Heart Healthy Chocolate Cake Recipe

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This recipe is absolutely perfect. Not too sweet, just the right amount of richness from the Dark Chocolate.

I brought a slice to my acupuncturists, and she dubbed this the Heart Health Cake.

Beets lower risk of heart disease. Beets are a good source of folate and betaine. These nutrients act together to help lower blood levels of homocysteine, which can increase your risk of heart disease by causing artery-damaging inflammation.

And Dark Chocolate helps to lower your blood pressure naturally. ... The other surprise was they reported no increase in heart rate with chocolate consumption, once again confirming the benefits of dark chocolate for heart health.


Ingredients

For the cake:

  • 2 medium beets (1 cup beet puree)

  • 2 1/2 cups coconut milk

  • 1 1/2 cups coconut sugar

  • 1/2 cup melted coconut oil

  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

  • 1 ½ cups oat flour

  • 3/4 cup almond meal

  • 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder

  • ½ teaspoon of sea salt

For the frosting:

  • Ganache:

  • 1 cup dark chocolate

  • 1/2 cup coconut milk

  • To puree beets.Boil beets until smooth and then cool. Peel and chop.

Place beet chunks in the bowl of a food processor. Puree, scraping down the sides as necessary. You may have to add a bit of water to encourage the beets to puree. Scoop out 1 cup of puree for this recipe - the rest is leftover.

To make the cake:

  • Preheat oven to 350. Coat two 8-inch cake pans with coconut cooking spray. Line with parchment paper, set aside.

  • To the coconut milk mixture, add 1 cup of beet puree, sugar, coconut oil, and vanilla extract. With a hand mixer (or in a stand mixer), beat until foamy, about 30 seconds.

  • Mix together remaining dry ingredients. Add liquid to dry ingredients and beat until smooth

  • Divide between the cake pans. Bake at 350 until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with fudgy crumbs, 30-35 minutes.

  • Remove and cool completely in the pans on wire racks.

To make the frosting:

Ganache:

  • Reheat the water to a simmer in the pot on the stove

  • Place another medium bowl over the water and add chocolate and coconut milk

  • Stir until completely melted and add coconut milk

To assemble the cake:

Place the first layer on your cake stand or serving plate. If the top is uneven, carefully even it off with a knife. Smooth on about half of the frosting, and top with the second cake layer. Smooth on remaining frosting and add any decorations you like! (If you made 1 9-inch layer, you will have enough frosting to coat the sides, if you want.)

Refrigerate before serving. The cake can be served immediately, but I like it best after being refrigerated overnight. Enjoy!

Diana Stobo