You have probably noticed by now that I don’t make many desserts. It’s not that I don’t enjoy them, I just didn’t grow up having desserts or baked goods in the house. My family in Spain always offers fruit as dessert at the end of a meal and that tradition has carried on through my mother and now into my own household. We love fruit and eat a lot of it! I’ve been blessed as well, as my husband doesn’t have a sweet tooth at all. He would rather enjoy a salty treat than a sweet one. That is… except when it comes to German Chocolate Cake. My husband has been begging me for one since his birthday. I know… I should have made him one on his special day, but after baking so many cakes, I just didn’t have the ganas! (will) (check out my profile on cakecentral.com)
This past weekend my hubby flew out to Atlanta on a business trip. The boys and I missed him so much at home, that we decided to surprise him with a special cake. A naturally sweetened German Chocolate Cake using coconut flour!
I’ve definitely been inspired by Mare of Just Making Noise for this recipe. If you havn’t stopped by her blog, check it out! She makes amazing wholesome desserts!
A Naturally Sweet German Chocolate Cake by Elana’s Pantry
¾ cup coconut flour, sifted
½ cup dagoba cacao powder
(I used regular cocoa powder)1 teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 eggs
1 cup grapeseed oil (I used coconut oil)
1 ½ cups agave nectar (I used raw honey)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- In a small bowl, combine flour, cacao, salt and baking soda
- In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, blend eggs, oil, agave nectar and vanilla
- Add dry ingredients into large bowl and continue to blend
- Oil (2) 9 inch round cake pans and dust with coconut flour
- Pour batter into pans and bake at 350° for 35-45 minutes
- Remove from oven, allow to cool completely then remove from pans
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup agave nectar (I used raw honey)
pinch celtic sea salt
5 teaspoons arrowroot powder
1 tablespoon water
1 ¼ cup coconut oil (I used 1/2 cup coconut oil and 3/4 cup olive oil)
1 ½ cups shredded coconut (I used homemade coconut flakes)
1 ½ cups pecans, toasted and chopped
- In a medium saucepan, heat coconut milk, agave and salt, simmer for 10 minutes
- In a small bowl, combine arrowroot and water to form a smooth paste
- Pour arrowroot mixture into saucepan
- Whisk the contents of saucepan vigorously and bring to a boil, briefly
- Remove pot from heat and very gradually blend in coconut oil
- Place pot in freezer for 30-40 minutes, until frosting solidifies and turns white
- Remove from freezer and blend again, until fluffy, then stir in shredded coconut and pecans
- Spread frosting over cake and serve
1 cup dark chocolate 73%
½ cup grapeseed oil (I used Olive Oil)
2 tablespoons agave nectar (I used raw honey)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
pinch celtic sea salt
- In a small saucepan over very low heat, melt chocolate and grapeseed oil
- Stir in agave, vanilla and salt
- Place frosting in freezer for 15 minutes to cool
- Remove from freezer and whip frosting with a hand blender until it is thick and fluffy
- After the cakes have cooled completely, remove them from the pans and place one on a pretty serving plate or platter
- Spread the Coconut Pecan Filling on top of the first layer cake
- Place the second cake on top of the first
- Spread the top and sides of the cake with Chocolate Frosting
- Cover the top of the cake with Pecan Coconut Filling
- Serve
Serves 12
Buen Provecho!!
Awesome cake! Yes, fruit is a lot healthier than sweets… and I also try to eliminate sugar and wheat flour from our diet, whenever I can.
Sounds delicious!
And that gallery on cakecentral of yours is amazing!
What a nice, special treat. I love all the healthy ingredients!
this looks fabulous!
This looks fantastic, Diana! Se ve delicioso.
i just need a cup of coffee, and i have a perfect teatime meal ready! 😛
You made your own coconut flakes? Wow, I've never even cut open a coconut myself before. Heh heh, my husband's the same way – would rather have something salty for dessert!
Yum! That is a gorgeous cake! I'm bookmarking this healthy version to make very soon! German Chocolate cake is one of my favorite desserts!
I am glad to hear you liked this recipe; I'll have to give it a try. I've had great luck with many of Elana's coconut flour recipes.
What a beautiful cake! I'm so excited to make this for my gluten-free dad.
LOL, I just sent you a foodbuzz comment and then, lo and behold, this was the next thing in my inbox. WOW, this looks awesome! I love Elana's recipes…I even bought her cookbook! She does a wonderful job. This cake looks fudgy and chocolately, like heaven! Coconut flour is great – it's lower in carbs than regular flours and bakes like a dream.
