So a couple weeks ago it was my husband's birthday and I wanted to make him a cake. If you are friends with me on Facebook you may have seen pictures of my first attempt at a Paleo Layer Cake. It went well. I may have mentioned before that he comes from an Eastern European/Mediterranean background so the MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF SWEETS that he was raised on is part of his DNA at this point. It's very hard to compete with an Old World Mother In-Law. That being said, I revisited the cake this week and it came out even better. I am 99.9% sure if you made this and served it to a non-paleo practitioner they would have no clue that white flour, processed sugar and butter were completely absent. I must toot my own horn - I'm getting pretty good at this. If I weren't on track to be an RN.... naw.... I have no interest in bakery or restaurant hours. It would take all the fun out of it!
Ok enough with the Foreword.....On with the recipe!!
Oven to 350 (maybe some adjustment will be needed depending upon your elevation and oven.)
Ingredients:
Cake Batter:
6 Egg Yolks (Save your whites but separate them into a dish of 4 egg whites and 2 egg whites) ALSO NOTE: Room Temperature eggs work best. Please plan ahead and take your eggs out of the fridge early.
2 tsp. Vanilla
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt
(These are your leavening agents...it is necessary to get a rise out of your cake.)
2 C. (or so) of blanched almond meal
1/4 C. Coconut Milk
1/4 C. (approx) Grape Seed Oil
Honey, Agave Nectar, Sucralose or chosen sweetener - to taste.
Cream of Tarter^^ (Note on Cream of Tarter: You can also use Lemon juice or Lime Juice in place of cream of tarter to stabilize the egg whites. It will discolor your eggs a bit and sometimes is not as firm of a stabilizer as the tarter but if you prefer all natural - there is your solution.)
Put Vanilla, egg yolk, powder, soda & salt in food processor. Blend.
In double boiler or sauce pan with water and glass bowl - slowly heat coconut milk. I don't know that this step is absolutely necessary but I do it because I like getting the coconut milk to a nice warm consistency. Stir this frequently while it heats. Add Almond meal/flour and grape seed oil to the processor. Once the coconut milk is warm, add it to processor and process. Here is where your baking instinct needs to come into play. It should look rather like a batter at this point. Not too runny...not too thick. If that's the case - you are on your way! Add your sweetener until it is to your taste. Remember you will have frosting which will also have about 1/4 C. of Honey or Agave so no need to feel like "all your sweet" needs to be here now.
Now for the second part:
In your stand mixer put the 4 egg whites and 1/4 tsp cream of tarter. Beat the eggs until they have a nice, beautiful stiff set of peaks. Once they have, transfer your batter to a large bowl. (Sorry folks - lots of dishes here but that's part of Paleo - so get over it! J/K!) Once batter is in bowl, cut in the egg whites. This will give your batter height.
Cut two circles of parchment paper for the bottom of your round cake pans then add your batter in equal parts to the cake pans. Put them in second to bottom level of oven and bake for approx. 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean and sides pull away from the pan.
Important: This batter has a tendency to fall! Remember when you were a kid and in Mom's kitchen (or in some cases maybe Grandma's kitchen) and she said to you, "Don't you jump around! My cake will fall!" Well - Don't jump around! The cake might fall! Keep your husband/children/dogs/pogo stick out of the kitchen!!!
Once your cakes are done they should look something like this:
Let them COOL COMPLETELY before the next step. I pulled mine out of the pan and let them cool outside the pan but you can go either way. It's a matter of personal preference. Once they are approaching cool you can begin on your frosting and berries if so desired.
Frosting:
2 room temperature egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tarter^^
1/4 C. Honey, Agave or other sweetener. *Note: I do recommend using Honey or Agave as opposed to sucralose for the frosting because the molecules seem to work better but it's up to you.
1/3 C. water
Berries of your choosing (optional)
In stand mixer, add egg whites and cream of tarter. In small sauce pan start heating sweetener and water. Whisk frequently - you want small bubbles to form so it's almost boiling. In the interim - start beating your eggs and cream of tarter again until stiff peaks form. Once your liquid is nearly boiling, add it to the already beating mixture SLOWLY. This will simultaneously cook the whites and make the frosting. I'm no scientist - but it works and this is how to stabilize it all into frosting. Once your frosting is done you are ready to assemble.
Put your first cake on a pan - add frosting - berries - frosting then second cake. Take the rest of the frosting and frost the rest of the cake. Add more berries on top however you find it pretty and appetizing and VOILA!!!!
Let them eat Cake!!!
I sincerely hope you enjoy!!! Please let me know if you try it and like it or if you find a tweak that works well for you! The fun in recipe creation is also in the sharing!
