Okay, okay, so the sprinkles count as sugar, but that’s the only ounce of unhealthiness in this gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free and sugar-free cake recipe. Recently, I tried to figure out what I’m allergic to by doing an elimination diet. The basic gist is that you eliminate the most common foods people are allergic to and then slowly add them back in to see if you have a reaction. That meant I had to eliminate SO many foods! But that wasn’t going to stop me from having some cake. With the new year here and many healthy habit resolutions, I thought it would be useful to share a healthy recipe for cake and frosting that you can eat guilt free. After some trial and error, this is the recipe we liked best. Of course we couldn’t resist adding sprinkles to make it look cute, so we cheated a little on the sugar. Can you blame us?
Ingredients:
For the cake (makes one layer)
— 1 ¾ cups gluten-free flour (must contain xanthan gum)
— 2 teaspoons baking powder
— 1 cup coconut milk (canned)
— 1 teaspoon vanilla
— 2 bananas
— 7 Tablespoons coconut oil, solid
— 1/2 cup agave
— ¼ cup + 1 Tablespoon organic colorful cake sprinkles (preferably not the small balls)
For the frosting (makes enough to frost one layer)
— 2 ripe avocados
— 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
— 1 cup maple syrup
Instructions:
For the cake
1. Preheat the oven to 325° Fahrenheit. Grease and flour (using GF flour) a 6-inch round cake pan.
2. Mix the flour and baking powder together in a small bowl.
3. Combine ¾ cup coconut milk and vanilla in another small bowl.
4. In a standup mixer, beat bananas into a pulp with the whisk attachment. Set this aside in a separate bowl.
5. Beat the coconut oil and agave on medium-high speed until combined.
6. Add the remaining ¼ cup coconut milk until smooth.
7. On medium speed, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the coconut milk/vanilla mixture in two additions, mixing until smooth.
8. Whisk in a third of the banana, then fold in remaining bananas using a rubber spatula.
9. Add in the sprinkles and fold until just mixed.
10. Pour the batter into prepared cake pan.
11. Bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
12. Remove pan from oven to a wire rack to cool. After about 10 minutes, remove the cake from the pan and let cool.
For the frosting
1. Remove pits from avocados and add to a standup mixer with a paddle attachment. Mix until smooth.
2. Add the cocoa powder and maple syrup and mix to combine.
First, grease your pan. For easy cake removal, we added a piece of parchment paper to the bottom of our pan. Next, mix the flour and baking powder together in a small bowl. There are so many gluten-free flours on the market right now. We chose one that wasn’t an alternative like almond or coconut flour. Specifically, we used Cup 4 Cup gluten-free flour. Find the one that you like the best!
In your standup mixer, combine 3/4 cup coconut milk and the vanilla. Just mix until they are combined, then remove the mixture and place it in a small bowl. Now add your bananas to the standup mixer bowl and beat them until they are liquidy and mushy :) Set them aside in a separate bowl.
Next, add the coconut oil and agave to the bowl and whisk until they are nice and smooth. Then add the remaining 1/4 cup of coconut milk and mix again. Time to start adding everything together! Alternate between adding the dry ingredients and the coconut milk mixture, for a total of five additions. Then add a third of the banana mush and stir to combine. Remove the whisk attachment and fold in the remaining bananas with a spatula.
Fold the sprinkles into the batter and then pour it into your prepared pan. Pop it into the oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
While the cake is baking, make your frosting!
We tried about four different frosting recipes hoping we’d find one we loved that was white or cream colored so that we could dye it a bright color. Alas, we didn’t land on one that really hit the spot, so we went with a delicious chocolate frosting we love.
To make a four-layer cake, you’ll need to quadruple this recipe. That’s a lot of avocado! Simply add the avocado to the mixer, then pour in the cocoa and maple syrup.
Pro Tip: Though the picture above shows adding all of the ingredients at once, we found after a couple batches that mixing the avocado first and then adding the other two ingredients made the frosting smoother.
Time to put this cake together. When your cake comes out of the oven, let it sit on a cooling rack in the pan for about 10 minutes. Then remove it from the pan and let it cool some more. You can even put it in the fridge to get it nice and cold. This is KEY in successfully frosting your cake.
Pro Tip: If you plan to make layers, use a sharp knife to slice off the rounded top of the cake so that each layer will sit evenly.
Add thick layers of frosting between each cake layer and then generously frost the top and sides of the cake.
We went CRAZY with sprinkles, so our cake became a little less than sugar free. It’s all about the aesthetics, people! We couldn’t help ourselves :)
There you have it! A beautiful, healthy cake!
No cake is complete without a topper. This little gem was made from pipe cleaners and skewers.
Grab a slice and leave your guilt behind. Your belly and your new diet will give this cake a solid thumbs up.
Special thanks to Kayli Atha for her help on this one!
Have you made some healthy desserts to start the new year? Share photos of them with us by using the hashtag #britstagram!
Food Production and Styling: Roxy Taghavian and Kayli Atha
Photography: Chris Andre
