Flourless Chocolate Cake

Yesterday was 5 years. What about 5 years if you ask? It was 5 years since we made the promise to each other to go through thick and thin, to be with each other regardless of happiness, sickness or illness. Honestly, was it that long already? It seems like it was only just when we made our vows to each other :) Sure, we fight, we laugh, we hate, we scream but end of the day, we know that we can and will always be able to depend on each other for anything. I love myself, I love him and I definitely love us. To many more 5 years together, Mr G!!!

Below is a memory from our dear friend whom we received from on our wedding day. When we both saw this again, we just broke into smiles. Yes, you can and should always create love and romance in your lives. To all married friends!!

As part of our mini celebrations together, I decided to bake us a chocolate cake since it's such a long time Mr G ate chocolate since his health scare. After much research, I decided to make this flourless chocolate cake which is sugar-free, gluten-free, grain-free, paleo-friendly, dairy-free, soy-free and of course, corn-free. 

This recipe is from spoonfulofsugarfree. See my comments/modifications in blue.

Ingredients:

141g ground almonds (you can grind it yourself or buy it from the stores)
59g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1.5 cup pitted dates (if you can't find pitted dates, see here to pit dates yourself)
1/2 cup water
3 eggs
2 tbsp coconut oil (I used canola oil, it works just the same)
2 tbsp vanilla extract (I used 2 vanilla pods)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together (i.e. ground almonds, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt) in a bowl and whisk it to mix well. Set aside.
3. Place the pitted dates and water into a food processor or blender. (Note that the dates can be a tad hard in texture so if your blender is not one that is of glass, perhaps you should soak your pitted dates in water for a few hours until it is softened before you blend it).
4. Mix the date paste with the dry ingredients and using a whisk, mix it until it is all smooth.
5. Grease a 8 inch cake pan with cake spray and pour in the batter. You may to smooth the surface with a spatula.
6. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. For me, once the toothpick comes out with abit of chocolate batter stuck on it, I'll take it out from the oven as I prefer my chocolate cake to be more moist. Don't forget that chocolate still 'cooks' itself with the heat in it when you take it out from the oven.
7. Let cool for about 15 minutes or so before serving.

See my simple flourless chocolate cake that doesn't look that pretty. But remember, what's nice on the outside may not taste that nice ;P 

As Mr G is only allowed to have a small portion of the cake, this was the whole portion he had and it finished within seconds. So now you know, nice cakes need not have flour, sugar and butter. 

Psst, this is my first time making a cake with dates as the natural sweetener. I must say that the dates really make it taste good and it gives the chocolate cake different texture. Awesome recipe!

This is definitely a friendly recipe for diabetics. Best of all, it's pretty easy peasy.

I would say that for the start of my cooking/baking journey, I have nailed it for this one. For many more to come, I want to try many new cooks or bakes that I've not tried before to improve my techniques. Yay!! New ingredient I've tried for the first time too. Ok, next bake coming up soon! :)

I'm going to submit this post to We Should Cocoa organized by Chocolate Log Blog and hosted by Lancashire Food for January 2014 where the theme this month is New Year New Ingredient.

I'm also going to submit this post to Tea Time Treats organized by Lavender and Lovage and Hedgecombers and hosted by Hedgecombers for January 2014.

I'm also submitting this post to Treat Petite organized by Cakeyboi and The Baking Explorer hosted by The Baking Explorer for January.