- Chocolate Cake with Honey Caramel Sauce and Chocolate Covered Crispy Almonds
While the children were napping yesterday, I started flipping though the new Martha Stewart Living that came in the mail earlier that day. When I saw Chocolate Cake with Milk Chocolate Crunch and Caramel Sauce (Oct 2010), I immediately realized that I needed that cake. Unfortunately (or fortunately!) I didn’t have the called for ingredients in my cupboards, so I improvised using honey rather than white sugar and corn syrup, and sprouted wheat flour in place of the all purpose flour. This is what came of it!
Sprouted flour makes a more digestible and less dense baked good than unsprouted whole wheat, which makes it ideal for using in something like a cake, though it still is more dense than the refined flour counterpart.
Recipe
Sprouted Wheat Chocolate Cake:
Combine in mixer:
3 tablespoons soft butter
3/4 cup honey
2 eggs
3/4 cup kefir (or buttermilk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Mix until throughly blended.Add all at once to the mixing bowl, and then mix:
1-1/2 cup sprouted wheat flour (to buy see my Resource Page)
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
Beat 3 minutes, or until smooth. Spread into a greased round or square cake pan (I used an 8×8 inch square) and bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean.
Chocolate Crunch:
1 cup sprouted almonds (to buy see my Resource Page), chopped coarsely
1/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chipsIn a double boiler melt chocolate. Stir in chopped almonds to coat with chocolate. Spread on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet in a single layer. Place in the freezer to set chocolate.
Honey Caramel Sauce:
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup honey
3 tablespoons butter
Pinch of saltOver medium high heat in a saucepan, heat whipping cream, butter, and honey. Stay near the stove and stir often. As the mixture starts to darken to a beautiful caramel color, test to see if the mixture is ready by removing a spoonful and dribbling onto a plate to cool for a minute. Once cool, it should be the consistency of honey, not a thin liquid. When it gets to that point, stir in a pinch of salt, remove from heat and set aside.
When cake and caramel sauce are cool, slice cake, top with caramel sauce and a sprinkling of almonds. Store in the refrigerator.
Enjoy!
This is beautiful, Cara. Have you considered soaking the flour in the kefir first, prior to baking? I like your take on the warm caramel sauce. VERY refreshing, and that pinch of salt is really going to bring out the flavors.
Thanks Jenny! I guess I could have, but I thought it would be just fine with the sprouted flour.
looks wonderful!!!! this is on my to-make list. thanks for sharing.
great recipe.
I tried this cake recipe few hours ago but somehow couldn’t get the same result as you, my cake definitely wasn’t looking that good (atleast it tasted good). What kind of chocolate are you using? Maybe it’s coming from the flour I used, i’m gluten intelorant so I used amaranth flour instead of normal wheat flour.
I’m glad it tasted good! Yes, flour without gluten will behave much differently in a cake! I’m not familiar with amaranth flour, but I know when I use almond or coconut flour I have to use a totally different recipe rather than try to adapt a gluten version.
I made this cake for my daughters birthday a few weeks ago(just the cake, I used whipped cream frosting to top it)it was very good, a little dry, so when I made the second cake I used a tiny bit more kefir and made sure to pull it out of the oven sooner.
So good!!
I just downloaded your grain free sample menu. I had some questions about how you do some things so I was scouring your other recipes to find out. I was wondering if you sprouted. Have you tried sprouting beans? It is only a little harder than wheat but not bad. Do you know the impact sprouting beans has according to GAPS science?
Second I have always wondered about nut flours and if they are soaked before being made into flour. If they aren’t the flour would not be ideal so I am wondering how that fits into GAPS or if it doesn’t matter in GAPS. GAPS is so common among Real foodists I would be surprised. Also your grain free crackers. Nuts and seeds are supposed to be the highest in phytic acid.
Considering going grain free.We eat WAPF as much as possible. I make almost everything from scratch. I’ve been doing low carb throughout my last pregnancy and after, I can’t loose my baby weight, don’t know why. Both sons have eczema, 2 1/2 and 6 months. No support from husband. No money. After a year and a half of battling my sons eczema and just getting started with the second I am getting more interested in GAPS. I must need something too since I can’t loose weight and my 6 month old is only having my milk. Maybe I can at least limit grains more than I have been and see if it helps.
Any way, Thanks for all your work!