Apple, Rose & Chocolate Chip Cake

Christmas as well as winter time in general practically begs for a requisite mug of tea or coffee to be wrapped within ones hand.  I personally go for (green) tea, but I know most of you likely prefer coffee.  Either way, to each his own.  And what would coffee/tea be without a little something sweet on the side?  However, I am sympathetic to the plight of expanding waistlines that seems to always inevitably come with the holiday season.  That is why I whipped up this particular cake for your tasting (and viewing, because its a rather pretty cake) pleasure.

Made from buckwheat flour (which isn’t a wheat at all, its actually a fruit seed) which means the cake is wheat/gluten free, its also refined sugar-free and lactose-free.  Hows that for something truly sweet during the holiday season?  Now all we need is a blanket of glittering white come Christmas day.  Then, perfection.

For this particular recipe, I decided to continue my foray into experimenting with slightly more unique flavors.  My love affair with lavender is still going strong, but I recently became intrigued with the idea of doing some baking with rose.  Yes, actual rose petals.  Hence, the result is this cake which came out surprisingly lovely.

Without further ado, recipe #29:

Raw Carrot Cake with Maple Mascarpone Frosting

Drum roll for my second raw recipe…#25…and seriously?  Its a GOOD one.  One of the people I live with sampled it and said it was his “favorite thing” out of all the recipes I have made thus far!!!!  I don’t know if its the best but I have to say, its among the top.  This one came out shockingly great.  The flavors together are just awesome.  The texture is fun, the carrots giving it a nice crunch.  The coconut and coconut flour lend the cake a slightly hearty feel.  The sweetness just right.  This is a pretty bomb dessert if I do say so myself.  And it was all the result of an experimental whim.  The best part?  Its HEALTHY!!!  The recipe is refined sugar-free and gluten-free.  AND its raw!!!

(The cake itself is lactose free, though the frosting is not).

The recipe may look like a lot of steps.  It isn’t.  Half of the steps are simply regarding how to assemble it once the cake mixture is made.  So do not be intimidated!  This is one of the easiest desserts you will ever throw together, and with major taste payoff.  The actual making of the cake is just steps 1-5 in the recipe below.