Grain Free Crockpot Chocolate Fudge Pudding Cake

With the colder weather , as I have said before, I crave comfort foods. But my dietary needs and taste buds have changed so much in the past few years, those typical good old comfort foods just don’t fit anymore. So when I really get a craving for something, like this pudding cake I remember from my childhood, I reinvent it to suit the way we eat now. It is still definitely a treat, but one that you can indulge in without “most” of the guilt!

This cake is made in the Crockpot or slow cooker (I use my smaller 3 quart one, if you only have a large one, this recipe could easily be doubled, the leftovers are great!), and is typical of an old fashioned pudding cake, where you make the batter, and (gasp!!) ...pour a bunch of water on top of it...seriously! It then magically creates a moist fudgy pudding en-robed cake that cooks merrily away on its own while you throw together a nice healthy supper to balance it all out. It is best served at room temperature or chilled, IF you can wait long enough to let it cool! The pictures do not do it justice, it is just not photogenic.  But, what it lacks in beauty, it makes up for in flavour! (It also goes really well with a scoop of your favourite vanilla ice cream...just in-case you were wondering :)

You want a nice thick batter--if it appears
too thin, add another Tbsp or two of
coconut flour.

Grain Free Crockpot Chocolate Fudge Pudding Cake

Cake batter:

3 eggs

2 tbsp chickpea flour

1/3- ½ cup coconut flour (start with the 1/3 and add more if needed)

2 tbsp arrowroot powder

¾ tsp baking soda

2 Tbsp coconut sugar

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup of milk (use a non-dairy alternative if you wish!)

2 Tbsp coconut oil

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp vanilla

_____

Topping:

1 tsp organic instant coffee powder (optional, but deepens the chocolate flavour!)

1/3 cup cocoa powder

½ cup coconut sugar

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grease pan

2 cups boiling water

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Butter/coconut oil or coconut oil butter ghee spray to grease the crockpot

In a medium mixing bowl, mix together all of the batter ingredients with an immersion blender until well combined. Scrape sides as needed.  (it should be nice and thick, add more coconut flour if needed to thicken it up) Spoon batter into the bottom of your greased crockpot, and smooth slightly.

Mix the topping ingredients together in a small bowl and sprinkle evenly across the top of the batter.

Gently pour the boiling water into the crockpot, completely covering the batter. Cover with the lid, and turn on to high. Cook for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Remove lid and let cool at least to room temperature before serving. The “pudding” part of the cake will thicken up the longer it sits. 

spread batter in greased pot

 sprinkle with coconut sugar-cocoa mixture

now, pour on the boiling water (!!!!) cover and cook!

the results? not pretty, but tasty!

Grain Free Mini Blackberry Cobblers

When the weather starts to turn cooler, comfort foods always ease their way back into my cooking repertoire. (ease? Who am I kidding? Mostly they gallop!) It does help that my gas oven heats up the kitchen, great for cooler days, but not so great during the heat of summer!

 I had a bag of organic frozen blackberries in the freezer, and decided to make some individual cobblers with them. I borrowed the topping from my Honeyed Pear Upside DownSkillet Cake, changed it just slightly, and this was the result. We had them as is, but they would be lovely with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

The topping made more than needed for the bag of blackberries I had, (I believe there is about 200g in the bag) for a nice cobbler to fruit ratio. Feel free to use it all if you like a "cakier" cobbler. I greased 2 extra ramekins and baked the excess topping for about 20 minutes, this would be an excellent grain free shortcake!

Grain Free Mini Blackberry Cobblers

1 bag Stahlbush Frozen Marion Blackberries (approx 200g) or other frozen fruit of choice

Zest of ½ a lemon

5 tsp coconut sugar

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3 eggs

2 Tbsp chickpea flour

¼ cup coconut flour

2 Tbsp arrowroot flour

¾ tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

2 Tbsp coconut oil

2 Tbsp coconut sugar

¼ cup kefir

Divide the bag of blackberries evenly between 5  one cup ramekins. Sprinkle each with 1 tsp of coconut sugar, and the lemon zest. Set aside.

Measure the rest of the ingredients into a mixing bowl, and mix well with an immersion blender or a wire whisk.

Divide batter between the 5 ramekins, (bake any excess in greased ramekins and save for another use, I had enough to make 2)

Bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes or until the batter is set (the ones with the batter only will be done in 18-20 minutes)

Serve warm or at room temperature. 

I see an awesome shortcake base here!

