Tag Archives: chocolate

Flourless Choc Cinnamon Banana Cake

26 Dec

I came up with this recipe when we had over-ripe organic bananas at home that neither of us wanted to eat but seemed wasteful to throw away.  It occurred to me that I could use the bananas as the “sweetening” component for a flour-less chocolate cake, instead of using Stevia (which I don’t have anyway) or sugar.  The result was fabulous — the bananas give the cake a creamy, almost mousse like quality.  The cake is light and isn’t overly banana-y — just a hint of the fruit.  The cake pairs nicely with a mango sorbet.  I served this cake as a dessert for our Christmas Eve dinner party and everyone loved it!

FLOURLESS CHOC CINNAMON BANANA CAKE

  • 10 oz. bittersweet dark chocolate (I like to use 81% dark)
  • 1/2 cup organic butter, room temperature and softened
  • 3 very ripe organic bananas
  • 4 organic free-range eggs
  • 3 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F (or about 175C).  Grease a spring-form pan (or another kind of baking pan — I use a 9 in. round spring-form pan, which works well).

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate, set aside

Cream the butter.  Since we don’t have a hand mixer, I had David cream the butter with a wooden spoon — it requires some muscle-ing, but it works fine.

When the butter is creamed, add bananas, one at a time.  We used the back of a wooden spoon to smash the bananas into the butter; blend well.

Add eggs to the butter/banana mixture, one at a time.  Mix well.

Add the cinnamon.  Pour in the melted chocolate, mix until blended.

Pour the batter into the baking pan.  Bake for about 25 minutes, until the cake sets.  Let the cake cool before serving.  The cake keeps well refrigerated.

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Pot du Coco(nut) with Sherry

27 Nov

For dessert for our non-traditional Thanksgiving in Stockholm, I made a “duo of dark chocolate” — a caradamon and orange flour-less sugar-free chocolate cake and “Pot du Coco(nut).”

When I make flourless chocolate cakes, I use a recipe I found on Food52 by ChezUs.  Normally, I use Stevia to sweeten the cake, instead of regular sugar.  On this occasion, I skipped any kind of sweetener because (1)  we haven’t found Stevia in Stockholm and (2) I thought that a less-sweet, almost bitter cake might pair better with the “Pot du Coco(nut),” which is creamy and decadent.  I will post the recipe for the cake later.

The “Pot du Coco(nut)” recipe was inspired by our desire for an easy, home-made paleo dessert and a too-sweet sherry.  Recently, David and I discussed over dinner how, occasionally, it would be nice to have a little dessert.  In New York, we sometimes buy sugar-free coconut ice cream, which we love.  We wondered if we might look for something similar in Stockholm.  Also recently, we bought a Pedro Ximenez sherry, hoping it’d make a nice digestiv.  Unfortunately, the sherry is much too sweet and almost honey-like.  I hate to waste things… and then it occurred to me that I should make my own coconut milk based dessert utilizing the too sweet sherry: How about a Pot du Coco(nut)?

Here’s how I make my “Pot du Coco(nut)”:

Melt 2 bars of dark chocolate in a double boiler (about 7 o., or 200g — I use 81% cacao).  If you don’t have a double boiler (I don’t) you can use two pots, one small pot to heat water, and a small sauce pan (smaller than the pot) in which to melt chocolate over the hot water.

When the chocolate melts, add a can of coconut milk (400 ml).  Keep mixing and heating the mixture until the it is completely smooth and silky in texture.  (It’s important to heat the coconut milk with the chocolate and make sure to mix well to achieve smooth creamy texture.  I use a spatula to keep mixing and scraping the sides, until the chocolate runs smooth.)  Add about 1/4 cup of sweet sherry (or another sweet wine) into the mixture.  The sweetness from the dark chocolate and the sweetness from the wine will act as the sweeteners for the pot du coco(nut).

Pour into small glasses — I will make about 8 small portions (or 4 large portions in mugs).

Chill overnight.  This simple dessert tastes amazingly decadent, and will surely impress your guests.  The sweet sherry complements the bitter chocolate, and the coconut milk gives the Pot du Coco(nut) a beautifully velvety texture.  Our non-paleo dinner guests loved the Pot du Coco(nut), and thought it paired very nicely with the minimally sweet flour-less cake.  Since I don’t have many small glasses, I chilled the rest of the chocolate mixture in a mug, which works nicely as well.

Simple, delicious, paleo dessert that will surely impress your dinner guests — paleo or non-paleo!

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