Triple Berry Coconut Cake – Slightly Indulgent Mondays
November 1, 2009 { }
If you love fabulous food made a little bit healthier, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for stopping by! Amy
I still need your help – I’m collecting recipes to help raise money for St. Jude, a hospital for children with cancer. Please send your recipes to me and read more here. Thanks to everyone who has sent recipes so far!
Welcome to Slightly Indulgent Mondays – fabulous food made a little bit healthier. Link your Slightly Indulgent recipe below & make sure to check out this week’s give-away.
My submission: Triple Berry Coconut Cake
I don’t often cook with coconut because my husband doesn’t like it. I love coconut and always have, but making a coconut cake for one just isn’t all that practical. This is the same man who didn’t like sweet potatoes, cilantro, greens, spinach, squash, and a whole list of other foods when I met him. I have hope.
There is a ton of information about the health benefits of coconut oil, and if you have trouble with grains coconut flour is grain-free. I have done some research and so far, at least to me, coconut oil and coconut flour seem like a good thing.
I am a boring moderate when it comes to making changes in my diet. I spent most of my life jumping on bandwagons trying to lose weight and get healthy. I failed repeatedly. Today, I make small, educated changes that I can sustain. And I listen to my body throughout the entire process.
I know that low-carb doesn’t work for me. I need carbs for energy. Low-fat leaves me feeling hungry and too much fat, even healthy fat, leaves me feeling sluggish. Over time, I’ve found that a balance of healthy fat, carbs, and protein work for me. Add to that regular exercise and I do really well.
Nothing bothers me more than people running amuck, with uneducated, unsubstantiated advise about what others must do about their diet. It can be so harmful. I’ve been amused watching this through flu season. The hysteria, the quick fixes. Don’t get me wrong – I fully believe that a sound diet is key to good health. I also know that healing your body takes time, and if you’ve been eating poorly your body needs some time to repair itself on a healthy diet. One week of eating garlic and avoiding sugar is not going fix anything.
Recently Tropical Traditions sent me a jar of their Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil to review, along with a research based book that talks about the benefits of coconut oil. After spending some time with their book, this company has my respect. I don’t know enough about many of the topics covered to give my opinion, but I do know about long-term weight loss. (You can read my story here and read my series on Finding Balance with Food here.) Tropical Traditions shares both sides of the story and make no promises. It’s helped many people. Others it hasn’t helped. But as one component in a healthy diet, I do think it has value.
I made this yummy cake (and ate it with my homemade vanilla bean ice cream) with the coconut oil they sent. If you’ve never used coconut oil, it’s solid at room temperature. You have to heat it turn it into a liquid. You’ll notice that it uses a lot of eggs and no xanthan or guar gum. The eggs act as a binder and help leaven the cake. The oil itself is not neutral flavored – it imparts a definite coconut flavor, as does the coconut flour.
During Holiday Food Fest (which starts this Thursday at Hoosier Homemade with Fall Desserts) Tropical Traditions is going to give one lucky reader a 32 ounce jar of Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil. You can read about the themes and the weekly give-aways here.
Have you cooked with coconut oil or coconut flour? If so, what do you think about it? What about diet changes? How do you handle those?
Triple Berry Coconut Cake
makes one 8-inch cake, about ¾ inch thick1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon coconut flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
3 eggs
¼ cup 1 % milk
3 tablespoons agave
2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil
½ cup frozen berries (I used a mix of blueberries, raspberries, and marionberries)Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line an 8 inch round cake pan
with parchment paper
and oil well.
Sift coconut flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, agave, and coconut oil. Add sifted coconut flour and mix well, making sure there are no lumps. Gently stir in frozen berries.
Turn into prepared pan. Spread evenly with a spatula. Bake for 18 – 22 minutes, or until a toothpick tests clean. Let cool on a wire baking rack for 15 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool completely. Serve with homemade vanilla bean ice cream.
A note about coconut flour: Coconut flour has lots of fiber so a little goes a long way. It also has a natural sweetness so it doesn’t need a lot of agave. This batter will be thick but it should not be stiff. If your batter is too thick, add milk a couple of teaspoons at a time until it reaches the desired consistency.
