Chili Cherry Chocolate Cake

vegan, sugar free, butter free, egg free, nut free

Let me tell you a little secret. My husband doesn’t like chocolate cake, or brownies, or chocolate chip cookies. Anything chocolaty he will pass. Chocolate desserts and treats are usually packed with sugar, butter and eggs. My kids on the other hand love everything chocolate and honestly I’m on camp Kids here … So I set out the make a chocolate cake that is actually healthy, sugar free and still so delicious, it would please everyone. Including Gurpreet.

And I hereby proudly present the result; our Chili Cherry Chocolate Cake. Full of anti-oxidants and ingredients that improve the blood, without sugar or butter. In other words; A Heart Healthy Cake!

Lockdown treasure

I originally had other plans for this cake, but because of the LockDown here in New York City I was without my regular ingredients. Back in March when the worst of the virus showed its ugly face, we thought we wouldn’t have any fresh food for a long time. So we stocked up on a lot of dried fruits (among other things, no toilet paper though…). When I was prepping to make the video, I noticed I had run out of my planned ingredients, but I did find the dried cherries from back in March. Which, as we all know, are a perfect pairing with cacao. That also solved my sweetener problem, because I wanted a sugar free cake and cherries add a lot of sweetness without the need for any sugar. 

The most marvelous cake was the result. Sometimes things just go right 🙂

Chakra Cakes

We have cakes for almost every Chakra in our apps, especially our Baking App would be a great choice for you if you like baking. Also here on our blog, you’ll find some lovely sweet treats and cake recipes. All fitting into the yogic diet. Take our gluten free Strawberry Root Tart for example, for Root Chakra or the Apple Galette, for Manipura, Navel Chakra. If you rather have something sweet and cold, try our popsicles and milkshake recipes.

Yogic foods Yogic diet

As loyal readers and followers of YogicFoods, you know that we love to use ingredients with Yogic Health benefits for everything we make and bake. Not only is it tastier to cook with beneficial fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices. It is also better for you! It gives your body a chance to detox and offers your mind a chance to calm down. Yoga is all about keeping those chakra gears running. A blocked chakra results in imbalances that are shown in physical and mental health issues. That is why it is important to know which chakra is in need of some oiling.

Our YogicFoods apps help you figure out which chakras you need to strengthen. To do so we offer meditations, suggest yoga poses and mantras and offer lots and lots of delicious recipes. Our recipes are always vegetarian, use no eggs, no white butter or refined sugar. We have many vegan, gluten free and nut free options.

Follow our blog, our YouTube channel, Instagram or Pinterest pages or get our YogicFoods Apps from the AppStore to keep yourself informed and inspired

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Health benefits yogic diet

Antioxidants

Chilis, Cherries, Cacao and Olive Oil are all powerful anti-oxidants.

Heart

Most of us already know that olive oil is better for the heart as it is not a saturated fat like butter. But who would have known that chilis and cacao are also heart healthy ingredients? Cherries give natural sweetness, but they can also help regulate heart rhythms. Even cacao is doing its part (mind you we’re not talking about chocolates here) as it can aid in heart health according to the yogic diet.

Circulatory system

Chilis are known for their pungent taste, but they can also be beneficial for the circulatory system aka the highways of our blood.

Anahata

As you can see each of these ingredients do their part. Personally, I’m very impressed. And heart healthy ingredients are of course a joy for Anahata, Heart Chakra. Consider these yogic diet benefits to educate yourself, this is not a cure or medicine, please read our disclaimer.

Recipe

Here is how to make it:

• 1 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cacao powder (Dutch processed)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup dried cherries
• 1/4 cup agave
• 1 cup water (reserved)
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)

Start by soaking the cherries in hot water for about 10 min. In the meantime preheat the oven at 350F/175C and prep a 6” cake pan. Whisk together all the dry ingredients. Now drain the cherries, but reserve 1 cup of the water. Add this water, together with the rest of the wet ingredients, to the dry ingredients and whisk smooth. Chop up the cherries and mix into the batter. Pour the batter into your prepared cake pan and bake for 55-60 minutes. Let the cake cool off on a wire rack 

Mind you, this chocolate cake really does have a serious kick. Fantastic cake for adults, but if you’re going to serve it to smaller kids, you may want to adjust the amount of chili to a 1/4 teaspoon or even an 1/8th. 

Watch it

If you rather watch how it’s done, here is the video I made. 

I hope you will make this cake, and convince all dads out there that chocolate is indeed, very tasty and very much for fathers too! Maybe a good idea for Fathers Day this year?

Sat Nam and Namaste
Caroline & Gurpreet

YogicFoods is a blog about yogic foods, yogic diet and living a yogic lifestyle. Live the way you think is best for you. We share our experiences, give tips, share recipes and hope to inspire.

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