Lovers Chocolate Raspberry Quinoa Cake

I’ve never done this much Valentine’s Day baking in my life. This easily surpasses what I did at Christmas.

Something you should know about me – I have a tendency to go overboard on everything, including themed events.

But I can now say with 100% confidence, this is the last new 2011 Valentine’s recipe I’ll be posting. I promise.

Now that all the baking is done and I’m prepped for our romantic homemade dinner for two on Monday, I’m going to take the weekend to shift my attention inward and do a bit of journal work.

I like documenting my inner reflections in a journal so I have the opportunity to go back to my entries months later to see where I was at, how I’ve changed, and to inspire myself to keep on keepin’ on.

So, without further adieu, here’s what I’m planning…

Explore:

• The love I have for the people in my life
• The love I have for myself, and what; if anything, is in the way of me loving myself unconditionally
• What I’m appreciative for
• What aspects of my life would benefit from more gratitude

What a fun weekend I have ahead of me!

Lovers Chocolate Raspberry Quinoa Cake

Gluten free, Vegan, Dairy free

When’s the last time you had a slice of cake that was 1 full serving of protein? Switch things up by trying this delicious cooked quinoa cake, complete with pretty pink [naturally colored] frosting. Your first bite will surprise you with a mouse-like consistency, deep and rich chocolate flavor, with a slight taste of coconut. What’s more romantic than that? Sheesh!

Inspired by: Quinoa 365 and Elana’s Pantry

Ingredients

Icing:

• 1 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 5 tsp arrowroot powder
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 cup melted coconut oil
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup raspberries [if frozen, make sure to defrost]

Cake:

• 2/3 cup red quinoa, uncooked
• 1 2/3 cup water
• 1/2 cup Almond Breeze Almond Milk – Original Unsweetened – or you can use another milk of your choice
• 4 flax eggs – 4 tbsp freshly ground flax mixed with 8 tbsp water
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup melted coconut oil
• 1 1/2 cup sucanat sugar
• 1 cup cacao powder or cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp Himalayan rock salt

Garnish:

• 2 cups frozen raspberries, defrosted and mashed with a fork

Note: Instead of flax eggs, 4 real eggs can be used. [The recipe would not be vegan if this change was made]

Instead of sucanat sugar, regular brown sugar will do the trick

Directions

1. In a medium size saucepan, combine coconut milk and agave. Cook on medium heat, whisking every-so-often until it comes to a boil.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix arrowroot powder and water. Add to saucepan.
3. Continue to whisk icing until it thickens [about 1 minute]. Remove from heat and slowly add in coconut oil, whisking to combine.
4. Place vanilla, icing mixture and raspberries in blender. Blend until smooth.
5. Place icing in a glass container, leave on counter until cool, then place in fridge. Allow to cool in the fridge for 1.5-2hrs. Consistency should be that of icing. Once ready to ice the cake, whip up the icing with a hand blender.
6. Now, to make the cake!
7. In a medium saucepan, combine quinoa and water. Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer for 10 minutes.
8. Remove from heat [keep covered!] and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Once complete, fluff with fork and set aside.
9. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350F
10. Lightly grease two 9 inch round pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper [believe me, it's worth the effort. Just DO it!]. Set aside.
11. Combine milk, flax eggs, and vanilla in blender. Blend until smooth.
12. Add 2 1/4 cup of the cooked quinoa, and the coconut oil. Blend until smooth [may be challenging to do, just blend it as best you can]
13. In a large bowl, whisk together sucanat, cacao powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the contents of the blender to the bowl and mix well with a hand mixer.
14. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and bake on the middle rack of your oven for 40-50 minutes [my cake was perfectly cooked at 48 minutes]. You can test to determine if the cake is done by inserting a toothpick in the middle.
15. Allow cakes to  cool for a couple of hours before removing from the pans and topping with icing.
16. Serve with raspberry sauce drizzled over top.

Makes a 9×9 double layered cake.

Can be stored in a sealed container in the freezer for 14 days, or in the fridge for 3 days.

Do you keep a journal?

If you could reach out to someone in your life to tell them how appreciative you are of them, who would it be? What would you say?

Tagged as: cake, chocolate cake, frosting, icing, quinoa, valentine