Chocolate QUINOA Cake!

Yes, you read that right. A cake made with quinoa. Not quinoa flour, but cooked quinoa.

And it actually tasted good. Even my picky husband agreed!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this super food, quinoa is a grain that is packed with protein. There are a myriad of health benefits in this food, some of which are explained here. I try to get quinoa into as many meals as I can, but this is my first quinoa dessert!

I used the cake recipe from this site. The link will have the specific measurements. I ate mine without frosting (it was SO rich, which is saying something from me!), and Brad used some canned frosting we had lying around.

1. Cook 3/4 cup of quinoa in 1 1/2 cups of boiling water. Turn it down to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes or so.

This is what the quinoa should look like once it's completely cooked. 

 2. Add milk, eggs, and vanilla extract to blender and blend for 10 seconds or so.

I used almond milk, but any milk you have on hand will do. 

This is my homemade vanilla extract! Mmmm I love real food :)

This is what it looks like after it's blended. 

3. Add cooked and cooled (or warm if you're impatient like me) quinoa and a melted butter/coconut oil mixture and blend until smooth.

Coconut oil is another super food that has many health benefits as listed here. It's also very easy to employ in your diet, as it can be used in place of oils or butter in cooking. I used a mix of butter and coconut oil in mine, but just butter will work too.

This is what coconut oil looks like out of the container, but it melts very easily. 

This is the mixture. I melted the butter in the microwave, and just put the coconut oil in
afterwards. It melted with a little stirring. 

I'm very bummed I didn't take a picture of the mixture when it was done. It is a dark yellowish color. I have to admit, I was getting a little unsure as to whether this was really a good idea for a cake or not.

4. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar (or another sweetener) and salt

5. Add the wet ingredients from the blender and mix.

6. Put the batter into a parchment-lined pan.

See, that batter does turn out normal-looking!

7. Bake for half an hour at 350 and voila!

Mmmmm cake :)

I was so impressed with this cake! It was moist, chocolaty, smooth and delicious! While I was unable to bled the quinoa 100% smooth, there were only very smart parts where I could tell the texture was a little different. There was no odd taste or anything though. The man had no idea I cooked up one of my weird health foods until I told him there was quinoa in it! I will be making it more often to indulge my sweet tooth while pumping by body full of vitamins, nutrients and protein.

Love and Blessings,

Annmarie Faye

P.S. This is also GLUTEN FREE for all of my readers avoiding gluten, Boo yah!