The adventures of Paleo Baking

So it was another Sunday cooking day!  I think my favorite thing to do on Sundays is watching football and cooking.  Oh cleaning, that happens too.  This Sunday, Joe was busy making some messes with some small demolition (but, everything he has done looks great!)  and I was making some food for the Pats game at 4:25.  For the second week in a row, I have made Buffalo Chicken using my buffalo sauce recipe and it was a huge hit! (Quick steps, bake the chicken, then pour the buffalo sauce over the cooked chicken.)
In an effort to try to stay paleo for dessert, as well as try a recipe I want to try and bring home for Thanksgiving - I think this one nailed it (err...minus the frosting, but I know where I went wrong!  keep reading!)  This is an easy recipe because a) I am not very good at baking and b) paleo baking takes a special talent.  I did my research and searched around for some recipes that sounded yummy and used the least amount of ingredients I had to buy. Combining two of the recipes -  I used a cake recipe from "Until the Thin Lady Signs" and a frosting recipe from "Oven Love". The cake was an A++, but the frosting was a bit of a fail.  The flavor was delicious,  but as you can see in my picture – it didn't look like frosting.  I made the mistake of using "light" coconut milk instead of the full fat kind.  I will try this again, and report back! (also, if you try this and have success, let me know!)  But the cake was so delicious I had to share!  Everyone who tried it, loved it! 

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Paleo Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Frosting (Click here for a printable version)

Cake: 

• 6 Tablespoons Coconut oil
  
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  
• 6 eggs, room temperature, 3 separated
  
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
  
• 1/2 teaspoon stevia powder
  
• 3 Tablespoons honey
  
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 cup sifted coconut flour (I used Bobs Red Mill)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
  
• I used about a 10" Heart shape pan (thats all I had, but I would suggest something smaller - The original recipe uses a 7" pan)
  

Frosting: 

• 2 cans full-fat coconut milk, refrigerated for 24 hours or more
• a few drops Vanilla liquid Stevia or about 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Oil your cake pan well  - make sure to get all the sides.   Preheat oven to 350˚F.
   
2. Melt Coconut oil in saucepan over medium heat. Mix in cocoa powder, set aside to cool.  (It is very beneficial to have all of your ingredients at the same temperature.)
   
3. In one large bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. If your kitchen is warm, it is okay to put these into the fridge until you need them so they don't melt
   
4. In another bowl, mix together the other 3 eggs, egg yolks, Coconut milk, stevia, honey, salt, and vanilla.  Stir in cocoa mixture.  Combine sifted coconut flour with baking powder and whisk into batter until there are no lumps.  (Taste your batter to see if it is sweet enough - you may want to add more sweetener, if it is not) 
   
5. Fold egg whites into mixture, starting with 1/3rds, mixing, then the rest. Pour into cake pan and bake for 20 - 30 minutes or until toothpick entered comes out clean when inserted into middle of cake.  
   
6. While this is baking, make your frosting:  
7. Remove coconut milk from the refrigerator and Scoop out the top layer of coconut cream into a mixing bowl, leaving the clear-ish part of the coconut milk in the can (save this for other uses- smoothies, etc).
8. Mix on high with the whisk attachment for about 5 minutes or until stiff peaks of cream form. Add your Stevia or vanilla extract to taste.
   
9. When your cake is done, cool and remove from the pan
10. Take a long piece of wire or dental floss and slice this cake in half and make it two layers so that you can put frosting between the layers.  Or you can cut it in half with a large knife.
    
11. Then frost!  This frosting can be also used in place of anything that has whipped cream.

Enjoy!!