Dairy Free Almond Joy Chocolate Cake

As a new mommy, there are guilty pleasures that many of us give in to. For me, it was chocolate. Any kind of chocolate. Dark Chocolate, chocolate with almonds, brownies, cereal with chocolate in it, chocolate milk, you name it.. if it had chocolate in it, I was all ears!

Unfortunately, (or fortunately, for my waistline) when I went dairy free to try to make my breast milk compatible with my baby, chocolate had to be cut.

After doing some digging, I learned that cocoa powder (just plain, unsweetened, all natural cocoa powder) is 100% dairy free! AWESOME! The downside, that stuff alone is completely DISGUSTING!

So I had to get in touch with my inner chef and find a way to make that sugarless cocoa into a delicious, craving curbing form of chocolate... and I'm proud to say I've done just that!

This chocolate cake is delicious! My hubby HATES chocolate cake, and even he ate a piece (and by a piece I mean 1/4 of the cake!) Another perk: you'll only need to use one bowl! I can't think of any reason that I'd want to have more dishes than that to clean!

Here's what you'll need:

2 cups white sugar
1 3/4 Cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup non-dairy milk ( I used rice/quinoa blend- if you're going for a coconut or almond flavor, us that!)
1/2 cup canola oil (or, if you like the coconut flavor- use coconut oil)
2 tsp vanilla extract (again, you can switch this out and use almond or coconut, etc.)
1 cup water, boiling


1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare your cake pan (I used a 13x9 rectangle pan)

2. Mix all dry ingredients.

3. Add in all wet ingredients EXCEPT water. Stir (or beat with electric mixer) until well blended.

4. Add boiling water and stir in until thoroughly incorporated. You batter will be really runny, don't fret.

5. Pour into prepped cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. ( I did 30 minutes and it was still semi-fudgey but not to the point of being raw)

6. Let cool completely and top with your choice of toppings! I made some homemade chocolate coconut frosting and sprinkled some powdered sugar on top but it would be great with plain chocolate, or with chocolate coconut and chopped almonds, etc. The possibilities are endless!

Here's how I made my chocolate almond coconut frosting:
1/4 cup coconut oil, slightly softened
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 cup vanilla almond milk
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract

Sift together the sugar and cocoa powder into a bowl.
In a large bowl, use an electric to blend together coconut oil, almond milk and almond extract.
Slowly add the sifted powder mixture into the oil mixture while beating until thoroughly combined.


7. Pour some wine, kick your feet up, and EAT CAKE!

Enjoy!!

:)