Today is a huge day for me. Mainly because my cookbook releases today and it feels completely surreal. I went from being overweight and depressed, then I lost more than 100 pounds with real food, started this blog and received a bunch of love from you wonderful people, and then wrote a cookbook. Now I’m trying to contain my excitement. Actually that’s not true at all, I’m not containing my excitement very well. I am posting this preposterous celebratory cake recipe in excitement. Sometimes you just have to shout it on the top of a mountain. I just to prefer to shout mine with chocolate cake muffling the sound of my voice, ironically.
Sometimes you just can’t have a celebration without some form of cake, no matter how healthy you choose to eat; even though this one happens to be gluten free, refined sugar free, Paleo, and dairy free. That doesn’t make it health food, but it certainly makes it an treat food that you don’t have to worry about making you feel awful after eating. Regardless, this was my first official cake that I’ve ever made, ever. I would say that it turned out pretty good.
The night before I actually developed the whole thing. I simply just sort of guessed the ratio for the cake part and went off of consistency of the batter and it turned out good. The ganache was actually a tweaked recipe from the chocolate truffles in my cookbook. I just adjusted it so it wasn’t as hard of a ganache. I could have left the ganache that hard I suppose but I really wanted a more smooth ganache on top.
The caramel was also my first attempt at making something here since I’ve never made a caramel in my life. It was surprisingly easy. Really I think the science behind it is that you need to simmer it until it thickens just enough to your liking and it thickens a bit more after cooling. I think as long as you remember that you will probably have a successful caramel. Assuming you’re like me and you keep a watchful eye on your caramel. I could see that burning very easily and quickly, followed by an endless flow of tears. Sure don’t cry over spilled milk, but do cry over burnt salted caramel.
All and all it turned out great. Two layer cake with chocolate frosting sandwiched in between, a smooth and rich dark chocolate ganache enrobing the two layers, and salted caramel drenched all over the cake to create cascading drippings of oozing buttery, sweet, saltiness. It really makes a wonderful cake I’m telling ya. Not bad for my first true cake recipe ever if I do say so myself.
See, now that the book is out you might be asking yourself what’s next? Well just cause the book is out doesn’t mean everything is over. It’s just getting started. I can feel it. Yet another reason to dive into this cake, I just have to resist it. Also that reminds me, huge warning: you must resist licking any of the multiple cooking utensils that will be coated with, chocolate, chocolate frosting, ganache, ad salted caramel while doing this. I’m kidding, nobody can resist not licking the spoon at least once. Maybe just wait until you’ve gotten most of it done so you don’t end up eating a noticeable amount of whatever portion of it that you’re making.
- ½ cup coconut flour
- 1 cup blanched almond flour
- ½ cup cacao powder (or cocoa powder)
- 5 eggs
- ¾ cup honey
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup regular cold brew coffee ( I used chameleon cold brew)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter or coconut oil melted plus more (unmelted) for greasing
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch of salt
- ¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used enjoy life)
- ½ cup heavy cream or coconut cream (see what coconut cream is here)
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 ounces of dark chocolate (70 percent or higher) chopped finely
- 1 tablespoon of coconut oil
- ¾ cup coconut milk
- 1 cup of coconut sugar
- 1¼ cups of coconut milk
- ½ teaspoon flaky sea salt
- 1 tablespoon of ghee or palm shortening (it's much better with ghee)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and grease (2) 8 inch cake pans with butter or coconut oil.
- In a large bowl combine eggs, honey, vanilla extract, and cold brew coffee and whisk to combine. In a medium sized bowl combine coconut flour, almond flour, cacao or cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir dry ingredients with a fork to break up any clumps. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until thoroughly incorporated and no lumps remain.Then add the melted butter or coconut oil to the batter and stir to thoroughly incorporate.
- If you have parchment paper I recommend cutting a circle out of the parchment paper and placing it in the bottom of each cake pan at this point before adding the batter because that prevents the bottom of the cake from sticking. Evenly divvy up the batter between the two cake pans and place in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 6-7 minutes then run a knife around the edges and transfer the cakes to a wire rack to finish cooling while you assemble the rest of the cake.
