Everyone needs an easy, go to, crowd pleasing cake. From tea and cake in the afternoon with the mum in law, to kids lunch box filler, to being able to serve warm with custard as a dinner party dessert, to being able to use for a decadent french toast – Yes, I really did just imagine that moment out loud! This little beauty does it all.
It is easy on the digestion with no gluten nor grains and low to no fructose. Buckwheat is a gluten free fruit related to rhubarb, with easily digestible protein and B vitamins. Coconut flour is a high fibre, dense flour derived from coconut flesh. The butter and eggs added to the mix make this cake a great, nourishing treat for grown up and kids alike. Still thinking butter, eggs or saturated fats in general are bad for you? This is a great myth buster article here.
What’s the choose your own adventure part you say? Read on.
What you’ll need
3 whole eggs
80ml melted butter, ghee or coconut oil
150g rice syrup (if you’re not fructose free, feel free to use 120ml honey. I’ve been 90% fructose free for nearly a year now, and I feel great for it)
30g coconut flour
80g buckwheat flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla bean powder or 2 teaspoons liquid extract
1 teaspoon aluminium free baking powder (Bob’s Red Mill is a great brand)
And then your choice of
80g 85% chocolate, rough chopped
1 overripe banana, fine chopped
80g frozen raspberries or blueberries, melted with 1 tablespoon rice syrup for 5 minutes on the stove
80g super finely chopped sweet red apple
40 dried cranberries (less because of the high sugar content)
What I love about approaching baking this way, is that you can commit one base recipe to memory and change up the added little treat to keep it interesting – as if you are the master of 5 cake recipes! Shhh, they’ll never know!
What to do
Preheat oven to 170C / 340F
Melt your butter on a very low gentle heat and turn heat off, allowing to cool.
Wet bowl: Beat your eggs and rice syrup for 2 minutes until you can see lots of air bubbles. Use an electric beater.
Dry bowl: Put your 2 flours in, baking powder, cinnamon and vanilla (if it’s the powder… if you’re using extract, then it should be in the wet bowl) and mix through well.
Add your butter to your wet bowl now that it’s a little cooler and stir through gently.
Combine both bowls and let stand for one minute. It will thicken.
Now, add your flavour choice from above, just stirring in roughly with the spoon.
Pop into a baking paper lined loaf tin, muffin cups (mini or large), or an 18 x 24cm baking dish as I did, for a cake about an inch high. Bake for 25-40 minutes, depending on oven and cake tin size. Basically, just keep an eye and do the skewer test. It will come out clean when ready.
It’s a sturdy number, so you could bake several batches for birthday cakes and layer with whipped cream or coconut cream and cover with icing and decorate for parties too, I imagine.
Might have to do that and show you all pics to lead by example, being the selfless person I am of course!
Enjoy this nourishing, digestible delight that’s kind to your liver – although with a selling pitch like that, you might not even try to make it! Eat it warm from the oven for the ultimate treat. Too delicious!
Real Food. Happy Bodies.
Alexx
Hi Alex,
This cake looked so exciting that I went out on Sat to buy the ingredients I was missing – Rice syrup and coconut flour. Unfortunately I went to 3 stores and had no luck. Do you have stockists you suggest? It got me to thinking that a really useful resource for your website would be a glossary of ingredients (and other products). Why you use them (or why avoid them), as well as suitable substitutes, and then easy suggestions of where to get them. I don’t want to end up with cupboards full of ingredients that I only use once a year, so some substitutes would be good. I love your recipes, and can’t wait to try this one.
Hi Mary, Thank you so much for the feed back & your gorgeous willingness to go out and buy all the ingredients. I’m so sorry you ran into trouble on the rice syrup and coconut flour. Any health shop would have them or my fave online, organicsonabudget.com.au which is a great virtual grocery store. I am in the middle of building a resource page you shall be super pleased to know. Can’t wait to share
Hi Alex,
Wondering if I could use quinoa flour or other gluten free flour instead of buckwheat flour?
Can’t wait to try the recipe! Thanks.
Yep. I’m sure they would be fine Lindy. Probably not amaranth or bessan flour though as it’d be too savoury
Thank you so much for this recipe. I finally had the chance to make it today and used a ripe banana. After I had put it in the oven I thought I could have put in some chocolate nibs as well but that might be for next time. I ended up putting a chocolate glaze (no sugar one from David Guillespie’s book “Sweet Poison” on the top and it is “fantastic!” according to my 9 year old son once he arrived home from school! Will definitely make it again. I got my rice syrup from Coles and my local health food store is where I get all my other bits and pieces including coconut flour. I am learning so much a the moment and definitely learning a lot from you Alexx, so thank you once again!
ps it was only as I was about to put it in the oven I realised there was no timing in the recipe so just kept an eye on it!
Jill! I totally remembered the timing was missing yesterday and subsequently forgot to update – many thanks for the reminder. All done now! Am so glad you love it too. I was alone on the first day I made it (had to test all the adventures of course!) and it was a rather dangerous ‘wellness bake’ situation
Lovely to have you on the journey Jill. Aren’t your little people lucky they’ve got a curious mum xx
Hi. I’ve made this a few times and a few variations, find it’s a bit of trial and error with the baking time and variations but love it…and my little one (nearly 2) loves being allowed to have cake! I am having trouble finding vanilla powder though, any recommendations where to get it?
I agree on the baking time Jacqui. One really just has to watch it after 20 minutes and also factor one’s pan / baking dish choice. Am so glad you and your little one are enjoying the recipe. All children should be allowed cake!! Not sure if you’re based in Australia, but Loving Earth brand do a beautiful vanilla powder. The jar will last months and months of baking. Available at organics on a budget
Great thank you I shall check out the site.
Hi Alexx,
Just wondered if you could convert the gram measurement you have listed for the Rice Malt Syrup into mls please? Really looking forward to making this one – thank you!
Cheers,
Kirsty
I meant mls Kirsty! Apologies. Enjoy the recipe. It’s such a great lil’ cake quicky!