Happy Birthday to Dad and Best Chocolate Cake Recipe with Real Food Ingredients!

Our beloved Dad turns 44 today!  What a joy and a blessing to have a man who fears the Lord.  Danielle got to play “Happy Birthday” song in the piano while Noah drummed in a couple of my food pails.

Then, she turned the environment jolly and militant with “When the Saints go Marching in”.  We enjoyed this delicious cake with milk and Jose got to open presents that we put together.  He enjoyed all the little love notes from Danielle, Destiny, Noah and even Liberty who runs to him crying “Papa, Papa” every time he comes home from work.

This is a chocolate cake you can actually eat a second serving without feeling guilty.   Even Liberty Joy enjoyed a bit.  We have modified and replaced some ingredients from the Hershey’s one.

You will need:

• 2 cups flour.  I make a sprouted soft wheat flour.
• 2 cups Rapadura (sugar) I use 1 1/2 cups
• ¾ cup cocoa
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon instant “barley” coffee powder (or espresso)
• 1 cup milk (I used 1/2 cup  of kefir and 1/2 cup of milk)
• ½ cup coconut oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. Butter two 9-inch cake pans or one 9 by 11.
2. Mix together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and barley coffee powder in a large bowl.
3. Add milk,  oil, eggs, and vanilla to flour mixture and mix together.
4. Slowly and carefully add boiling water to the cake batter. Beat on high speed for about 1 minute to add air to the batter if you have a hand mixer.
5. Distribute cake batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until done.
6. Let it cool before applying the frosting

Chocolate frosting

• 1 (8 ounce) package organic cream cheese
• 3 Tablespoons of raw honey

• 1/4 cup organic heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup organic semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions:  Melt the chocolate.  I put the chocolate in a glass measuring cup over a small saucepan with water.  Add all ingredients to a blender or to a bowl if using a hand mixer and combine well.

I have doubled this recipe for a larger crowd and it turned out well too.

Enjoy your birthday celebrations with your whole family!

Happy 9th Birthday To Our Young Artist And Best Carrot Cake Recipe

Danielle turned 9!  She was very grateful that the Lord answered her prayer of riding a horse before her birthday.

She had a blessed day full of fun with friends and family.  Her aunt Martha gave her an artist set and she has been gladly and busily drawing.

Danielle likes horses.  She likes to draw horses too.  Therefore, she asked me if I could bake her a carrot cake because horses like to eat carrots as treats.

Her Dad's prayer is that she would be a straight arrow in the hands of the warrior.  He gave her a bow and arrow to remind her that she is to be straight and polished as the arrow to be able to hit the target.

I baked this two-tier carrot cake that we were pretty happy with, in spite of the fact that I made up the recipe as I went.  I thought I would do an ice cream cake if it didn't turned out.  I will surely make this again so I had to write down the recipe:

Ingredients:

Cake:
3 C sprouted soft wheat flour
2 C rapadura sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs or 3 jumbo eggs
1 1/2 C  of coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla
3 C grated carrot

Frosting:
16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 C raw honey

2 tsp of orange zest
1 tsp vanilla

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line 2 pie pans with parchment paper.
2.  In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients for the cake.  In a medium bowl, beat together all the remaining ingredients for the cake.  Pour into the dry ingredients and mix well.  Divide evenly between the three pans.
3.  Bake for 30-35 minutes until the cake bounces back when gently touched in the center.  While the cake bakes, use a wooden spoon to beat together the cream cheese, butter and lemon zest until smooth.  Add the remaining frosting ingredients and mix until smooth and lump free.
4.  Cool the cakes for 10 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a cooling rack.  Remove the pan and slowly peel away the wax/parchment paper liners.  Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Really, it was very delicious!  What's the point in making a cake and you can't enjoy it? Danielle loved it.  I can't wait for the next birthday.