I found this recipe on Pinterest and the name struck me"quinoa vegan chocolate cake". I have to try this is what I thought. Vegan food and desserts are currently becoming a hit as veganism has become a trend. I knew that I had to try this recipe and I was very curious to see if it was going to taste good.
If you know how to make a simple cake you are good to go with this recipe and have nothing to worry about. A few unexpected things I took note on was that the cake was ready before the time was up which was very unexpected and has never happened before. I took it out after 30 min when the recipe said 35-45 min. I would make sure that you put the exact same amount of batter into your two cake pans because my cake layers were not even and it affected the aesthetics and taste.
The cake was also very easy to take out of the pan and separate from the parchment paper which was really nice. I thought when I looked at the frosting and the baked cake that there was hardly any frosting so to make sure I was going to have enough to cover the outside of the cake I hardly put any in the middle. BIG MISTAKE!!! There was more than enough frosting, not having a lot of it in the middle made the cake taste different and it would have tasted better if I would have not done that mistake.
Now, how the cake tastes like? Overall the cake was good but I have to admit that some improvements could have been made and it is not my favorite vegan cake, I prefer the previous one I did. Personally, I thought the cake needed some extra taste or some type of flavor added. I will be trying the cake with only berry jam in the middle and the same amount of frosting but all on the outside and I will see how that goes. The frosting was really creamy and you could not taste the avocados. The cake and the frosting had a really interesting combination that matched well and tasted good. One thing I really liked about it was that the cake was not too sweet and it was not too bitter. It had the perfect amount. The cake I thought could have been moister because I thought it was too dry. Even with its many improvements to make it is definetly a cake I would make again and would recommend to try.
Here is the recipe:
QUINOA CHOCOLATE CAKE
-1½ cups 250g Quinoa
-2 cups / 450mlWater
-1 cup / 175g Dates, pitted
-1 tsp Vanilla
-1 tsp Baking powder
-4 tbsp Cocoa powder
-2 tbsp Chia seeds
-a pinch of Salt
-optional, 2-4 tbsp Sweetener such as Maple or Coconut syrup
AVOCADO CHOCOLATE FROSTING
-2 Avocados
-4-6 tbsp Sweetener such as Maple or Coconut syrup
-2 tbsp Coconut oil or Coconut Butter
-4 tbsp Cacao/Cocoa powder
-Fruit for decoration, any bright berries are good – raspberries, Inca or strawberries. Also chunks of dark chocolate or cacao nibs work great on this quinoa cake to give a deep rich chocolate flavour.
METHOD
Soak the quinoa for at least 15 mins, then drain. Soaking for an hour or overnight is preferable.Add everything else for the batter into the blender and blend until smooth.Split into two lined 6″ pans and bake for 35-45 mins at 180 C / 350 F.You can tell when it’s cooked when a knife comes out clean.Leave to cool for 15m before taking out of the pan.Blend all of the icing ingredients together.Ice the top of one cake, place the other cake on then ice the top and sides.Decorate with berries, store in the fridge and enjoy within 3 days.