A little bit of fun: October’s Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten-Free post is up at Life, Gluten Free. It’s full of great pumpkin recipes. Make sure to stop by and check it out. Heather did a fabulous job putting this month together. Thanks, Heather!
This week’s give-away:
Two of my bloggy friends have recently published e-books and they’re fabulous. This week I’m giving them away to two different people.
Linda, The Gluten-Free Homemaker, has published Cakes & Cookies and Yeast Breads & Quick Breads.
Jessica, from Life as Mom, has published Pretty. Cool. Cakes. and Fishmama’s Guide to Cooking with Children. (Not gluten-free, but full of fabulous ideas – and, many of my readers aren’t gluten-free…)
I think these would make great gifts for the upcoming holidays, especially in a gift basket with other kitchen goodies. The price is great – I told them both to charge much more but they didn’t listen to me. That’s good for you.
I’ll be honest with you – I am of the mindset that when you see a brilliant woman trying to make a difference in the world you get behind her and help her accomplish her goals. I hope that you’ll get behind these brilliant women, too, and help them spread the word about their recent publications, too.
To enter:
- Link a recipe/post that fits the Slightly Induglent theme (healthier in some way) and include a link back to this post.
- Leave a comment below.
- Tweet about this give-away and leave a separate comment telling me you did.
- Share about this give-away on your blog and link back here, then leave a separate comment telling me you did.
This give-away will be open until Sunday, November 8th at 8 pm CST.
Please tell us who you are and what you’re cooking . For example, I would enter:
Amy @ Simply Sugar & Gluten Free – Triple Berry Coconut Cake. And, I always appreciate the link back to this post.
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Tags: coconut flour > coconut oil > gluten-free > healthy > sugar-free weight loss
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38 Responses to “Triple Berry Coconut Cake – Slightly Indulgent Mondays”
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Meet Amy Green
Nearly 6 years of living free of refined sugars and gluten has stopped my food cravings enabled me to maintain a 60+ pound weight loss. Today I live with enormous freedom. Join me as I create healthier food that's SS&GF and delicious. I hope to help you do the same. Read more about my story here.
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All photos and text (unless otherwise noted) on Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free are my own creations - and my intellectual property, all rights reserved. Please do not publish my work without my consent. Of course, you can use my work as inspiration to build upon (what a gift it would be to inspire others!) and in that case a link back would be appreciated. Copyright 2009, all rights reserved.
November 1st, 2009 @ 9:23 pm
That cake! It looks so very good =D.
This week I linked to Worms & Dirt which is a little healthier because you can make the worms yourself & its all gluten free!
In terms of diet changes, I’ve always eaten healthily. Its only really changed with celiac. Also, I’ve yet to try coconut flour or oil, but it looks like a fantastic ingredient!
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November 1st, 2009 @ 9:45 pm
Thank you for the information about the ebooks I will go to their sites and check out the books. I have used both coconut oil and coconut flour and like both. The oil is also good for the thyroid and I better stop there because I’m no expert. I followed “The Body Ecology” diet to rid by body of candida and I used coconut oil for everything. I have made a few recipes from Elana’s Pantry.com with coconut flour and I really like the results plus the fact that it is GF but not a grain. I am wanting to google coconut flour recipes and see what all is out there but I have been too satisfied with your recipes to need any more recipes right now. I will make this cake this week as I have all the ingredients on hand. Thank you Amy for all you’re doing for so many people. Blessings
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Amy Reply:
November 1st, 2009 at 10:28 pm
@Sandy Gillett, I understand that – It can get a little overwhelming when you have too many different flour choices – at least it does for me.
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Sandy Gillett Reply:
November 2nd, 2009 at 2:08 pm
@Amy, That is why I appreciate the work you are doing. I overwhelmed myself at first reading various recipes and buying flours. Finding your site and then the sites you suggest have given me success and a lot of fun!
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November 1st, 2009 @ 10:26 pm
I’ve never heard of marion berries. I’ve been using coconut oil some over the past year. It definitely adds flavor to things, so it’s perfect for a cake like this.
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November 2nd, 2009 @ 4:31 am
[...] post is linked to Slightly Indulgent Mondays at Simply Sugar and Gluten [...]