Grain Free Nut Free Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake

If you garden, and you grow zucchini, you know as well as I do that one plant can supply you with more zucchini than you can possibly use in one season. In my garden this year I planted 3 zucchini seeds. I am still not sure why I did that...at the time it seemed like a great idea. Mother nature vetoed my crazy plan though, and only one plant actually grew. In hind-site, mother nature was smarter than I, one plant was the perfect amount of zucchini for us, three would have been overwhelming. The illustrious "zucchini fairy" would have been gracing everyone on my street with a plethora of zucchini had all three actually grown!

I am always trying new recipes for zucchini, to use up the bounty from our garden. We have made lots of zucchini noodles with our spiral slicer this summer, multiple simple salads from the zucchinis thinly sliced on my mandolin, lightly marinated in Herbamare,  and grilled zucchini from the gargantuan ones that grow seemingly overnight have become a favourite this year as well. 

This cake is a favourite too. It is a  nice moist chocolaty treat, perfect for an after school snack, lunch box treat, or even a dessert if you dressed it up with a little cream cheese icing. 

Grain Free Nut Free Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake

2 cups grated zucchini

1 tsp salt 

3 eggs

1 banana, very ripe

1/3 cup kefir or yogurt

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup coconut flour

1/3 cup hemp flour

1/3 cup chickpea flour

¼ cup coconut sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup cocoa powder

¼ cup coconut oil, melted

Preheat oven to 350F

Sprinkle the grated zucchini with 1 tsp salt, stir and set aside to drain in a colander. (this helps to release the moisture from the zucchini, helping to keep the snack cake from being too moist)

Mix the rest of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl with an immersion blender until well mixed, scraping down the sides as needed.

Squeeze and drain the excess moisture from the zucchini. Mix into the batter well.

Scrape into a greased or parchment lined 8x8 glass baking pan

Bake for 50-55 min or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool in pan completely before cutting. 

Grain Free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

 I woke up craving muffins for breakfast today. Lemon poppy seed muffins to be exact. I have been using a lot of different combinations of alternative flours lately, and while they make a decent muffin, they also make the muffins quite dark (and with the sunflower flour, dark and green!!) So I kept this batter simple, with just coconut flour and a bit of chickpea flour, to keep the colour nice and light. The bright yellow yolks in the pastured eggs really help give this muffin a bright sunshiny yellow hue, just the thing you’d expect from a lemon muffin, with no artificial colours or ingredients.  The lemon flavour is subtle, they might benefit from a lemon glaze, but they are pretty tasty on their own.

Grain Free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

5 eggs, preferably pastured

1/3 cup coconut flour

¼ cup chickpea flour

¾ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

Juice of 1 lemon (3-4 tbsp)

¼ cup honey

¼ cup coconut oil

Zest of 1 lemon

1 ½ tbsp poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350F. Zest your lemon and set zest  aside.

Using a immersion blender blend all ingredients EXCEPT the lemon zest and poppy seeds together well in a mixing bowl. Scrape sides of bowl and blender to ensure the dry ingredients are well combined.

Stir in the lemon zest and poppy seeds.

Fill 12 lined or greased muffin tins with batter and bake in preheated oven for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool in muffin tin for 5 minutes, and then place on a wire rack to cool. 

Grain-Free Nut-Free Gluten-Free Blueberry Pancakes

I found myself alone for breakfast on a Sunday morning, and had a craving for blueberry pancakes. I was out of almond flour (again!) so I got creative with some other grain free flours and came up with this tasty version.  Tasty and quick, a perfect breakfast for one on a sunny Sunday morning!

This amount made 1 large pancake in my 8 inch cast iron pan. It could easily be doubled for more servings.

Grain Free Nut Free Blueberry Pancakes

1 egg

2 tbsp kefir (or yogurt)

1 tsp maple syrup

1 tbsp chick pea flour

1 tbsp hemp flour

1 tbsp sunflower flour

1 tbsp coconut flour

¼ tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt
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1 tbsp butter

¼ cup of organic blueberries, rinsed and dried

Whisk all ingredients together well,(excluding the butter and blueberries) making sure there are no clumps of flour.

Melt butter over medium high heat in a cast iron or other pan of choice.

Scrape the batter into the pan and cook for approx 4-5 minutes, or until the edges start to look cooked (they should look set, and loose the shine of the raw batter. Don't flip too soon or you may have a mess on your hands!) Sprinkle the batter with the blueberries, and flip carefully to cook the other side, approx 2-3 minutes.

Serve hot with toppings of choice.