Epic Chocolate Birthday Cake – GF DF SF

Here it is–Braxton’s EPIC (if I do say so myself) chocolate birthday cake. So, this is the same recipes as Grandma’s Birthday cake, except I made 2 of them in a smaller size so I could tier it, and I forgot to sprinkle cacao over the top. But also, I decided not to use the avocado mousse topping like I used in the other one because I didn’t think it would hold out of the fridge for the day, which this cake needed to be able to do. Turns out my usual ganache topping works beautifully for this.

I made the same cake in a smaller version for Braxton’s cake-smash cake.

You’ll need 2 20cm springform cake tins, or you could follow the recipe on Grandma’s birthday cake using 3 x 23cm cake tins and triple the recipe. Just depends how big you want it. This one makes 2 slightly higher but less wide bases.

Ingredients

This recipe will make the 2 cake bases needed:
290ml extra-virgin olive oil
100g raw cacao powder
250ml boiling water
1 tsp vanilla essence or powder
300g ground almonds
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch Himalayan salt
300g coconut palm sugar
6 free-range organic eggs

Chocolate Ganache frosting:
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup raw cacao
5-7 tbsp maple or date syrup, depending on how sweet you like it
3 tbsp cashew or almond butter

Method

Preheat oven to 170° and grease 2 20cm springform cake tins. The size is important because if they are wider, the cakes will end up lower and it won’t really work for this particular design, but read instructions above if you want it bigger. Line bases with baking paper and grease with coconut oil.

Sift the cacao into a bowl and whisk in the boiling water with a fork until you have a smooth, chocolatey, still runny paste. You can do this with an electric whisk to make it extra creamy, if you like. Whisk in the vanilla, then set aside to cool.

In another bowl combine the ground almonds with bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt.

Put the sugar and olive oil into a bowl and beat together with the electric whisk for about 3 minutes, then add the eggs one at a time, with a slow speed so it aerates. After the 3 minutes, add the ground almond mix, and mix until incorporated.

Finally, add the chocolate mix slowly and mix until fully combined, then divide between the two prepared tins and put on the same shelf in the oven.

Bake for about 25 mins. The sides should be set but not burnt and the top centre should still look very slightly damp.

Remove the cakes from the oven. Leave to cool for 30 mins before removing from the tin.

While in the oven make the ganache by simply putting all ingredients in a saucepan over a gentle heat until combined. If it’s too watery, add more cacao and nut butter.

Put the first base on a plate or cake stand and spread with ganache. Add the second cake base on top and spread the rest of the ganache on the top and around the sides.