November 2nd, 2009 @ 4:34 am
I’ve recently been using coconut oil more lately, so this definitely goes on my list of things to bake…which is a list that is getting too long. Which I partly blame you for, in a good way.
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November 2nd, 2009 @ 7:48 am
Looks great! I have yet to try coconut oil because the only containers I can find are those processed with nuts
I’ll be back later today to link a recipe … but I would love to win the give away from Linda at GF Homemaker!! My MIL (who is GF) loves her blog, and I’d love to have her books to give to her for Christmas!!
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November 2nd, 2009 @ 8:03 am
I LOVE baking with coconut flour, and have recently started in incorporate coconut oil. This cake looks great! My post is Teff Chocolate Pudding – teff packs a great nutritious punch and marries quite well w/ the chocolate.
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November 2nd, 2009 @ 8:21 am
from today’s blog post “Today is Monday, so swing by Simply Sugar & Gluten Free for a collection of Slightly Indulgent recipes. You could also win a great give-a-way – new e-cookbooks!”
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November 2nd, 2009 @ 8:39 am
[...] ~Slightly Indulgent Mondays hosted by Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free [...]
November 2nd, 2009 @ 8:40 am
You can make coconut desserts – you and I can share them! I love coconut. I also love coconut oil, it makes for such a moist cake!
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November 2nd, 2009 @ 8:44 am
I hate to say, I’m not much of a coconut person either, but let me tell you Amy, you have the best looking food ever. I would try it!
Thanks for hosting!
~Liz
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November 2nd, 2009 @ 9:02 am
I really enjoy reading your posts. I have baked with Coconut Oil and I like it very much.I mostly use it in muffin recipes. Your Triple Berry Cake looks delicious. I have a mental list of recipes going I’ve seen around the blogs that I want to try and this one will go on the list. Thanks and have a great week:)
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November 2nd, 2009 @ 9:24 am
Funny I was looking at tropical traditions to order coconut flour yesterday. I’m exploring some grain free options, as some of the GF flours I’ve been baking with seem to stick in my gut. This cake looks delicious! I can’t wait to give it a try.
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November 2nd, 2009 @ 9:33 am
YUM! That looks awesome!
I tweeted about this and will blog about it later this AM.
Kim
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November 2nd, 2009 @ 9:33 am
amy
yum – this looks absolutely delicious! I love coconut flour.
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November 2nd, 2009 @ 1:37 pm
This looks so good! Thank you so much for pointing out that coconut oil starts as a solid. I was worried that something was wrong with the jar that I bought. Yes, I’m an idiot.
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Amy Reply:
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:53 pm
@Jendeis, You’re not an idiot – there is so much to learn about using new products. Someday I will write about the time I was trying to find non-hydrogenated shortening for the first time. It was so embarrassing but I lived through it.
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November 2nd, 2009 @ 3:03 pm
Another great looking recipe, Amy! I may finally breakdown and buy some coconut stuff!
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November 2nd, 2009 @ 9:30 pm
This post is wonderful on so many levels! This might sound odd, but your cake’s look and texture reminds me of some wonderful raisin cookies I used to make. Need to break that recipe out again. And, I love that it’s a thin cake. I find those so appealing.
Your guidance on finding one’s own unique way to good health and the right weight is a great reminder–thanks.
Kudos to Linda and Jessica on their e-books! Very cool!
I’d be happy to supply more recipes for your fundraiser e-book. I didn’t know you were taking more than one from each person. Let me know.
Last, I shared my Tasty Chicken Nuggets recipe (just scroll down in that post). They are much healthier, with the breading made from crushed cornflakes, bouillon, herbs, and seasonings and baked. And, of course, they are indeed tasty!
Shirley
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Amy Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:02 am
@gfe–gluten free easily, I love the sound of your cornflake breaded chicken nuggets. I’ll be over soon to check them out.
I’d love more recipes – anything you have would be great.
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November 2nd, 2009 @ 10:47 pm
I’m bummed I didn’t have time to make anything for Slightly Indulgent Mondays this week, but hopefully I’ll be back with something fun next week. The roundup looks delicious, and I love anything with coconut! I’m with you about making dietary changes…it took me so long to find a moderate and healthy approach that worked, I don’t like to tamper with it too much. Although going gluten-free was a recent thing, so I guess that was a pretty big change.
