Who doesn’t love chocolate cake? If you’re not a fan, I don’t think we can be friends anymore.
Just kidding, of course.
Since being diagnosed with PCOS (you can read about that here and here), my mission has been to find delicious but healthy substitutes for the foods that I love – and I LOVE mud cake!
So being the chief cake maker in the house, I am determined to have my cake and eat it too!
This rich, decadent layered cake is one for the masses. My friends didn’t believe it was a healthier version filled with healthy fats and wholefood ingredients. While my philosophy here at My Simple Plate is that meals should be simple to make and delicious to eat – this may be a small exception. While it definitely is delicious, there are few steps in the process to get to this final, decadent dessert.
However, don’t let that stop you from getting in the kitchen because it’s totally worth it! You can shorten the prep and cooking time by not making the crumb. Instead decorate the cake with fresh berries or even a hazelnut praline – YUM!
If I’m being honest though, the best part of this cake is that thick and gorgeous layer of chocolate ganache. I could eat that all day long!
Oh, and finally let’s not forget this is a paleo cake. This means it is gluten-free, dairy free and refined sugar free – so you can enjoy it morning, noon and night, perfect.
Paleo Chocolate Mud Cake
INGREDIENTS
Chocolate Mud Cake
- 3 eggs
- 3 cups almond meal/flour
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 3/4 cup cacao powder
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 2 tsp gluten free baking powder
- 1 tsp pink/sea salt
- 1/2 cup coconut oil melted
- 1 cup coconut milk canned, full fat
- 1 vanilla bean scrapped, or 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp pure maple syrup or raw honey (liquid stevia can also be used but you might need to play with the quantity here)
Chocolate Ganache
- 1 cup coconut milk canned, full fat
- 300 g 80% dark chocolate substitue for 4 tbsp cacao powder or vegan chocolate
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Coconut & Macadamia Crumb
- 1/2 cup macadamia nuts roasted
- 1 cup shredded coconut
- 1/4 tsp pink/sea salt
- 20 g coconut flour
- 25 g coconut oil melted
- 2 tsp coconut sugar
METHOD
Chocolate Mud Cake
- Preheat oven to 180 C or 350 F (160 C for fanforced, 325 F).
- Grease and line a 22cm springform cake tin.
- In a large bowl, mix together almond meal, cacao powder, coconut sugar, baking powder and pink salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, coconut milk, vanilla, maple syrup and melted coconut oil. Note, that when the coconut oil is added it may separate the coconut milk. If this happens continue to gently whisk the mixture together and it should recombine – this may take a few minutes.
- Gently, fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Do not over mix this as the air that was whisked into the wet ingredients will be lost.
- Pour into prepared cake tin and bake for 40 – 50 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Once cooked, set aside to cool for 5 minutes, then remove from tin and place on wire rack and leave to cool completely.
Coconut & Macadamia Crumb
- Preheat oven to 180 C or 350 F (160 C for fanforced, 325 F).
- Roughly chop macadamia nuts
- Place chopped macadamia nuts and shredded coconut on a lined baking sheet and place in oven for about 5 minutes. Watch this carefully, as it will brown quickly. You want both the coconut and macadamia nuts to be slightly roasted with a golden colour.
- Once golden, remove from oven (don’t turn it off) and let cool.
- Place macadamia nuts, shredded coconut, pink salt, coconut flour, melted coconut oil and coconut sugar in a food processor and blitz to a course crumb.
- Transfer to a lined baking tin and place back in over for about 10-12 minutes, until a rich, dark golden colour.
- Once ready, remove from oven and set aside to cool.
Chocolate Ganache
- Roughly chop chocolate and place into a large heatproof bowl.
- In a small saucepan, bring coconut milk to boil, reduce and let it slightly thicken.
- Pour hot coconut milk over chocolate, cover and let stand for one minute.
- Remove cover and stir until smooth and creamy then mix in vanilla. Set aside to cool.
- Once cool, cover and place in fridge until ready to use.
- Ganache can be heated again if it becomes too solid. All you need to do is place is the bowl over a pot of simmering water and melt to required consistency. Make sure the water does not touch the bowl as this will cause the ganache to seize.
Assembly
- Slice the cake in half so that you have two layers.
- Spread half the ganache on one layer. Place the second layer back on top and place in fridge to set.
- Once set, remove from fridge and cover with remainder of ganache. If you do have ganache left over, you can roll them into truffles and use to decorate cake with.
- Decorate cake with extra macadamia nuts, coconut macadamia crumble and truffles. Place back in fridge until ready to serve.
