Comfort Food
Everyone has a different definition of comfort food. To one person it might be fried chicken, to another a steaming dish of macaroni and cheese, to yet another a banana split. Influences come from how and where you were brought up, as well as your particular palate and what tastes (and feels) good in your mouth–not to mention your belly. But there may be one comfort food we agree on more than any other: chocolate cake. Dress it up any way you want. Get all gourmet and drizzle a ganache over it. Show off your fancy side and plate it with raspberries and whipped cream. Or just dive into the thing while it is still warm in the pan. It’s all good.
Bummer is this: It’s not all good for you.
But could it be? This delicious chocolate torte is downright good for what ails you–and it might even keep you from ailing in the first place! This is the chewiest, moistest, richest cake you will have ever tasted, and it is packed with omega-3s, plant protein, antioxidant flavonoids, iron, zinc and many other minerals!
Fudgy Chocolate Torte
Start now and soon you can have a warm slice sitting on a plate in front of you. You’ll be happy you tried–and so will your body.
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2) Combine first 7 dry ingredients in a medium / large mixing bowl and mix well with a spoon or mixer.
3) Place dates and applesauce in food processor or high-speed blender and puree. You may want to soak the dates in warm water for a few minutes prior to pureeing as this will help them to break down easier. I covered them in water, microwaved them for a minute on high, and let them soak for 5 minutes. Drain the water before placing the dates in the food processor or blender.
Dates and Applesauce
4) Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add the date/applesauce puree and the remaining 4 wet ingredients.
5) Blend well with mixer at medium speed until smooth (approx. 1-2 minutes).
6) Pour into ungreased tube pan and bake 55-60 minutes. It should have a slightly crispy top and test done with a toothpick.
Chocolate Torte – Batter
Chocolate Torte – Baked
7) Cool completely on wire rack (approx. 1 hour).
Dress It Up!
Delicious on its own or served with any topping of your choosing (it’s what I like to call a win/win)! I served it with a dollop of my Maple Caramel Drizzle. Simply melt 1 tablespoon vegan butter spread (regular butter can be substituted) and 1 tablespoon cashew butter. Then add 1 teaspoon maple syrup and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla to the melted butters and mix well with a spoon. Yum! Come to think of it, I’m off to have a piece right now.
Chocolate Torte – Plated
Chocolate Torte – Plated Front
This luscious and easy to make Fudgy Chocolate Torte is gluten-free, vegan, moist and delicious! No guilt here -- it's packed with nutrients and contains no processed sugar. Delicious on its own or served with any topping of your choosing.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups almond meal flour
- 1 1/2 cups gluten-free oat flour
- 1/2 cup date sugar
- 1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsweetened bakers cocoa
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2/3 cup dates (pitted and broken into thirds)
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 3/4 cup walnut oil
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cup cold water
Instructions
- 1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 2) Combine first 7 dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and mix well with a spoon or mixer.
- 3) Place dates and applesauce in food processor or high speed blender and puree. You may want to soak the dates in warm water for a few minutes prior to pureeing as this will help them to break down easier. (see notes)
- 4) Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add the date and applesauce puree and the remaining 4 wet ingredients.
- 5) Blend well with mixer at medium speed until smooth. (approx. 2 minutes)
- 6) Pour into ungreased tube pan and bake for 55 minutes. It should have a slightly crisp top and test done with a toothpick.
- 7) Cool completely on a wire rack. (approx. 1 hour)
Notes
To soak the dates I covered them in water, microwaved them for 1 minute on high power, and let them soak for 5 minutes. Drain the water before placing the dates in the food processor or blender.
Optional Maple Caramel Drizzle: Melt 1 tablespoon vegan butter spread and 1 tablespoon cashew butter. Add 1 teaspoon maple syrup and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla to the melted butters and mix well with a spoon.
Do you sell your reciepe books.hard copies not ebooks.and if yes how can i buy them.
Hi Cheryl! Thanks so much for asking! I am currently working on developing a cookbook. I actually have a few questions that I am asking my readers to answer to help make the cookbook better meet your needs. If you’d like to answer the questions please go here https://www.nutritionicity.com/cookbook-survey/ Also, on that page you can subscribe to my Nutritionicity newsletter where I will be updating on new posted recipes and giving progress reports on the cookbook. 🙂
This looks incredible! I am allergic to wheat, dairy, eggs and almonds so this recipe is great for me except for the almond flour. What would you suggest I use for a substitution?
Hi Judy! Thanks so much! Ok, I have not tried using any of these in this recipe but… I think you should be able to substitute the one and one half cups of almond flour with any 2 of these 3 flours — (3/4 cup each for a total of 1 1/2 cups) — sweet sorghum flour, garbanzo bean flour (chickpea), or hazelnut flour. I hope this helps! 🙂
What can you substitute for palm sugar? Also the oat flour? Also I am new to your page and not sure where you (I’m in Australia). Where can you buy the nut butters from? I’m finding buying from health food shops really expensive.
Hi Karen, Welcome!! Great to have you. The coconut palm sugar or coconut sugar (same thing) could be substituted with more date sugar. I have not tried using sweet sorghum flour in this recipe but you could try substituting it for the gluten-free oat flour. If gluten-free is not an issue for you, you could substitute the oat flour with all purpose flour. I am in the United States (Virginia to be more specific) but I think nut butters are expensive everywhere. If you want to purchase them you could try looking on Amazon.com for a good deal. I will do a post soon about how to make your own which is much cheaper. So stay tuned for that! 🙂
Can you substitute the walnut oil? Walnut oil gets oxidized when heated and becomes unstable.
Hi Jen! I agree that walnut oil and many other oils become unstable if heated in their basic state. However, I have seen a lot of research that suggests that certain oils, when refined can be safely heated to certain temperatures. For example, I use (Spectrum brand) refined walnut oil. As Spectrum states on the packaging, refined walnut oil is safe to heat up to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. If you want an alternative, perhaps you could try avocado oil which is supposed to be stable up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Refined coconut oil is also supposed to be safe heated to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (as stated on the Nutiva brand refined coconut oil packaging). I have not tried these substitutions in the Fudgy Chocolate Torte but I think they would be ok. I hope this helps. 🙂
Hi there. This looks great and I can’t wait to try it! As we try to also be grain free is it possible to substitute the oat flour for more almond meal? Or is there another flour I can use such as Quinoa or chickpea flour? Just thought I would check to see if you’ve tried it before launching into an experiment! Thanks so much
Hi there! That’s great! I have not tried any substitutions on this recipe. If you have previously baked with chickpea flour and are comfortable with its flavor, it would be my first try for a substitution. My concern with using all almond flour would be that it may make the cake too heavy and the texture a little too gritty. I hope this helps! Let me know how it goes 🙂
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My wife made this cake and we and our kids devoured it in less than a day. Thank goodness it was a healthy treat. LOL. It turned out exactly like in your pics and I could not get over how moist it was and how rich the chocolate flavor was. Thanks for posting!!!
Thanks so much Adam, for the kind words. I’m so happy to hear that your family enjoyed the cake. It’s always so nice when you can feel good about giving your kids something that they enjoy!