Coffee Rye Cake
I’m 100 % addicted to coffee and chocolate. I truly believe this is the solution to all of life’s problems. This and maybe a glass of wine.
A looming visit from my mother has inspired me to develop healthier tea-time treats.
This cake was created with three goals in mind: It had to be sugar-free, have added protein, and be kind on the tummy. Both my mother and I have sensitive tummy’s so I always try to keep it lean with whole-grain options like stoneground brown, nutty wheat, and rye when I bake tea loaves.
However, baking with rye flour is tricky especially in sweet cakes.
The end product is a little bit dense and not as fluffy as a vanilla sponge. It’s much like a carrot cake without the carrots.
The other thing to note is that if you want a healthy cake, you must invest in good ingredients. This cake is not ordinary in that it utilizes extraordinary ingredients like olive oil, pea protein powder, a Wholefoods superfood cacao maca mix, and raw honey.
Did you know: It is a myth that the oven door cannot be open while a cake is baking. The testing time for cakes is 3-5 minutes before the actual baking time in any recipe. This is Reesha logic but it works. Always test the cake before you switch the oven off. You must test bang in the middle of a cake but if there’s a crack there move your skewer a little and don’t prick the break in the loaf. That will always be moist.
Ingredients
1/2 cup honey
3 large eggs (2 extra-large eggs) at room temperature
1/3 cup olive oil
3/4 cup buttermilk (mix milk and 1 tbsp of lemon juice to make buttermilk)
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup rye flour
1/2 cup stoneground brown flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 cup coffee (I used decaf)
1/2 cup Cacao Maca blend from Health Connection Wholefoods (alternatively you can use cocoa powder)
3 tbsp pea protein powder
1//4 tsp salt
Icing
1 slab Lindt 80% dark chocolate and 1 tbsp butter
slivered almonds
Method
Preheat oven to 180 and grease a small loaf tin or spray it well with Spray-And-Cook.
In a large bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients together.
In another bowl, whisk all the wet ingredients together for 2 minutes.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture and with a spatula, combine the two by folding them together until there is no more flour. The mixture will be wet but don’t overmix.
Let the mixture rest for 2 minutes and the batter should start to firm up. Give it one more fold and pour into the prepared loaf tin.
Bake for 22-25 minutes in the oven. The initial time is when you should pull it out of your oven and test it with a cake skewer. If it comes out clean your cake is done.
To make the icing, break the chocolate in a bowl and add the butter. Warm in the microwave for 1 minute and mix well until the chocolate is melted. Let the mixture cool for 1-2 minutes and slather it all over the loaf once it’s cool to the touch. You can decorate it with slivered almonds or grate some orange zest over your cake.