- In a small heavy bottomed pot add coconut milk, coconut sugar, and sea salt, and whisk until combined. Turn the burner on to medium heat and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil whisk in ghee and reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes, whisking occasionally, until it turns a dark amber color and smells nutty and begins to thicken, it should almost be the consistency of caramel sauce, it will thicken as it cools. Pour it into a heat safe container to cool slightly.
- Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler until fully melted or in the microwave at 20 second intervals.In a medium sized bowl with an electric mixer beat heavy cream or coconut cream on high setting until it is the consistency of whipped cream.
- Add melted chocolate and give it one more whip until it's thoroughly incorporated.
- On one of the baked cakes spoon all the frosting and spread it around evenly to coat most of the top of it and sandwich the other baked cake on top of that being careful not to press down to much otherwise your frosting will ooze out the sides.
- In a medium sized bowl add chocolate and coconut oil. Heat coconut milk in a small saucepan until hot and steamy then pour it over the chocolate and coconut oil.
- Allow to sit for 1 minute and then carefully whisk together until fully incorporated and smooth.
- Carefully place the cake on a wire rack and slowly pour all of the ganache on the top of the cake letting it run down the sides to coat the whole top and of the cake. Allow to cool and harden a bit for at least 10 minutes.
- Transfer the cake to a cake stand or plate with a lip to avoid the caramel from flowing over. Repeat this step with the salted caramel allowing the caramel to pool at the bottom of the cake. Let the cake sit for 5 minutes or refrigerate and let the caramel harden even more (really personal preference on that choice). Serve and enjoy. And yay for the release of my cookbook!
See what I mean by oozing salty caramel goodness?
Congratulations on the release of your cookbook! What a great way to celebrate 🙂 This cake looks insane and indulgent and I love that it’s not too laden with crap.
This cake is fantastic and would be impressive for any celebration! The taste & consistency is better than a traditional cake! I’m so happy to celebrate with you, the cake is just icing on the top!
I think I have to make this once..even though I am scared to see what the calorie calculator I will use, will spit out for a serving..lol. So long as I can have a slice – no matter the size – and continue with my weight loss, I’m good 🙂
Depends on what context of calories you’re talking about. This cake definitely has a lot of sugar in it but it’s a treat and a celebration cake, definitely not an everyday, weekly, maybe even monthly thing.
For sure it would go on my once a year list 🙂
Dude, this looks delicious. I must, must make it. 🙂
BTW, just listened to you on Livin’ La Vida Low Carb. Good job. Seriously.
Yay ! What a journey Josh ! I’m thrilled for the cookbook release !
Congrats !!
Can’t wait to try the recipe
A.MAZING 🙂
Good morning Josh— Thanks for another great post.
BTW, I just ordered your book on Amazon!!….can’t wait to get it & try recipes from it…you are SUCH a talented human being: just your photography alone is amazing.
Keep up the good work as its not going un-noticed!!
Much love & support,
M.J.T.C.
Boston, Mass
This will be my bday treat cake looks perfect
As always, your photos are gorgeous! Congratulations on the book release. You worked hard and the book is beautiful. ( I know I will enjoy the book just as much with some chocolate splatter on it!)
You are amazing! Congratulations on your cookbook. And your beautiful culinary creations.
You are so amazing! Love reading your posts. I’ll be looking for a special occasion to make this! Congratulations on ALL your success, cookbook included.:)
Found your site through the Jimmy Moore podcast. So glad I did! Your photos are amazing and this cake looks delicious!! I can’t believe it is the first cake that you’ve ever made. Congratulations on your new book!!
I just received your cookbook. It’s beautiful! Can’t wait to try out some of the recipes 🙂
where do you purchase items ie: coconut flour, almond flour in England…. there has to be an outlet.
on reading receipe it looks and sounds great…..
Amazon has a great selection of these ingredients, although may be alittle more costly. But if you have no where local to buy, this is your best bet. Good luck!
This cake looks so delicious! My husband and I have just started to try to eliminate processed foods from our diets. I can’t wait to try this. Is almond flour easy to find?
BIG congrats to you !!
