FitnessRum

Last night I felt like eating a cocoa cake. I prepared a scratch mixture quickly using whatever I had on hand. The result was a super yummy brownie crisp from the outside and wet inside. I love sweets that are tender and melting inside, but are well cooked from the outside!

Necessary products

• 100 g almonds ground to flour
• 100 g of flour (I mixed two equal parts of quinoa and rice flour, but you can also use white, wholemeal or whatever type of flour you have at the moment)
• 3 tablespoon cocoa
• 200 g yogurt (below I give you a substitute if you are keeping lent)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon powdered stevia leaves – see the note below
• 2 tablespoon oil
• 300 g apples (1 big apple and 2 smaller ones)

I ground the almonds in the food processor (you can alternatively use almond flour, but it is usually defatted).

Add the flour, cocoa, stevia and stir all dry ingredients (couple of rotations of the processor).

Lately I’ve been using the food processor to stir up practically anything, as it’s fast and easy.

Mix the baking soda with the yogurt and add it to the mixture.

Form the paste into a ball. It only needs some moisture so add ¾ of the apple. I decided to chop it in big pieces, because the processor grinds it, but if you don’t have a food processor, grate it pretty fine.

I cut the other ¼ of the apple to pieces and left it for the end.

Stir until a smooth thick paste forms and finally add the oil.

Pour the mixture into a regular-sized baking form. My form is 29 x 11 cm and the brownie became 3,5 cm thick. I poured the rest of the apple pieces on top of the paste and I pressed them slightly with a spoon so that they sunk into the mixture.

I baked for 60 minutes in a preheated oven at 150C. I didn’t want the oven to be much hotter so that the cocoa is not overheated. Also, the brownie needs more time to get dry.

I tested with a tooth stick and it came out still wet even after 60 min, so don’t worry – the brownie will still be wet.

If you use a bigger baking pan, you should reduce the baking time. My baking form is supposed to be non-stick, but up till now I have never managed to get any cake in one fine piece.

As I’m a fan of minimalism I don’t feel like buying a new form, but I wish I cook at least once a cake that I can take decent pictures of. Well, the photos aren’t perfect, but it was delicious so I might well think of getting a new pan!

Note:
If you are keeping lent: replace the 200 g yogurt with products with the same quantity and moisture – that is, half a yogurt container of ground apple. Press it gently in the container so that it gets closer to yogurt density.

Generally, when ingredients are replaced in a recipe, you don’t substitute literally one quantity for another, but you have to also replace the volume and the dampness. So, grind the apple, press it in the container and now you will know how much you need.

Stevia: apart from being sweet, it has a unique taste, which isn’t generally approved of. The taste however is not prominent here because of the cocoa so it’s only the sweetness that you can taste.

Still, if this is the first time that you’ve used stevia, taste it in advance so that you know what it tastes like. Then add half of the necessary quantity and try the dough. If you can’t feel its taste or if you like how the dough tastes, you can add a little more. Add some more and taste again until you get the perfect balance between sweetness and the taste of stevia.

Mind you, once baked, the taste of stevia will be a little more intrusive. Don’t worry though, you’ll do fine – I share this long explanation so that your taste gets used and you know what to expect.

My sweetheart loved the cake and didn’t say it was weird, so I believe that even the hardest to please will like it. Better still, don’t tell them what’s inside 🙂