Quinoa Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

Wet

2 cups quinoa, cooked and cooled

1/3 cup avocado oil (or any cooking oil - I have used melted coconut oil and almond oil)

1/3 cup almond milk

¼ cup + 1 tablespoon maple syrup

4 eggs yolks (save the whites!)

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

Dry

1 cup almond flour

¾ cup Hersey’s Special Dark cocoa powder (or cacao powder)

½ cup monk fruit

½ baking soda

1 ½ baking powder

½ tsp salt

4 egg white 

½ tsp cream of tartar 

½ cup Lily’s chocolate chips

Glaze 

½ cup Swerve confectioners’ sugar 

1-2 T cocoa powder (the more cocoa you add, the more it cuts the sweet)

almond milk until a glaze consistency (a tablespoon or two)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F.

2. In a medium saucepan, cook 1 cup of quinoa according to directions. This should yield 2 – 2 ½ cups of cooked quinoa. Set aside to cool.

3. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Once stiff, add cream of tartar, beat to combine.

4. To the dry ingredients, stir in the wet ingredients just until combined. Next, gently fold in the egg whites 1/3 at a time. Be sure to maintain the integrity of the egg whites as much as possible – this is what gives it a light cakey texture.

5. Fold in chocolate chips and pour into a greased baking pan: 8x8, or a 9x9 pie plate or cake pan. I love to use my glass 2.2 Qt baking pan – it’s an awkward size in between a 13x9 and a 8x8, and its perfect for this recipe.

6. Bake for 22-26 minutes until a toothpick comes out with crumbs but isn’t wet.

7. Whisk ingredients for glaze and pour over the top of the cake.

8. Enjoy hot or room temp! (hot from the oven is my favorite) Store in the fridge for 4-5 days.