Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Sweet Potato Chocolate Marble Bundt Cake (Gluten Free, Grain Free)

Sweet Potato Chocolate Marble Cake, Gluten Free, Grain Free
This was my birthday cake I made a couple weeks ago, but it would be perfect for your Thanksgiving desserts or Christmas, or any holiday or any occasion or just because you want cake—it’s practically healthy!  Get this—the cake is not only gluten free, but it’s grain free and it’s made with much healthier coconut sugar and raw honey for the sweetener.  Hello, it also has a vegetable in it.  The sweet potato acts like pumpkin.  I love the flavor.  With sweet spices added, sweet potato and and chocolate go together perfectly!  If you’re trying to find healthier desserts or have diet restrictions, this pretty bundt cake would be just right for you. 
It was certainly just right for my birthday, which just happens to fall on National Bundt Day, November 15.  I’ve enjoyed making a bundt cake for my birthday for a number of years now, ever since Mary at The Food Librarian started in with her love of bundts.  She has hundreds of bundt cakes posted on her blog.  She would even do 30 days of bundts leading up to my birthday National Bundt Day, and post a bundt a day before that.  She did that for a couple years.  She has some great round ups of all the cakes she’s made as well as some round ups of the bundts everyone makes to join in the fun and send her their links. 
Sweet Potato Chocolate Marble Bundt Cake (Grain Free, Refined Sugar Free)
I can’t wait to make this cake again.  I recently bought two sweet potatoes that were huge—one was over three pounds!  I baked it and used it to make a puree.  It was well enough for this cake and a lot more.  Some of it even went in the freezer since I went out of town and couldn’t eat it all up before it would have spoiled.  I still have the second big one and some smaller ones to use up.  I thought the big one wouldn’t be good (over grown) or as sweet or something, but it was great and perfect for this cake!
Sweet Potato Chocolate Marble Bundt Cake, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!
4 ounces good chocolate, melted and cooled (I used Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips)
1/2 cup arrowroot powder
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 cup almond meal/flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup (168 grams) raw honey
1/2 cup (224 grams) coconut oil
1 cup (250 grams) sweet potato puree (Make sure it’s cool if you’re baking it right before using it. I baked mine the night before I made the cake, then cooled it and stored it in the refrigerator, then pureed it right before using.)
4 large eggs (I actually used 5 sm-med. farm fresh eggs, for a total of 202 grams out of shell)
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips
Ganache Drizzle:
2 1/2 ounces chocolate (I used mini chocolate chips)
4 tablespoons heavy cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spread coconut oil evenly over the surface of the bundt pan.  (You’ll want at least a 6 cup bundt pan, but bigger will work, too, it’s not a super high cake that totally fills the pan.)  You can also dust it with cocoa powder or almond flour or coconut flour, but I didn’t, just oil.  (The cake stuck in one little place and usually doesn’t at all when I add some kind of flour after oiling the pan.)  Set aside.  Melt the 4 ounces of chocolate in a medium sized microwave-safe bowl.  Stir after 20-30 second intervals until all melted and smooth and let cool while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine the arrowroot, coconut flour, almond flour, baking soda, salt and all the spices.  Whisk together, set aside.  In a large bowl, combine the coconut sugar, honey and coconut oil.  Whisk (or use mixer) until well combined.  Add the sweet potato puree and beat until combined.  Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well.  Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix together until well combined.  Remove about 1/3 of the cake batter from the bowl into another pan and add the 4 ounces of melted chocolate to it, then combine well. 
Working in spoonsful or scoops at a time, put the batter in the pan, first the sweet potato cake batter, then in opposite places around the bundt the chocolate batter in spoonsful.  Continue in layers of both cake batters until you’ve used it all.  Take a butter knife and swirl the batter to make the marble effect (not too much swirling or it will not look marbled).  Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.  Set the pan on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes.  Turn the cake over and let it sit for a couple minutes, then tap the sides and bottom of the pan to release the cake.  It should come out nicely!  Heat the cream in a microwave safe bowl until slightly bubbly (careful it doesn’t boil over, it can come to that stage pretty quickly, especially since it’s such a small amount.)  Pour the heated cream over the 2 1/2 ounces of chocolate, let sit for a minute.  Then slowly stir it together until the chocolate is all melted and you have a nice smooth ganache.  You can do this while the cake is cooling as it sets up a bit after it’s all melted.  Drizzle the ganache over the cake (I put it in a plastic zip top bag and snipped the corner off to drizzle it over the cake, you can also do it by the spoonsful.) 
Grain Free Sweet Potato Chocolate Marble Bundt Cake
As I wrote down the recipe, it seemed a little involved, but I have found if you get everything out and in place (Mise en place, I’m all for it!), it’s not bad at all.  Prep everything ahead of time, bake your potato, melt the chocolate, etc.—it’s really not too bad.  And fun.  And worth it for this cake!  Not only does it taste great—it looks great, too.  I think it’s a real show stopper.  If you had this on your dessert table and didn’t tell anyone it was grain free, I don’t think anyone would even know.  Only Kevin and my son, Scott, even tasted the cake.  But after that I hid the rest for the next couple days so they didn’t eat more, because it was all for me on National Bundt Day—MY BIRTHDAY!  I thought it tasted better the next day and the next.  Maybe because I’m kind of cake-deprived, but try it and tell me what you think!
I’m home for Thanksgiving in Idaho with my parents while my awesome husband is home with the four boys.  He’s amazing and I am so blessed and grateful for all the wonderful blessings I have been given.  He even spent the last two days repainting our bedroom—5 1/2 years in our home and we’ve never really liked the paint in our room.  Love it now!  Happy Holidays to all!

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Apple Cinnamon Granola, Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free, Vegan

Apple Cinnamon Granola (Gluten Free) 10-20-15
I love granola.  I’m so happy that granola can easily be made gluten free—and refined sugar free.  It makes for a great snack.  Even when you just need to grab a handful and go.  But it also makes for a great breakfast.  I love it in a bowl with almond milk and some more fruit as well as with a little Greek yogurt, more fresh fruit and a drizzle of raw honey.  I almost always have some made and ready to eat at any time.  As I type this, I’m almost out of this yummy Apple Cinnamon Granola and need to make more.  Some Gluten Free Oats were on sale recently, so I have plenty in stock.  I love making all kinds and flavors of granola.  What is your favorite?
Apple Cinnamon Granola, Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!
4 cups gluten free old fashioned oats***
1/4 cup ground flax meal
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened, natural applesauce
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup dried apple pieces, tossed in a little cinnamon (optional)
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  In a large bowl, combine the oats, flax meal, sunflower seeds, pecans, salt and cinnamon.  Stir together.  In a medium sized microwaveable bowl, combine the coconut oil and coconut sugar.  Microwave for 30 seconds.  Whisk to combine.  Add the applesauce and vanilla and whisk together.  Stir the wet ingredients into the big bowl of dry ingredients and stir until all is moistened.  Pour the mixture out onto a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet.  Spread evenly.  Bake for 22-25 minutes, until golden brown.  Let granola sit untouched on baking sheet on wire rack until cooled, this helps the pieces stick together in bigger clumps if you like it chunky.  Stirring right after if comes out of the oven makes for separated pieces (which is still good!).  Once pieces are broken up spread the dried apple pieces around and toss evenly.  Store in an airtight container.  ***Don’t want to or need to worry about gluten free, just use regular oats, this works both ways!
Cinnamon Apple Granola (Gluten Free)
Hmm, what kind should I make next?  Any ideas on flavors yet unseen?  I need more granola and I need it right now.