Some of you may know that when I turned 30 I began eating a low-glycemic diet. I did this for a number of reasons including a desire for more energy, healthy weight loss (I was about 30lbs above average), and improving my mood. To take it even further, I've been trying to eat all organic and little to no processed foods. I had such a remarkable change and can't imagine going back to how I ate before!

In addition, some of you may know about my severe chocolate addiction (and sweets in general). Since eating this way, I've made it a bit of a mission to find recipes that allow me to eat the foods that I love, i.e. cookies, cake, pies, pizza, bread etc. Hopefully, these future posts will help others in their journey to achieve healthy lifestyles while still eating the foods they love!

On that note, Travis and I have a couple of friends who will be visiting us soon. One of our visiting friends has a birthday around the time that they will be visiting, so naturally I'll be making him a cake! He eats a little to no gluten regime. This can be tricky because Gluten Free does NOT equal Low-Glycemic. Many people confuse the two. Gluten Free goods often include flours made of rice (white and brown), tapioca, and potato. All of these ingredients are super high in starch and ultimately convert into sugar as they are processed in the body. Very occasionally I will eat these things and the extreme sugar rush always makes me regret it. So what do I do?

I've been exploring recipes that involve Coconut Flour lately, so when I found out that my friend likes chocolate and peanut butter (who doesn't?! ... expect for those allergic...) I did a google search for "coconut flour chocolate peanut butter cake". This is what I found. I'll post the whole recipe again below for those who want to refer to my post.

These are brilliant!! Who would of thought that black beans would make a base for chocolate cake? Incredulously, I gave it a test run. Like the blogger who posted it said "I kept thinking about this cake for several days so I happily gave in to my chocolate cake craving". I couldn't agree more! Travis and I decided it's for the best to try another test run before our friends get here. This time, putting chocolate chips in the batter before baking and using salted peanut butter! Yumm!!!

Enjoy!! Here's the recipe again. I decided to use honey instead of erythritol and included the change below:

(The picture is of the ones that I made today!)

Grain-Free Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
Cake Ingredients

2 cups cooked black beans, room temperature (can use canned but rinse very well in colander)
6 eggs
3/4 tsp liquid stevia
2 1/2 tsp gluten free vanilla extract
1/3 cup honey (or agave)
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted over low heat so it’s in liquid form (or melted butter)
1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp dark chocolate cocoa powder
1 1/2 Tbsp coconut flour
1/2 Tbsp milk (almond, coconut, rice, cow etc)
1 tsp chia seed, optional
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp gluten free baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Peanut Butter Icing Ingredients

1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used salted because I love the sweet/salty combo)
1-3 Tbsp milk of choice (depending on how thick you want your frosting)
1-3 Tbsp honey (or agave) or more to taste, depending on how sweet you want it

For serving, optional

Chopped roasted salted peanuts
Chocolate or carob chips or chocolate shavings

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325F. In a 9-inch round springform pan, grease sides and bottom with coconut oil or butter and line bottom with parchment paper.
2. In a blender or a food processor, add beans, eggs, stevia, vanilla, and honey and puree well.
3. Then add remaining ingredients (coconut oil through baking soda) to blender/food processor and puree well. Make sure they are no clumps!
4. Add batter to the pan and bake for about 27-30 minutes or until your tester comes out mostly clean (ovens vary). Once cooked, remove from oven and let cool. ~You could also make cupcakes and bake for about 21-23 minutes.
5. Once the cake has cooled completely, start your peanut butter icing/drizzle. In a small mixing bowl, combine peanut butter, milk and honey and mix well with a spoon. Add milk a little at a time to reach your preferred consistency.
6. Remove sides of the springform pan and spread frosting over the cake. OR if you want mini cakes like the ones I made, cut the cake round in half horizontally, then use a round biscuit cutter to cut small cake rounds. Spread the frosting between two layers, drizzle additional icing on top, and garnish with chocolate chips/shavings and chopped peanuts. Enjoy!!!