I decided to be brave and bake a cake to take to school for my son’s 4th birthday.

I don’t keep wheat flour or sugar in the house, so after scrounging through my pantry, my only option was to attempt a gluten-free sugar-free cake!

The truth? When it came out of the oven I was so proud of it that I couldn’t bring myself to send it to school where little grubby paws would just grab a slice and scoff it down without any appreciation for the ingredients that went into the cake!

So a quick dash to the local store to grab some already made cupcakes for his celebration at school, and the cake remained beautifully displayed on a cake-stand until my son’s actual party on the weekend, so we could enjoy it with family and others.

The cake is fudgy, rich and moist. And the secret? Avocado!!!

The cake is free from eggs, dairy, wheat, nuts, refined sugar and is vegan friendly.

Method

Heat oven to 160 degrees C.

Put the avocado, coconut sugar and xylitol in a food processor and whizz until smooth. Add the rest of the cake ingredients to the bowl and process again to a velvety, liquid batter. Pour into a cake pan.

Bake for 25 mins or until fully risen and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clean.

Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn the cake onto a rack to cool completely.

While you wait, start preparing the frosting. Sieve the icing sugar and cacao powder into a mixing bowl. Mix in the vanilla and a few drops of coconut milk. Add more milk and whisk until it is the perfect consistency. Ice cake when cooled.

Decorate with your favourite toppings. Some ideas? Goji berries, cacao nibs, dark chocolate chips, fresh berries, grated dark chocolate.

I wanted a really high cake, so I baked a second one for this occasion.

Notes

* The recipe calls for 300g of light muscovado sugar. I used half coconut sugar & half xylitol as that’s what I had available. You can use all xylitol or all coconut sugar.

**I always use the Health Connections General Purpose Gluten Free Flour as a substitute for any flour in a recipe, but you can use Eureka Stoneground Wheat Flour if you don’t have any allergies to wheat.

*** The recipe uses soya milk, but I prefer homemade coconut milk.

**** If you can’t get Xylitol Icing Sugar, you can grind Xylitol granules in a coffee bean grinder.