Got your book yesterday and can’t wait to use it. Really nice presentation. I brought it to work and had to wrestle it back from my workmate! (she’s buying her own copy) Yay Josh!
Congratulations and much success to you. This is just the tip of the iceberg for you.
I would really love to make this, but my fiancée is allergic to nuts. Is there any substitute for the almond flour?
You could certainly try it with sunflower seed flour! Simply grind up sunflower seeds until finely ground. No guarantee it will work though as I’ve never tested it with this recipe.
So, is cold brew coffee in it’s granular form or do you actually brew a cup of coffee?
This looks amazing!
Cold brew coffee is a coffee concentrate. I used this brand. I used their plain one.
Joshua, what a joy it is to read your blog and own your stunning cookbook. I have dozens of paleo cookbooks and yours is at the top.
My question is about the chameleon coffee concentrate. The recipe calls for 3/4 c..
Do you measure out the concentrate to that amount or do you dilute it, according to the instructions on the bottle, and then measure it out?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Sandie
Just the concentrate, no dilution. Great question.
Joshua,
As a teacher and a mom, I want to say how impressed I am by you and all that you have accomplished, so far, in your young life. I’m not sure I know five adults that possess the combination of drive, creativity, skill, and authority that everyone recognizes in you.
I follow your blog, I enjoyed your video, and I look forward to reading your cookbook.
Congratulations!
This may be a silly question, but I am allergic to coconut…I see that this cake is mostly coconut [flour etc] is there anything I can substitute the coconut flour, butter, etc for?
I’m afraid that you cannot substitute anything for the coconut flour ratio wise. Coconut flour has very unique thickening properties. You could certainly do Almond flour but it would be a completely different measurement and I have not tested it with almond flour. Sorry about that!
I’m really not such a fan of coconut. Could you taste it in the finished product? If so, I’ll substitute regular cake flour for the coconut flour but what would you suggest I substitute for the coconut oil?
This cake doesn’t have a coconut taste at all. Coconut flour doesn’t usually taste coconutty after it bakes nor does the coconut oil. You can use butter if you wish though. You cannot substitute anything for the coconut flour.
I just found your blog via Pinterest and I am amazed. I read your story and I am very impressed with how much you have accomplished already. I am 19 and cannot imagine having my own cookbook, to just name one of your accomplishments.
This cake looks amazing to say the least. Your photography skills are amazing as well.
Congratulations! Great job on yourcokbook. Looking forward to reading & cooking from it. Why the heavy cream & butter if dairy free? You are an inspiration to many. I pray that for young adults who are struggling with health issues will come across your site and find hope & enciuragement.
Hello, The recipe for the salted caramel was a disaster. I am a seasoned cook but followed your recipe to the T. I ended up with second degree burns to my hand and had to throw out the batch. The cake will be served w/o the main reason I tried this recipe.
Well I have tested the recipe for the salted caramel multiple times and a couple of other people have made this successfully, the only thing that I could imagine that could’ve gone wrong was the sauce pot you were using. If it was a thin bottom sauce pot then it likely got too hot too quickly, I recommend a heavy bottomed sauce pot with even heat dispersion on the bottom. I suppose I wasn’t specific enough on the type of sauce pot. It’s very easy to burn caramel but at the same time it’s very easy to tell if it’s boiling too hard. Sorry you burned your hand.
Hmm the pot I used is very heavy. My only other thought was that we are only a couple of meters above sea level and that may have affected cooking time. The mixture simply did not change colour even after 45 miinutes of simmering.
My friend made this last night and brought a piece of it to work today. All I can say is WOW!! This was soooooo good!!! That ‘caramel’ sauce was AWESOME and truly versatile.
I’m currently making this cake for my birthday–I love salty caramel anything, so I’m pretty excited about it. I have the ganache on the cake now, just waiting to add the caramel! Everything looks fantastic, and if my five-year-old’s bowl licking is worth anything, it tastes great too.
What a big feat you must be very wise for your age. I want this for my birthday.
Thank you, and I recommend it for your birthday!
Hi Joshua – thank you for putting this recipe together – it is delicious! It is now going to be my go-to recipe for special occasions. I have heard you on a couple of podcasts and I am impressed with your journey and your courage to hang in there. Thanks for stepping out and sharing your journey and recipes with us.
