I’m sure most of us struggle to resist all the treats (read: cookies, cakes, marzipan, chocolate in all shapes and forms, wine etc!) during this month but December is that time of the year when we can treat ourself a bit more than usual and definitely not feel guilty for enjoying everything that Christmas time has to offer. I believe that in general, food should never be associated with guilt as that leads to nothing good and healthy.
If we for example, one day go a bit overboard and possibly indulge a bit too much in desserts or chocolate or pizza or delicious pastries or anything else, we should not feel guilty for it but accept that it was just that kind of day and the next few days get back on track and eat lighter, healthier food and move our bodies more, whether it’s a sport activity we enjoy or simply a walk out in the fresh air. I myself am not a very sporty person and I wish I was but I’m just not. My favourite activities are walking in the nature, swimming in the sea or light yoga so I try to do that as much as I can, there is always room for more and better but any activity is better than none. Do you agree? What are you favourite ways of exercising?
Ok, now that we had a nice little chat about exercising, let’s talk about chocolate hahaha! 😀 No really, joking aside, I honestly feel that treats are needed and that if we just deprive ourself of all desserts and food we crave and love, we will just end up being miserable and overeating on unhealthy processed sweets. Much better way is to choose wholesome unprocessed ingredients, to make our own treats using natural sweeteners, healthier flours, dark chocolate with high cacao percentage, to use seasonal produce and eat as much gorgeous vegetables as we can, fruit, seeds, whole grains like oats, barley, buckwheat, bulgur, millet, organic chicken, fish, etc… I would love to hear your thoughts on this!
Honestly, I don’t know how this post turned into this direction on healthy eating but it could be because I baked this chocolate bundt cake using some healthier ingredients than in regular bundt cakes. I still want it to be delicious decadent chocolate dessert but just not overly sweet and with some of my favourite ingredients that I use often in baking, like spelt flour, coconut oil, coconut sugar… Hope you’ll give it a try! I love creating and baking desserts that are not full of refined sugar, white flour, cream and butter but at the same time I want to say that I don’t think there is anything wrong (unless you have some kind of medical condition or allergy) in occasionally indulging in that kind of “classic” dessert too. Moderation is the key and I truly believe that.
To finish this today’s little chat about making choices to eat healthier, I also don’t believe in anything extreme so yes, I will be also baking Christmas cookies with butter (like these Dark chocolate & orange cookies) and sprinkling my Almond crescent cookies in sugar and that’s totally fine if you ask me. 🙂
Recipe in English:
- 1 cup coconut oil, melted
- 4 eggs, large
- 1 cup coconut sugar (or regular)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup oat milk (or other milk of your choice)
- 2 cups spelt flour (or all-purpose)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp raw cacao powder
- ½ cup dark chocolate, chopped
- For topping: 1 cup (200 g) dark chocolate, melted + 2 tbsp coconut cream or butter
- For decoration: slivered almonds and pomegranate seeds.
- Note: 1 cup = 250 ml
- For chocolate I used the one with 74% cacao.
- For bundt cake pan I used the one with 23 cm / 9 inch diameter.
- Preheat oven to 175 C / 350 F. Prepare bundt cake pan and grease it slightly, you don't have to do that if using a silicone one.
- In a large mixing bowl using electric mixer beat eggs with coconut oil (melted). Add coconut sugar, oat milk and vanilla and beat another minute or two.
- In another mixing bowl combine flour with baking powder, cacao powder and salt.
- Add flour mixture into wet ingredients mixture.
- Stir well and add chopped chocolate.
- Transfer the mixture into prepared bundt cake pan and bake for about 50 minutes or until tester comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool before removing from the the pan.
- Prepare chocolate ganache by melting the chocolate and coconut cream or butter over double boiler (bain-marie) and drizzle it over the bundt cake.
- decorate the cake with slivered almonds and pomegranate seeds or cranberries. Enjoy!
- Note: Keep at room temperature or remove from the fridge at least 2 hours before serving because coconut oil hardens when in the fridge.
Recipe in Croatian / Recept na hrvatskom:
- SASTOJCI
- 1 salica kokosovog ulja, otopljenog
- 4 jaja, velika
- 1 salica kokosovog secera (ili obicnog)
- 1 zlicica vanilin ekstrakta
- 1 salica zobenog mlijeka (ili drugog)
- 2 salice pirovog brasna (ili psenicnog)
- 2 zlicice praska za pecivo
- prstohvat soli
- 1 zlica sirovog kaako praha
- ½ salice tamne cokolade, nasjeckane
- Za preljev: 1 salica (200 g) tamne cokolade, otopljene + 2 zlice kokosovog vrhnja ili maslaca
- Za dekoraciju: listici badema i sjemenke nara.
- Napomena: 1 salica = 250 ml
- Ja sam koristila cokoladu sa 74 % kakaa.
- Koristila sam kalup za kuglof promjera 23 cm.
- PRIPREMA
- Zagrijte pecnicu na 175 C. Pripremite kalup za kuglof i malo ga namastite, ne trebate ako koristite silikonski.
- U vecoj posudi miksajte jaja i kokosovo ulje. Dodajte kokosov secer, zobeno mlijeko i vaniliju i miksajte jos minutu-dvije.
- U drugoj posudi pomijesajte brasno, prasak za pecivo, kakao i sol.
- Dodajte mjesavinu brasna u mokre sastojke.
- Dobro promijesajte i dodajte nasjeckanu cokoladu.
- Ulijte smjesu u pripremljeni kalup i pecite oko 50 minuta ili dok cackalica ne izadje cista.
- Ostavite kuglof da se ohladi prije vadjenja iz kalupa.
- Pripremite cokoladni preljev tako sto otopite cokoladu s kokosovim vrhnjem ili maslacem.
- Prelijte preko ohladjenog kuglofa i ukrasite listicima badema i sjemenkama nara ili brusnicama.
- Dobar tek!
- Napomena: drzite na sobnoj temperaturi ili izvadite iz frizidera barem 2 sata prije posluzivanja jer se kokosovo ulje stvrdne u frizideru.
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Looks good to me! 😉
Thank you, it’s delicious! 🙂