Divine Chocolate Cakes 

Not your average everyday gluten-free chocolate cake.

This is one to save up for when the girls come round or you have an extra-special family gathering; I hope you and your friends enjoy it.

It contains so many anti-inflammatory ingredients, for overall health and wellbeing.

This is particularly important in perimenopause and menopause when levels of estrogen and testosterone, which have an anti-inflammatory effect on your body, decline. This means boosting anti-inflammatory sources elsewhere is even more important. 

I sometimes make one large cake, or I make muffin sized cakes.
For one whole cake I use a 20cm (8 inch) round cake tin. You can also use a small brownie tin - 20cmx20cm.
Or make individual baby cakes, using a muffin tin - how many little cakes this makes depends on the size of your muffin tin/how deep you like your small cakes to be. 

At my Retreats this year, I'll be making this cake, and showing you how to make it and the frostings. For more information, please go to my Retreat page here. 

Please note, if you are someone who has migraines, take care with cocoa, as it can sometimes, but not necessarily, be a trigger. 

If you are following a low histamine diet or want to avoid cocoa, then I suggest the following swaps:
*Instead of cocoa > use ground corn meal/polenta
*Add 4 teaspoons spices eg cinnamon/nutmeg
*For Low Histamine - Instead of ground almonds > use ground pistachios and/or macadamia nuts and/or ground pumpkin seeds and/or ground hemp seeds.

60g cocoa or cacao powder
*
140 ml extra virgin olive oil
60g coconut sugar or other sweetener such as maple syrup or honey or unbleached sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or scraped seeds from half a vanilla pod
125 mls water

150g ground almonds or other ground nut/seed*

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 large eggs 

*See swaps for cocoa, and swaps if following low histamine diet, above.

Preheat your oven to 170°C fan forced or 185˚C regular.
Grease a 20cm (8 inch) round cake tin with a little oil and line the base and sides with baking/parchment paper.

Put all the ingredients into a food processor and mix until combined.
Pour into the lined cake tin 
and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the sides are set. A cake tester skewer should come up with a little soft cake 
mixture on it.
Take care not to over bake this cake. 
Let it cool for 15 minutes out of the oven, still in its tin, before cutting.

For smaller little cakes, the cooking time varies with the size of your muffin tin/paper case. The little cakes in the photo cooked for 15 minutes. 

Frosting:
I like to top the cake/cakes with a chocolate mousse frosting! I have two for you to choose from! See the link here to my recipes.