Healthy Steamed Chocolate Molten Cakes
6:56 PM
I love chocolate cake. I'll take it every which way, no complaints. Hot, cold, layered, iced, plain, drizzled...Raw, Baked, fried...steamed. Who turns down chocolate cake?
This summer has been pretty sweltering, leaving me not in the mood to bake or even turn the oven on. Our little house gets so hot when we cook that I have been eating mostly raw foods for months. Maybe it's that time of the month but I had an irresistible craving for cake this week. I have been pretty busy with work so I haven't had a chance to make any. But today I had a blissful day off and I decided to put my bamboo steamer to good use.
Allow me to introduce you to my new favourite chocolate cake recipe. Meet my steamy little friend -- my healthy chocolate buckwheat molten mini cake. 
That oozy filling captured in the above image on the right is incredibly rich. It's like I baked a chocolate bomb into these little cakes. Best of all, this recipe serves exactly two people! Not leftovers, no waste, just pure chocolate indulgence.
This picture illustrates the steam cooking technique. These are the two little cakes right after steaming. I steamed them until they were fairly firm to the touch, they springed back. I wasn't sure what to expect, it seemed like they were fully cooked through cakes, but surprise surprise, they were still deliciously molten inside.
Did I fail to mention the benefits of these beauties? Let me break them down for you. These decadent tasting chocolate molten cakes are:
- free of refined sugar and sugary sweeteners
- fruit and stevia sweetened
- gluten free
- vegan
- nut free
- wholegrain
- made mostly of buckwheat and brown rice flour
- reduced fat (I used only a small amount of coconut oil and olive oil)
- a good source of vegan protein
- full of healthy essential fatty acids thanks to the chia seeds, coconut oil and olive oil
- rich in antioxidants and magnesium
- high fiber
I set out to make these chocolate cakes with buckwheat due to my ongoing fascination with baking with buckwheat groats.I have been intrigued by baked buckwheat porridge on instagram and have had great textural success when I added buckwheat to a recent batch of cookies.
There's a lot to love about buckwheat. It is an amazingly healthy food. It is not related to wheat as is gluten free. It is high in protein and is not a grain but rather a pseudo cereal more closely related to rhubarb! It is very nutritious and helps the body develop lean muscle. Learn more about buckwheat's benefits here.
Buckwheat is a seed. Seeds are very nutritious in their raw and cooked forms but are generally more nutritious when they are soaked or sprouted before consumption. For this recipe I pre-soaked my raw buckwheat with salted water and a little vinegar. This easy process makes buckwheat and other seeds more digestible and makes the nutrients and vitamins it offers more available to the human body. I have often experienced unpleasant digestive issues when it comes to seeds and nuts so I try to soak them first. Soaking seeds makes a huge difference for me and for most people so I highly recommend not skipping this key step in the recipe.
These chocolate cakes are really easy to make and they won't heat up your kitchen/home making them an ideal summer dessert. Because they serve only two they are perfect for date night so save this recipe for that special someone. You can thank me later!
If you try this recipe, please take a picture and tag #bakingbackwards on instagram or wherever you like to share food pics. I'd love to see what you bake!
Healthy Molten Chocolate Cakes
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Strain and rinse your soaked buckwheat until your water runs clear. Drain well. Add the buckwheat to a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the coconut water and blend well. Add all remaining ingredients except the stevia and blend until very smooth. Taste! Add just enough liquid stevia to sweeten the mixture to your desired sweetness. If the batter is not very chocolatey or tastes too much of banana, add more cacao and blend. Taste again and sweeten more with stevia if necessary. Stop adding stevia and cacao when your cake batter flavour is reminiscent of real chocolate cake batter.
Fill the bottom one third of a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Top with a bamboo steamer. Grease two ramekins with a little coconut oil and divide the batter between them evenly.
Place the filled ramekins in the steamer. Cover and steam gently over medium to low heat until the cakes are risen and semi firm or firm to the touch. Try not to uncover the lid during cooking as the steam will escape. Instead, wait until the cakes are fragrant before checking for doneness. The more semi firm to the touch the cakes are, the more molten they will be inside. You can test for doneness with a toothpick. My cake centers were somewhat molten even though the cake tops were firm to the touch. If you don’t want a molten cake but a fully cooked cake, wait until your toothpick inserts and comes out clean with no crumbs or goo. Serve your cooked cakes warm with spoons.
OPTIONAL: Top with coconut whipped cream or frost your finished cakes if desired.
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