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Amy Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 9:59 am
@Iris, I missed seeing your link this week too.
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November 3rd, 2009 @ 12:20 am
I linked up, I tweeted, and I’m commenting! Fun to know you’re trying coconut oil. I’m a fan, but not a fanatic. I like your balanced approach. Just posted on its health benefits and the debate about its saturated fat here: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/11/02/food-for-thought-whats-the-deal-with-coconut-oil/
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November 3rd, 2009 @ 1:18 pm
Amy…I don’t have a blog and I don’t understand how to do the links and permalinks thing. Following is my recipe and maybe you can post it or tell me what to do to enter it. Sorry…Ann
I made it a little healthier by using organic whole wheat flour and healthier ingredients. I’d love to know what to do to make it gluten-free too. I guess I could also use Agave Nectar instead of honey.
Cranberry-Orange Muffins
1-1/2 cups Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
2 tsp. Aluminum-free Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt
1/2 cup Skim Milk
1/4 Expeller Pressed Safflower Oil
2/3 cup Raw Wild Honey
2 tsp. Grated Orange Rind
1 Organic Brown Egg, lightly beaten
1 Cup Cranberries, coarsely chopped
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in center of mixture.
Combine milk and next four ingredients; stir well. Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Gently fold in cranberries.
Line muffin pan with cupcake liners. Divide batter evenly among 12 cups. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove pan from oven and take the muffins out of the pan to cool on a cooling rack.
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Amy Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 1:21 pm
@Ann Trudeau, Permalinks are only for blogs. This is great. I’m so glad that you shared it with me. I would love to try it with gluten-free flours. Did you use fresh or dried cranberries?
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Ann Trudeau Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 3:16 pm
@Amy,
I used frozen cranberries chopped in my mini food chopper.
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Amy Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 9:13 pm
@Ann Trudeau, Thanks for that great info – I can never find any sugar-free dried cranberries except on-line, and they’re so expensive. I’ll try your frozen chopped cranberry idea.
November 3rd, 2009 @ 10:36 pm
I would definitely invite myself to your house for a piece of that cake! It looks so good. I haven’t done much with coconut flour yet, but I’m so intrigued at the proportions of using it (using so much less than a grain flour!)
As usual, this is a delicious party!
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Amy Reply:
November 4th, 2009 at 8:10 am
@Trish, Yea, coconut flour has tons of fiber and it expands so you can use less. I actually tried some muffins when I was playing around and the recipe called for 1 cup of coconut flour. They weren’t so great…just too dense and mealy.
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November 8th, 2009 @ 6:36 pm
I tweeted =D. And I shared about the giveaway on my blog, in the linked post!
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November 8th, 2009 @ 7:54 pm
I made this cake today Amy and it is delicious! It’s made with coconut oil and flour but it doesn’t taste like coconut. The berries are wonderful. I topped it with a dollop of agave sweetened whipped cream and it was perfect.
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November 8th, 2009 @ 8:06 pm
I appreciate Ann’s Cranberry-Orange Muffin recipe. I will try it with your GF flour blend. I have been looking for a little something cranberryish my Mom and I can enjoy with tea (or coffee) while we’re cooking the Thanksgiving meal.
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November 30th, 2009 @ 10:17 pm
Looks simple and good! Looking forward to trying it out
)
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November 30th, 2009 @ 11:17 pm
This looks just beautiful! I def. need to try using coconut flour…
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December 1st, 2009 @ 8:19 am
This is a great recipe – I have just started to work with coconut oil and flour. Just a quick question – did you melt the coconut oil first before adding? I am wondering if the coconut oil could be creamed like you do with butter in a cake recipe? If you have any thoughts on this I would like to hear otherwise I will just have to experiment
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Amy Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 8:42 am
@Carol, Simply…Gluten-free, As far as I know you have to melt the coconut oil. It’s really hard. I haven’t ever tried to cream it but I bet you could soften it and try it that way but I haven’t done it. Would love to hear about any results of your experiment if you try it.
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