bake for 40-45 minutes, until the sides have slightly started to come away from the edges of the tin and the top is springy but not hard.
• Let the cake cool for 10 minutes in its tin before turning out on a rack to cool.