Triple Chocolate Birthday Cake

This year I decided to use my birthday as an opportunity to try a recipe I had been planning on one day making for over a year (diagnosis: chronic procrastinator). Anyway, it turned out to be the perfect occasion as it allowed me to share the dish with my whole family, and convert some stubborn health-food snobs in the process, including a niece who's staple diet includes tomato sauce and ice-cream!

Anyway, what I really love about this recipe is that it is kind to those allergic/intolerant to gluten, egg and dairy and is also relatively unprocessed. Additionally, food in its raw state is also considered to be healthier as some nutrients are heat sensitive, and thus baking them would cause their nutritional properties to diminish.

'Research studies have found a reduction of many minerals—including magnesium, manganese, calcium, copper, and others—from cooking. While these losses can be relatively small for brief cooking of some green leafy vegetables like spinach, they can become much larger if cooking times are extended' (The George Mateljan Foundation, 2014) 

 I feel that by omitting typical ingredients such as egg, dairy and grains, one is forced to include a wider range of foods, therefore increasing the dish's nutritional value. In this case, the main ingredients include nuts, coconut oil, cocoa powder, vanilla and agave.

I obtained the original recipe from the talented Sandra Istrice's blog but made the following changes to the recipe to suit the ingredients that I had on hand:

- I used hazelnut meal instead of hazelnut kernels as I knew this would be easier on the small blender I was going to use.

- Instead of raw cocoa power I just used 100% pure cocoa powder, which is sugar free. Raw cocoa powder is obviously more nutritious as it has not been heat treated, but the pure cocoa powder is cheaper, and still a healthy option. 

- I omitted the raisins as I am not particularly fond of their taste.

- Instead of cocoa butter, I used coconut oil in the filling and coconut cream in the icing as cocoa butter is fairly expensive.

- I also added a tiny pinch of pink Himalayan salt in to the icing to even out the sweetness and a small amount of cinnamon due to it's ability to assist the body in sugar digestion.

'A 2012 review of several recent studies concluded that the use of cinnamon had a potentially beneficial effect on glycemic control'                                                    (M. Regina Castro, M.D. , 2013).

References 

1. The George Mateljan Foundation (2014). Are minerals heat sensitive and lost in cooking?  Retrieved May 19, 2014 from http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=dailytip&dbid=166

2. Istrice, S. (2013). Triple Chocolate Cake (dairy, gluten and sugar free, raw and vegan). Retrieved May 13th, 2014 from http://sandraistrice.com/triple-chocolate-cake-dairy-gluten-sugar-free-raw-vegan/

3. M. Regina Castro, M.D. , (2013), Is it true that cinnamon can lower blood sugar in people who have diabetes? Retrieved May 19, 2014 from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetes/expert-answers/diabetes/faq-20058472