Hi Joshua,
Congrats on the book!!! I mudt say your photos are awesome!!! You are very talented!!! I am very happy for you!
Just wanted to ask, since I have guests on Friday, could I make this the day beforr? It will reduce the load of stuff to prepare on Friday 🙂
Thanks a lot!!!
You certainly can! The only part I don’t think you would have an easy time making in advance would be the ganache. SO what you could do is frost and assemble the cake and make the caramel but don’t add the caramel yet, then when it comes time to serve, make the ganache top it with the ganache, then lightly warm the caramel so it’s in a pourable state and pour that over the cake and then serve it. Good luck!
Hi Josh,
I just wanted to let you know that I made this cake for our Easter brunch. I was thrilled at how easy it was to make and assemble and it was so beautiful once it was frosted and covered with caramel. The friends we were celebrating with gave it rave reviews (even the one who doesn’t like coconut) and told me that it was “restaurant quality” which was meant as a compliment even though it was much better than most desserts I have had while dinning out. I was nervous about making the caramel but it was very easy and is something I will definitely be making again! (My husband even dipped bacon in it)
This is the first recipe on your sight that I have tried even though your photography skills make all of them look delicious. I will definitely keep this recipe in the rotation for special occasions. Thank you so much for sharing it with us!
I made this tonight for my daughter’s 12th birthday party and it was so delicious. I found I had to cook the caramel longer than the recipe recommended but I may have had the flame too low. Also – the recipe doesn’t specify when to add the melted coconut oil to the cake (I assumed it was with the other wet ingredients), and the frosting recipe doesn’t mention when to add the vanilla. Both turned out great so I probably guessed right 🙂 but just in case you want to edit the post… Thanks for the beautiful recipe!
In the process of making this right now, noticed in the instructions you don’t say what to do with the melted butter, assumed it goes in with the eggs. Never cooked with coconut flour before, but it smells heavenly! Will let you know how it comes out.
This cake is seriously awesome! I made it for my teacher’s birthday (don’t judge, he’s awesome!) and everyone loved it, let alonme did they guess it was remotely healthy!
I however only made the cake and ganache and single layer. I most definetely will try it with all the elements when the occasion arises! Mm caramel! For the cake, I subbed half rice malt syrup for the honey so the flavour wouldn’t be too pronouced and I also added several T of rapadura sugar to help balance the sweerness. Because I put all the batter in one tin, it took longer to cook, about an extra 10-15 mins. Thank you, this is my new go-to base cake!
Is this cake gluten-free? I hope so, b/c it looks amazing.
Take a look at the ingredients, totally gluten and grain free.
coconut milk from the can, not the box stuff, yes?
Yes full fat from the can.
First of all your cookbook is amazing!!! When I read how old you are I was truly blown away. Congrats on all your well deserved success!!!
This cake looks absolutely amazing and I’m dying to try it although I can’t have coffee. 🙁 I suppose I could substitute another chocolAte cake recipe, but I was wondering if you had any suggestions for swapping out the coffee? Do you think something like chocolate almond milk would give me a similar texture? Obviously I would lose the coffee taste, but I guess I’m wondering if the coffee serves any purpose besides flavor?
Thanks for all your hard work developing such amazing recipies!!!
Just sub it with any liquid, preferably almond milk.
Help, I’m confused. My birthday is coming up in 4 days and I would love to make this for myself. I am not sure of the sequence. In the section for assembling the cake, there are instructions for pouring the ganache all over the top and then pouring the salted caramel. When / where does one add the frosting?
I think I’m missing something.
The frosting directions are under the “To Make The Frosting” part of the recipe instructions.
I am going to make this for my hubby today! He does not like coffee at all. Can I leave it out?!
Just replace the amount of coffee that I wrote up with water and you should be good to go!
Hi Joshua, I made this cake yesterday to celebrate my 40th birthday. Everyone loved it, it was declared best cake ever, gluten free or otherwise. Thanks for the recipe, it’s a keeper!
Awh this is wonderful!! So happy to be a part of your Birthday, Happy Birthday!! -Joshua