I don’t really have a sweet tooth per say, but every once in a while I like whipping up a coconut flour cake.

One of my favourite recipes is based on Savory Lotus’s Simple Coconut Flour Cake. You can find her original recipe here. I love it because obviously, it is DELICIOUS, but also simple to make and relatively easy on the gut. I’ve had this as a dessert and also alongside my coffee for breakfast, it’s one of those cakes you can have anytime because it isn’t particularly rich or heavy.

The ingredients are simple, paleo and SIBO friendly, and contain no trans fats or preservatives. All whole food goodness!

All I did was customise things a tiny bit to my taste, which you can do as well!

First I added desiccated coconut and broken walnut pieces to the batter (perfect as a coffee accompaniment).

Here’s the recipe for what I did for the first stage:

INGREDIENTS
(makes about 4-5 small servings)

• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 cup desiccated coconut
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp unrefined sea salt
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup of ghee or coconut oil, melted
• 1/4 cup full fat coconut milk
• 1/3 cup real maple syrup
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 egg whites
• 1/4 cup of broken walnut pieces
• coconut oil for oiling pan
  
  METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 170c. Oil a small cake pan and line bottom of pan with unbleached parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, sift together coconut flour, desiccated coconut, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, whisk together 3 eggs, fat of choice, coconut milk, maple syrup, and vanilla until foamy.
4. Add wet to dry and mix well to combine.
5. In another large bowl, beat the egg whites with a hand mixer until thick soft peaks form.
   Fold very gently into cake batter.
6. Add in the broken walnut pieces and distribute evenly into the batter.
7. Pour into prepared cake pan.
8. Bake for 30 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean and cake is golden.

Then, I decided to experiment with toppings.

I am partial to jam, although my rule of thumb is I will only eat my own sugar-free homemade jam. I have experimented with a couple of different types of fruit, but for the sake of keeping the sugar content low (ish), I used a combination of blueberries and strawberries.

INGREDIENTS
(makes about 1/2 cup of jam)

• 10 roughly chopped strawberries
• Handful of blueberries
• 2 tablespoons of water
• 0.5-1 tablespoon of maple syrup
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract

METHOD

1. In a small saucepan, throw in the berries and turn the heat on high.
2. Add in the water, stir, and then cover for 4-5 minutes till the mixture is bubbling.
3. Stir again, and reduce heat to medium. Keep stirring every 1-2 minutes until the fruit pieces are very soft and easily broken.
4. Taste the mixture, and if desired, this is when to add the maple syrup and vanilla. I used 1 tablespoon of maple syrup and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Cover and continue to cook for 5 minutes on medium low.
5. Continue cooking for another 10 minutes on medium low until the mixture is thick but still viscous. Remove from heat and uncover, leaving to cool for 10 minutes.
6. Add immediately as a warm topping, or store in the fridge. Storing in the fridge will give it more of a jam consistency once it has cooled down.

Finally, I was just wondering…would this taste amazing with some sort of creamy finish? The answer was yes.

So I whipped up a bit of coconut cream and coconut yogurt and went to work. And because I already did a lot, I mean, why not garnish with more walnut pieces?

INGREDIENTS
(makes about 1 cup of cream)

• 2 tablespoons of coconut yogurt
• 3 tablespoons of full fat coconut cream, stored in a fridge for at least 6 hours.
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
• Hand blender

METHOD

1. Combine the coconut cream and yogurt and blend using a hand held blender till the mixture is thick and airy.
2. Use immediately as a topping, or cover and store in the fridge for near future use.

For those of you who are skilled dessert makers and bakers, let me know if you were able to upgrade this! Would love to share your work (and eat it).

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