I’ve had so many people ask me for this recipe that I just had to post it. The original recipe comes from the head chef Moreka Jolar at the beautiful Hollyhock on Cortes Island, BC. Moreka just recently came out with a new cookbook, Garden to Table. And for those who have had the honour of spending time at Hollyhock know that they are known for their cuisine – gorgeous buffets and luscious salads made from food grown and harvested straight from their garden… a little piece of advice for you: always save room for dessert!

 In the recipe below you’ll see the substitutions that I made in (brackets). Please note “Lyndsay’s Tip” at the bottom of the recipe for a delicious chocolate sauce that not only makes the cake look pretty when you drizzle chocolate sauce over a slice of cake but also “completes” the dessert for us chocolate lovers out there. And here’s another tip for chocolate lovers… my favorite cocoa powder to use is ‘Rudy Red 22-24% fat cocoa powder’ but this is difficult to find… however, I have seen it at Bulk Barn. I’ve also used the regular 10-12% fat cocoa powder and the end product was still divine. Some other ideas for toppings are top it with coconut cream (refrigerate a can of coconut milk, scoop off the top thick layer and whip it with a little maple syrup or sugar), raspberry jam, fresh fruit, or fold in chocolate chips into the batter towards the end of mixing for nice little bursts of extra chocolate.

Dairy-free version: substitute coconut oil for the  butter and a ‘mylk’ alternative (I suggest vanilla almond, rice, or coconut mylk) instead of cow’s milk. 

QUINOA CHOCOLATE CAKE (gluten-free, flour-free, option for dairy-free)

by Moreka Jolar from Hollyhock, Cortes Island BC

 

Serves: 8–10
 

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cup water
• 2/3 cup quinoa
• ¾ cup cane sugar* (I used coconut sugar)
• ½ cup butter, melted (I used melted coconut oil)
• 1⁄3 cup milk or dairy alternative (I used vanilla almond milk)
• ¼ cup grapeseed oil (I’ve omitted this, or swapped it with light olive oil & it still tasted great)
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt

Directions

• Rinse quinoa & place quinoa and water in a small saucepan, cover and bring to boil. Reduce heat & simmer for 15 minutes. Remove lid and allow to cool.
• Preheat oven to 350°.

• Process cane sugar, melted butter, milk, oil and eggs in a blender at high speed for 30 seconds.
• Add the cooked quinoa & continue to blend on high for about 1 minute.
• Use a rubber spatula to transfer batter to a large bowl.
• In a medium bowl, sift together the remaining dry ingredients.
• Add to the wet batter and combine thoroughly with a wooden spoon until there are no clumps left.
• Scoop batter into a parchment-lined 8″ springform pan or 8″ round cake pan and bake for 40–45 min until a knife comes out of the center clean.
• Allow to cool completely before removing from pan and serving. (In fact, if you’ve got the patience, keep it in the fridge for at least 5 hours before serving. Or, you can serve it the next day for a (seriously…) super-fudgy cake!)

Moreka’s tip: Make this completely maple-sweetened by replacing sugar with maple syrup and omitting milk.

Lyndsay’s tip: make a delicious chocolate sauce with ½ cup dark chocolate chips, ¼ cup can coconut milk, 2 Tbsp maple syrup. Add all ingredients to saucepan and heat over low heat until melted. Allow to cool for 5 mins and drizzle over top of each piece before serving.