A lightly sweetened and deliciously fudgy cake that you won’t believe is actually pretty healthy! Scrumptious avocados star in creating this dense snack cake and creamy frosting. It’s a super easy and quick cake that’s perfect for breakfast, a snack, and/or dessert!
“Every experience, no matter how bad it seems, holds within it a blessing of some kind. The goal is to find it. ”
Most days I'm like, "Damn.. I'm pretty much the luckiest person ever. I'm so grateful for everything I have; a loving husband, supportive family, dream home, adorable furbabies, a general lack of needfulness, easy access to a variety of healthy foods, freedom from illness, etc." Then other days I'm like, "Dammit! I got wayyyyy too many avocados over here! How did this happen? I'm fairly certain I started with just two. Are they procreating? What the heck am I supposed to do with all these mofos?! Argh!" It's a good day when the majority of your stress revolves around fretting what to do with an aging, prolific agglomeration of gangster avocados.
It's also a good day when chocolate cake is involved. It's even better when almost half of said avocados are used in said cake! A win-win for everyone involved.
I want to thank you all for the flood of heartfelt comments regarding my last post. You're all so incredibly kind. It's important to keep in mind that many people are going through the same thing you're going through. We can all lend support and love to one another in times of struggle and that's why I decided to share my stories with you all. I think it really helps. Thank you for virtual hugs and words of compassion and empathy, from the deepest chambers of my emo little heart. It means the world.
Okay so, when I was making this cake, we were having a crazy springlike day. It was so sunny and warm I had to keep all the doors open! Bailey and Anouk (our new furbaby) just hung out on the deck, basking in the Alaskan sun. Check out all their adorableness on my Facebook or Instagram pages. I also went for my first run in a month since breaking my foot! It was a good day, indeed.
This cake uses three, count 'em three avocados! In addition, it also sports super healthy flaxseed, coconut oil, almond flour, cacao powder, and for an extra boost of antioxidant power I snuck in some chipotle chili powder into the frosting (optional). Sweet and spicy! This cake is just lightly sweetened, so I don't recommend skipping the frosting on this one. I've been eating a slice for breakfast everyday. Todd thinks it's a wee bit too healthy for him (he's not a reliable source when it comes to healthy desserts...). That means lots of cake for me... cake for daaaaaays. #noshame
Chocolate Avocado Cake
A lightly sweetened and deliciously fudgy cake that you won’t believe is actually pretty healthy! Scrumptious avocados star in creating this dense snack cake and creamy frosting. It’s a super easy and quick cake that’s perfect for breakfast, a snack, and/or dessert! Cake adapted from Clean Green Eats by Candice Kumai.
Ingredients
- - CAKE -
- scant 1 cup raw almonds
- 1 ¾ cup gluten-free blend or all-purpose flour
- heaping ¾ cup cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ cup ground flaxseed
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- meat from 1 large, ripe avocado
- heaping ½ cup vegan granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups fresh water
- ⅓ cup melted, unrefined coconut oil
- splash of vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- - FROSTING -
- meat from 2 large, ripe avocados
- ½ cup cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ cup + 2 tbsp vegan powdered sugar
- ¼ cup agave nectar
- 1 - 1 ½ tsp chipotle chili powder (optional)
- splash of vanilla extract
- dash of kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a blender or food processor, process the almonds until they become a flour (but not so much that you make almond butter). Pulse in the all-purpose flour, cacao powder, flaxseed, baking powder, and salt until well combined. Transfer to a medium mixing bowl and set aside.
- Add the avocado and sugar to the empty food processor and process until smooth. Pulse in the water, oil, and vanilla. In a small bowl, combine the vinegar and baking soda then pulse into the wet mixture until well combined. Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture until just combined. The batter should be quite thick.
- Line the bottom of an 8” round cake pan with parchment paper and spray the sides with a nonstick cooking spray. Transfer the cake batter into the pan and smooth the surface with a spatula. Bake for about 20 minutes, until set. Remove the cake from the pan and allow to cool completely (at least 40 minutes) on a wire cooling rack.
- While the cake cools, clean out the processor. Add all the frosting ingredients to the processor and blend until smooth. Frost the top and sides of the cooled cake with a spatula. Slice and serve. Store in the fridge.
Yield: 1 8" round cake
Read this story from Mother Jones on how the meat industry consumes over 4/5ths of all antibiotic use. Superbugs, anyone? It'd be funny how hypocritical we are if it wasn't so shockingly terrifying.
Pew Charitable Trusts
These easy rolls are layered with pumpkin pie spice instead of regular ol' cinnamon and the Autumnal (yea it's a word) icing is infused with pumpkin puree and topped with finishing salt. Oh so snobby! After Todd and I split one, I turned to him and said, "Well that was one of the dumbest things I've ever done." Next time I think I'll just make cookies or something...
Lightly flour your work surface again and when the dough is done rising, punch it down once or twice and then roll it out into a large, medium-thin rectangle. 
Brush evenly with the melted butter, then sprinkle on the pumpkin pie spice, followed by the sugar. Make sure it's scattered evenly across the entire rectangle. 
Coat a 8 in. x 8 in. clear baking dish with a nonstick cooking spray. Wait to preheat oven. Gently and evenly roll up the dough into a long log.
Using a serrated knife, gently cut it into 9 even slices. Then, place each slice into the greased baking dish and cover with saran wrap. Okay, now preheat the the oven to 350 F and place the dish on that spot on your stove where the heat from the oven likes to emit. It's where I have exploded a can of Pam, and most recently where Todd melted a purple onion shaped onion keeper. You know the spot. Let the dish sit there while the oven preheats.
Once the oven has reached temperature, unwrap the dish and place in the oven to bake for about 25 minutes, or until the tops of the rolls are just barely golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before glazing. 
If the icing begins to harden by the time the cinnamon rolls are ready, just pop it in the microwave for a few seconds. Drizzle over the cinnamon rolls and finish with flake salt.
Enjoy! Horde them all yourself or be super nice and share like I did.
To make the pancakes, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Then add in the milk, the flaxseed egg, and the oil. Mix until just combined.
Over medium-high, heat a large frying pan and coat with a nonstick cooking spray. Add 1/4 cup of pancake batter to the pan. Allow the pancake to cook until the edges start to form bubbles, about two minutes, then "pipe" a swirl of the cinnamon filling onto the pancake, as such. Careful not to let it get too close to the edges of the pancake.
Then, flip the pancake over and allow the other side to cook for about 30 seconds. You don't want to leave it flipped for too long or else the filling may begin to burn. Some of the melted filling will seep out from beneath the pancake and that's okay. Remove the pancake from the pan once cooked through and place on a plate.
Serve the pancakes stacked high, hot and drizzled with the coconut icing. No need for maple syrup or butter!
