Joseph’s Grain-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Birth Day Cake

Since I kept torturing people with photos of this cake on twitter and instagram…

I’ve been asked about a zillion times “WHAT IS THAT CAKE!?!” followed by “I MUST MAKE IT AND PUT IT IN MY MOUTH NOWWW!”

Well it’s really really good.

This is the cake I was GOING to make while in labor with Joseph, but that didn’t quite happen… So I made it a few days later (I think he was 3 days old), while Joey slept in a sling.

Before Joseph was born, I decided to try out a different chocolate cake recipe. This one comes from Elana’s Pantry, with some changes because I don’t use all of the same ingredients she does. Topher and I liked it a lot, and I decided to go ahead and make it Joey’s birth day cake.

Elana’s Chocolate Cake (My Way)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 10 eggs
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup xylitol dissolved in 1/2 cup hot water
• 1 cup melted coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• Butter for pans

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Sift together coconut flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda.
3. In the stand mixer, blend together eggs, honey, and xylitol-water. Drizzle in the coconut oil while still mixing. Add the vanilla extract.
4. Add dry ingredients to the mixer a bit at a time, until everything is combined.
5. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans. Be generous.
6. Pour the batter into the two pans and smack them on the counter a few times to make sure the batter is even and there aren’t bubbles in it. Or just because that’s what I do when I make cakes…
7. Bake 35ish minutes. Possibly a bit longer, but with coconut flour cakes, I tend to err on the side of less. A toothpick should come out clean when poked in the middle.
8. Let the cakes cool in the pans all the way, and they’ll come out easily when you need to frost them.

What’s that between the layers and on top? Why that would be my friend Joni’s amazing peanut butter frosting (blogged by my other friend Erin). Except that I used less sugar, and cream instead of milk (because I had it and I love cream, not because I’m anti-milk), and it was quite the yum.

It’s easy.

To-Die-For Peanut Butter Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, soft
• 1 cup natural peanut butter, smooth
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• a couple “glugs” of cream (until the frosting is the texture you like)

Method:

1. Toss the first three ingredients into the mixer and whisk until combined and creamy.
2. Add some cream and continue mixing until it’s smooth and spreadable and delicious.

And that chocolate on the top and the edges? (I’m no frosting expert… please excuse the mess.) That’s my easy microwave dark chocolate ganache.

Dark Chocolate Ganache in the Microwave

Ingredients:

• a few Tablespoons butter
• a cup or so of dark chocolate chips, or chopped dark chocolate
• cream

Method:

1. Microwave butter and chocolate about 30 seconds, then remove and stir. If necessary, microwave in 10 second increments, stirring each time until all the chocolate is melted and smooth.
2. Then pour in cream a little at a time, stirring to completely combine after each addition until the ganache reaches the consistency you want.

And that was Joey’s birth day cake. I have a feeling it will make an appearance again in August for my husband’s birthday. He was a huge fan. He also loves his cake cold, and the ganache and peanut butter frosting both change texture into something marvelous when you put this cake in the fridge (see the top picture for cold cake)! Perfect with a glass of milk.