I wish I was holding that fork in your photo!
oh that's simply not fair because that cake looks amazing! I wish I could nibble on that piece of cake on the fork in the last photo
Thanks for sharing this marvelous , healthy and tasty recipe ! 🙂
Diana,
I'll thrilled to see this recipe! I love all the healthy ways you tweaked this recipe! I'm sure the coconut oil made it that much more flavorful!
You are so sweet to make this for your husband!
Best,
Christine
German Chocolate Cake is a birthday tradition in my mom's family. I will definitely be giving this recipe a try. But I'm curious, is agave nectar the same consistency and sweetness level as honey?
Wow, diana… I cannot find the words … I can hardly wait to make this cake 🙂
Looks so moist & delicious 😀
Oh, this looks amazing!! I have a favorite German Chocolate Cake recipe…but this one looks frickin' gorgeous…I may have to stray from my fave next time 😀
We have a huge amount of sweet teeth in our home. My mom was always making sweets for us from empinadas to bunuelos. German Chocolate cake was my dad's absolute favorite though! This one looks sooo good… thanks for the yummy recipe!!
Lovely cake. Thanks for the substitutions. And I love coconut oil. 🙂
Such a gorgeous picture, Diana! I'm already salivating. No wonder your hubby begging you for it lol…he he!
fantastic looking cake! i bet it tastes amazing! kudos on mentioning Mare; you are both an inspiration!
Que lindo!! This is my hubby's fav dessert and I am going to use this recipe for his b-day next month! Thanks so much!
Coming from a land of coconuts. I must say I have never come across coconut flour. I am very intrigued.
Thank you everyone for your comments!! So sorry I'm late to respond here, busy mama at work, lol!!
Linda, Agave Nectar is about the same consistency as honey, however, there are reasons I do not use Agave. Here are some links if you'd like to do some further research…
http://www.westonaprice.org/modernfood/HFCSAgave.pdf
http://www.living-foods.com/articles/agave.html
very cool!
oh wow what a cake love it you need to bake more so we can enjoy the pics lol
Woooweeeee! I wish it was my birthday to have a good reason for two servings of this gorgeous Cake! Delicioso Diana :D!
Concerning your question on polvorones, I made some last year and here is the link: http://recipespicbypic.blogspot.com/2008/12/crema-catalana-natillas-and-polvorones.html
They were a bit too buttery for my taste.
This looks great….OMG it scrumptious!!!!
Great Job 🙂
What an absolutely lovely cake! I too don't crave sweets very often but this is making me pine for a bite!
lovely recipe, i need a piece now! wonderful photos, really good job! besitos,
Hola Diana: Con qué otro aceite puedo reemplazar para preparar esta deliciosa torta, recién me acabo de inscribir a tu blog. Te felicito. Espero tus noticias.
Hola Ana! Gracias por inscribir a mi blog 🙂 Para esta tarta el aciete de coco va a dejar el mejor sabor. Pero, tambien pienso que usando el aciete de oliva, te va a salir para chuparte los deos! Aunque pienso que debes de usar un aciete de oliva mas fino que el aciete virgin. Si lo puedes encontrar, tambien se puede usar el aciete de las semillas de uva. (Grapeseed oil). Espero que te he ayudado 😉 Besitos!
Ana, de adonde eres? Que bien a platicar in Espanol!!
Looks delicious!
this cake looks AMESOME! I wanna make it for my moms BDAY but she cant have egg. Has anyone tryed it with an egg replacement???
I just made this cake this last weekend! It was DELICIOUS! The cake itself could be made and any frosting put on it, so so good! It is super delish eaten frozen, too! (I froze the leftovers)
Thanks for sharing this great recipe! 🙂
~Danielle
Danielle,
Thanks for sharing! I'm so glad it turned out well 🙂 I'm actually working on a natural icing so wish me luck, it would be fabulous with this cake 😀
Diana, great job on this cake, it looks amazing!
I've been wanting to make this cake for a long time. However, I did make the vegan chocolate frosting for this cake:
http://vegetarian.about.com/od/desertrecipes/r/raspmochacake.htm
It went very well together! It was my first vegan, gluten-free cake and everyone who had some loved it. Thank you for sharing!
What does 1 cup chocolate mean??? Obviously 1 cup roughly chupped would be different then 1 cup melted, or even finely chopped. I’ve excited to try this recipe- thanks for the helps!
Sorry about that Nicole, it should say 8oz which is equal to one large bar.
Hello, is the coconut milk that you use the thick canned kind or the kind in a carton like almond and soy milk? Thank you.
It is the canned kind.
Do you think you could use maple syrup instead of honey?
Sure! Give it a go and let us know how it tastes 😀