Chocolate mud cake with frosting and cocoa nibs that’s gluten and sugar free (but still tastes great!)

Along my journey to find better health I am always looking out for sweet treat recipes to try out.

I am acutely aware that I have this tiny person who is soon to embark on her own eating adventure and whilst I’m hopeful she won’t grow up on tons of processed crap I do want her to feel vaguely normal when it comes to things like having a cake for her birthday.

So I am doing my homework now trying to find recipes that taste as good as cakes made with standard ingredients such as white flour and white sugar, but contain more wholesome less bad ingredients such as coconut flour and honey or maple syrup for sweetness.

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Chocolate birthday cake with fresh cream filling and chocolate bar topping

I mentioned in my previous post that we’d made a birthday cake for my parents, who both celebrate their birthday’s during January.  This is it.  I am pretty proud of this cake, I usually seem to have all kinds of disasters when it comes to cake making or they are disappointing.  Not this one however.

After these first few weeks back at work after the Christmas break, Mr Rigg and I, like most of the population I imagine, are exhausted.  We didn’t want to make a complicated birthday cake, so opted for this simple chocolate cake recipe.  My dad had requested a chocolate cake with fresh cream, so that’s what they got.

We also made the chocolate butter icing from the chocolate cake recipe, but just half of it.  In the centre we put freshly whipped cream, and a good layer of it too!  On the top we spread the chocolate butter icing, which was actually a brilliant recipe as it was dark and chocolately, rather than overly sweet or buttery.

I had this vision in my head of topping the cake with crushed Crunchie bar and crumbled chocolate Flakes.  We also picked up a big bag of Maltesers as I suddenly imagined them around the edge like a border.  Anyway, I am pleased to say the cake looked exactly how I imagined it, and my parents we delighted.

My only regret?  Sending them home with the majority of it.

Chocolate Cake

I thought it was about time for a cake recipe (a little later than planned).  I love cake.  Most of all chocolate cake, but also lemon drizzle cake, Victoria sponge, pound cakes and cupcakes. 

What better way to cheer oneself up than with a delicious homemade cake.  That mouthwatering smell that wafts from the oven as it bakes away.  It’s almost too much to bear.  And then there’s the difficult decision about what to ice it with, if anything – melted chocolate or chocolate butter icing, or just as it is, warm from the oven.

Whatever you decide, it will be scrumptious.  You will come down the next morning to find your boyfriend/husband/child has taken a HUGE chunk and run off to work with it.  You will then eat an equally large chunk.  For breakfast.

Use the best quality cocoa powder you can find – Green’s & Black is pretty nice.  Usually I cook cakes in round tins, but this time I chose to bake it in a tray so it could be cut into chunks which are much easier to fit into lunchboxes.

Chocolate Cake

80z caster sugar
8oz butter (room temperature)
4 eggs
4 tbsp milk
8oz self raising flour
2oz cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat your oven to 180°C.

Line and/or grease your cake tin with a smear of butter and some greaseproof paper.

In a bowl cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

Slowly add the eggs one at a time.

In a separate small bowl, mix together the cocoa powder and milk to form a paste – add a little more milk if needed.

Mix the cocoa paste into the cake batter.

Sieve the flour and baking powder into the batter and gently fold in.

Pour the mixture into your cake tin and pop in the oven for about 30 minutes.  You can test to see if it’s cooked by inserting a skewer – it should come out clean.

Coming later…more summer salads and a chocolate cake recipe

Have been super busy this weekend – primarily recovering from my terrible flu (just a bit of a cough remaining) and soaking up some sun.  I’ve got some lovely food and recipes to share with you from the last week, including a delicious selection of summer salads and a scrumptious and super easy chocolate cake recipe. 

I leave you with a picture of the super duper carrot I pulled from my veg bed – what a whopper!  And very tasty.