Grain-free, Bean-free, Vegan Vanilla Cake

Grain-free vanilla cake made with flax and agave.

My kids call this birthday cake...

It's kind of sweet and disappears quickly. You will need a food processor or wide-based blender to make this cake.

1 cup whole quinoa
1 cup water
2 tbsp flax seeds
1 cup agave nectar or maple syrup

2 cups ground amaranth or amaranth flour

1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp orange peel granules (optional)
scrapings of vanilla bean, a very small amount is good
1/4 cup virgin coconut oil

1/4 cup unfiltered apple cider vinegar or lemon juice

1 tsp organic sugar (optional)

• Preheat oven to 350 F, and grease an 11x7x2 pan with coconut oil. A 9" round or 8x8 pan may work as well.
• In food processor or blender, process quinoa and 1 cup water for a few minutes.
• Add flax seeds and process until homogeneous, then add agave nectar (or maple syrup) and combine in processor.
• In a separate bowl, add ground amaranth or amaranth flour, baking soda, orange peel granules, vanilla scrapings, and combine. I usually use a fork to mix dry ingredients.
• Add coconut oil to dry mix and stir.
• Pour wet mixture from food processor into dry mixture in bowl. Stir until combined. Again, I usually just use a fork to mix ingredients.
• Lastly, pour apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice) into bowl and gently fold into cake mix, using a rubber or silicone spatula. At this point the vinegar will react with the baking soda and cause the cake batter to rise in the bowl, so don't overmix, just combine.
• Quickly pour batter into pan and sprinkle cake with organic sugar before placing in oven.
• Bake cake for approximately 30 minutes.

Cake right after coming out of oven.

I also will make a chocolate sauce for the cake, using 1 tbsp carob powder (or raw cocoa) mixed with 2 tbsp virgin coconut oil. The kids love it! And so do I. Note: Carob is a bean, so the cake will not be bean-free if you put carob on it.



Grain-free vanilla cake with carob and coconut oil topping.



This cake is grain-free, gluten-free, corn-free, rice-free, dairy-free, casein-free, bean-free, soy-free, almond-free, tree nut-free, egg-free, potato-free, nightshade-free, and xanthan gum-free.

It can be made yeast-free by using lemon juice instead of apple cider vinegar.