Been meaning to try this one for ages since reading 'Eat to Live' by Dr Fuhrman, here goes...
Healthy Chocolate Cake Source:
www.DrFuhrman.com SERVES: 12
INGREDIENTS
CAKE
1 2/3 cups whole wheat pastry flour (220g)
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons baking soda
3 1/2 cups pitted dates, divided
1 cup pineapple chunks in own juice, drained (160g)
1 banana
1 cup unsweetened applesauce (EDC recipe, 3 apples = 1 cup)
1 cup shredded beets - 1 large peeled (120g)
3/4 cup shredded carrots 1 peeled (90g)
1/2 cup shredded zucchini 1 small (60g)
3 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
1/2 cup currants (70g)
1 cup chopped walnuts (90g)
1 1/2 cups water (270ml)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
CHOCOLATE NUT ICING:
1 cup raw macadamia nuts or raw cashews, unsalted
1 cup vanilla soy milk
2/3 cup pitted dates
1/3 cup brazil nuts or hazelnuts
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven 180
oC
Mill flour sp 10 1 min. Add baking powder & soda, mix & reserve in small bowl.
Make applesauce directions EDC p.60
While applesauce is cooking prepare other ingredients: peel beets & carrots and chop into quarters. Chop walnuts & 1/2 cup of dates by hand, or use TMX before applesauce step.
Add to cooked applesauce 3 cups of the dates, pineapple,banana and puree. Pour into a large bowl (or grab your 2nd TMX bowl at this point).
Grate beets, carrots, zucchini in TMX sp 5 5 secs. Add sliced dates, cocoa powder, currants, walnuts, water, vanilla and flour mixture. Mix sp 2 10 secs. Combine this with the date/pineapple/apple puree, either in TMX or a large bowl and mix well. Spread in a 24cm x 34 cm nonstick baking pan. I used 2 loaf pans.
Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. It's a very moist cake, benefits from extra cooking & resting until cool.
ICING:
Combine all icing ingredients until smooth and creamy. Place a dollop over warm cake and serve. If desired, you may spread on cooled cake instead. I didn't try the icing so can't comment on this part.
Tips: I think the name of this cake is misleading, it's more of a fruit/date cake than chocolate. It's OK if you're not expecting a rich chocolately cake. I'm going to "sell it" as a moist date cake. The kids didn't like it even though it was quite sweet. I kinda like it, next time I will halve the recipe and fill muffin tin instead, it will help the cooking process. Would benefit with addition of ginger (if you like ginger like I do). I'm not a big dessert fan, so making a healthy cake seems like wasted effort when I could just as easy cook up a lovely healthier savoury dish... but for people craving dessert if on weight-loss/healthy lifestyle change type diet this might appeal. I've frozen slices and will put in the kids lunches and see if they like it another time.
I liked the cake better the next day, cold from the fridge. I used mix of spelt & wheat, the remains of what I had in the cupboard.
Members' commentsJuliaC83 - Sadly this was a big flop in my house. The texture / smell had everyone running lol. I now have two cakes that may be going to the chickens. Was worth a try.
