“Gluten Free” Quinoa Cake - Chocolate Frosted Ginger and Orange Cake

Sangha Nights - cake indulgence!!

I made this for my Ayurvedic Monthly Sangha night this month and it went down a treat! Everyone loved it so much that they all asked for the recipe. I used a basic cake recipe and then Ayurveda-sised it and spiced it up a little to get a moist yet light and tasty treat that everyone can eat. The quinoa flour in this recipe is a great replacement for plain flour and is gluten free. The fresh ginger really boosts the digestive fire making this cake easy and quick to digest and light on the stomach.

Try it out for yourselves its real easy to make. Feel free to experiment with different flavours too: lemon rind; crushed nuts; rose water essence; ground cloves; shredded coconut; chopped dates; sultanas; raisins; dried cherries etc

Ingredients:

1 cup agave syrup
3/4 cup quinoa milk
185g ghee (or organic butter)
2 and a 1/2 cups quinoa flour
2 organic free range eggs
1 cup natural castor sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1-2 inches of grated fresh ginger (great for digestion)
grated rind of 1 orange
1 teaspoon orange essence
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/3 cup hot water

Chocolate Frosting:
100g dark 70% chocolate
125g ghee (or organic butter)
1 and 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 organic free range egg yolk

Method:
1. Pre heat oven to 150 degrees
2. Line a cake tin with baking paper
3. Gently heat agave syrup and milk in pan and leave to cool to room temp
4. Cream together the ghee and sugar in a large bowl (can use electric mixer or by hand)
5. Add the eggs one at a time
6. Beat until mixed well
7. Stir in the sifted dry ingredients and the cooled syrup mixture and the water
8. Pour into the cake tin
9. Bake on 150 degrees for 1 hour to 1 1/4 hours in middle of oven. Cake is ready when you lightly press it on top and it bounces back
10. Remove cake from oven and allow it to stand for 10 minutes.
11. After 10 minutes remove baking paper and turn cake out onto a wire rack to cool

Chocolate Frosting:
1. Break up chocolate slightly by banging packet onto a hard surface
2. Place chocolate in a glass bowl and gently melt the chocolate by placing the glass bowl over a pot of boiling water
3. When melted switch off the heat and allow the chocolate to gently cool (but not reset hard)
4. While the chocolate is cooling cream together the ghee and sifted icing sugar until light and fluffy
5. Beat in egg yolk
6. Beat in the melted chocolate
7. When cake is cooled spread top with chocolate frosting
8. Cut into slices and enjoy

Keeps for 2-3 days


Happy cooking !!