When it comes to productivity, I’d say I’m “pretty” good at it.

In fact, when it came time to make this recipe, I woke up at 7am (on a Saturday!), made the cake, the frosting, cranberry sauce, and then photographed it. Followed by the write-up of this post.

Of course I did have some help from the members in our Free (and open for you to join us!) Facebook Group, thanks everyone!

Peter and I have been really focusing on helping entrepreneurs not only be productive, but healthy as well.

Eating healthy comes pretty easy for us…

(I know what you’re thinking… a cake recipe? …but we DID have green juice first)

…however, when it comes to productivity it’s so easy to get distracted with work and life, that sometimes I start a recipe but never get to actually sharing it.

It’s nice to have some accountability on projects, and this recipe totally had that.

This recipe is part of a Vegan Mystery Box Challenge I participated in – think Iron Chef – Virtual & Vegan (meaning no animal products).

I LOVE these types of challenges.

I participated in one with Whole Food Market 3 years ago.

The special ingredients for that challenge were: Dark Chocolate, Coffee, Pumpkin and Hot Sauce.

I made the most delicious chili espresso chocolate pumpkin cheesecake.

Peter still raves about that cheesecake – but for those who just saw it, probably not so appetizing.

For this challenge the secret ingredients were: Cranberries, Pistachios and Coconut milk – a lot easier to work with.

And the rules?

Make something vegan that includes all 3 of these ingredients (in any form).

Here are a few of the recipe ideas we tossed around in our FB Group…

  • Fudge
  • Muffins
  • Quinoa Bowl
  • Brownies
  • Pancakes with ginger bread spice
  • Ice cream
  • Scones

Lot’s of great ideas… and well, this recipe was supposed to be brownies, but it’s more airy and not at all dense.

It turned out good, and sticking with the whole productivity thing – I decided to go with it!

Chocolate Cake with Frosting & Cranberry Sauce

Chocolate Cake with Frosting & Cranberry Sauce

Healthy Chocolate Cranberry Cake
 
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Serves: 12
Ingredients
Cake
  • 2 Tbsp. flaxseed meal
  • 1 cup almond meal
  • 1 cup brown rice flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 Tbsp. arrowroot powder
  • ⅓ cup cacao powder
  • ½ + ¼ cup dark chocolate chips
  • ⅓ cup coconut oil
  • ¼ cup dried cranberries
  • ½ cup coconut sugar
  • 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
  • ¼ cup coconut milk
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Dark Chocolate Frosting
  • ¼ cup cacao powder
  • 2 Tbsp. coconut oil
  • 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
  • 1 dash sea salt
Cranberry Sauce (Optional)
  • 1 cup fresh cranberries
  • ¾ cup water
  • 1 Tbsp. maple syrup (add more to taste)
  • 2-5 drops of stevia
Topping
  • ¼ cup chopped pistachios
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 Deg. F.
  2. Line cake pan, we used a 9x9 glass Pyrex (can also use a round pan) and set aside.
Cake
  1. Start with making the cake. First mix flax and coconut milk in a small bowl and allow to gel.
  2. Next in a large bowl add: almond meal, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, arrowroot, coconut sugar, cranberries and ¼ of chocolate chips. Mix well.
  3. In a small sauce pan melt coconut oil, cacao and chocolate chips until almost all the chocolate chips are melted. Stir that and remaining cake ingredients into the large bowl. Mix well.
  4. Pour contents into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes.
  5. After baking allow to cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
  1. Make the frosting by placing all ingredients in a food processor and processing until smooth. You may need more liquid, I added a little water but more syrup or oil would have worked as well.
  2. Make the cranberry sauce by placing cranberries in a sauce pan with the water and turn to medium high, cover with a lid.
  3. When cranberries start to expand and pop, turn heat down to medium low and remove the pan.
  4. With a potato masher, mash the cranberries until flat.
  5. Add n sweetener, these are really tart but with the chocolate it's a nice balance. Feel free to make it sweeter.
  6. Remove from heat and add to a food processor, process until really smooth.
Assemble
  1. Once brownies are cool, frost with frosting, then add cranberry sauce. You can pipe on the sauce but it's a little tricky, or you can just add a scoop before serving (I'll be doing it that way next time) and top with pistachios. If you have a nut allergy just skip the nuts they are still awesome.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1 slice Calories: 300 Fat: 15g Carbohydrates: 19g Sugar: 15g Sodium: 20mg Fiber: 4g Protein: 3g Cholesterol: 0

 

I hope you give this cake a go, and make sure to check out some of the other creations below!

 

Sarah Hagstrom
Sarah Hagstrom

    16 replies to "Vegan Chocolate Cranberry Cake"

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