Flourless Orange Vanilla Cake (Paleo)

2 years ago to the day, I met someone that lit a light in my life.

I didn't know it at the time, but that person would save my life in more ways than one. He opened up a world to me which I knew nothing of before and taught me how to finally and fully go after all the things that I dreamed I could do. I quite literally might not be here today if it weren't for him. When I was gasping for air during my first life threatening allergic reaction, he was there to grab my hand and get me to safety. Though I couldn't fully tell him what was happening to me, he somehow knew to give me anti-histamines while we waited for the ambulance. I'm so lucky and happy to call him my best friend. I love him dearly.

One of Yan's favorite recipes of mine is basically the inverse of my chocolate paleo cake. This is an orange vanilla version that he describes as unbelievably moist and delicious. A few of our friends who are also from eastern europe said it was reminiscent of a type of Russian cake they used to have on occasion. I just love that a flourless and paleo cake can stand on the same level as rich glutenous cakes--everyone that tried it typically eats gluten. But as long as Yan says it's good, I'm happy. I wish I could do more to say thank you for everything and I love you.

Flourless Orange Vanilla Cake (paleo)

This recipe is free of: Grains, Gluten, Soy, Dairy, Peanuts, Legumes, Yeast, and Refined Sugar.

• 2 cups almond flour/meal. I used Bob’s Red Mill Almond flour/meal.
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup xylitol (from birch, not from corn) or alternative sweetener of choice. (If it’s a liquid sweetener reduce the other liquids accordingly).
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon orange oil. I use Simply Organics orange flavor.
• 3 eggs (I use soy free fed eggs).
• 3/4 cup coconut milk or almond milk
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Optional: zest of 1/2 an orange

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use butter or coconut spread to grease a 8 or 9 inch round cake pan.
2. Mix the dry ingredients and combine well. Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl and add them to the dry, whisking with a fork. Stir until well combined. There’s no need for an electric mixer here.
3. Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center to ensure it’s cooked through. Let it cool and add topping of choice, such as a chocolate drizzle or simple orange zest.

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The Perfect Paleo Chocolate Cake (Grain-free, Sugar-free)

This past weekend, we moved into our lovely new condo. It seems like a much needed fresh new start, and I couldn't be happier about the location--a 5 minute commute to work with minimal traffic. There's been some big and wonderful changes in my work life as well, which I can talk more about later. I knew I had to whip up something to celebrate the newness of it all. I embarked on taking the kitchen for a test run, which was slightly intimidating due to a little less counter space. But what came out of the oven more than made up for the loss.

I must've known somehow subconsiously that a celebratory cake was even more necessary yesterday. As we sat down to taste it, two of our friends/family announced their engagement to us. We were ecstatic to hear the news and immediately paired the cake with a more than appropriate toast of champagne. We send our happy wishes and congratulations to the lovely couple! May you always find happiness in each other.

I also wanted to note here that I'm attempting to cut back on my grain and sugar intake lately. So I decided to opt for an almond flour alternative for the base of this cake with xylitol to sweeten it. I have to admit I was skeptical about what I was throwing together in the mixing bowl at first, but it turned out being one of the easiest from scratch recipes I've concocted so far. I never knew paleo could taste so rich and elegant. This is hands down my absolute favorite sweet chocolate cake I've ever made, grain-free or not. It has an amazingly moist and fudgy type quality about it that can often be missing from other basic almond flour cakes. Even after indulging in it last evening, I promptly dove into it again for breakfast this morning. The best part is you can indulge guilt free--it's quite a healthy cake and loaded with protein. This is also the perfect dessert for those on a candida diet or low carb diet.

The Perfect Paleo Chocolate Cake

Grain-free, Gluten-free, Soy-free, Dairy-free, Peanut-free, Legume-free, Yeast-free, Sugar-free,  & Low Carb.

• 2 cups almond flour/meal. I used Bob's Red Mill Almond flour/meal.
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 raw cacao powder. I love Navitas Naturals brand for this.
• 1 cup "granulated" xylitol or alternative sweetener of choice. (If it's a liquid sweetener reduce the other liquids accordingly).
• Dash of salt
• Optional: Zest of one orange.
• 4 eggs (I use soy-free fed eggs).
• 3/4 cup coconut milk (unsweetened or pre-sweetened with safe alternative sweetener). I use SO Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk.
• 1/4 cup olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use butter or coconut spread to grease a 8 or 9 inch round cake pan.
2. Mix the dry ingredients and combine well. Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl and add them to the dry, whisking with a fork. Stir until well combined. There's no need for an electric mixer here.
3. Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center to ensure it's cooked through. It should be a nice fudgy consistency. Let it cool and top it with orange zest or mixed berries. I didn't think it needed any frosting at all. It's delicious on it's own.

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Mixed Berry Almond Cake

This week at home, we're celebrating not only the bountiful harvest of the summer, but the one year Anniversary of this blog. I feel honored to have interacted with such a great community of writers, dreamers, and believers over the past year. Sharing my life and food allergic adventures here with all of you has been nothing short of amazing, and for that I thank all of you. I hope I can bring as much joy to everyone through this blog as I receive from writing it.

I've been wishing and craving for delicate indulgences lately and an almond flour celebratory cake seemed the perfect match. Summer berries are in full swing in the markets and I couldn't settle on just one kind to add to the cake. Inspired by the lovely Caitlin at Roost, I embarked on my own version of her beautiful strawberry cake. This is a gluten-free, grain-free, soy free cake and icing recipe.

I settled on the addition of sweet organic blueberries and strawberries, which are best bought organic to minimize pesticide exposure. These little beauties are sadly both on the "Dirty Dozen" list. Chopped walnuts seemed appropriate for some extra crunch and with the Dark Chocolate Icing, quite a pairing was made.

I have to be honest though, in the fact that the bottom of the cake harbored a slight burned taste, since I didn't cover the bottom of my pans with parchment paper. Almond flour can have the habit of getting a little charred without this precaution. The cake turned out pretty good despite that.

Mixed Berry Almond Cake

(adapted from Roost Strawberry Cake)

This makes two 8 or 9 inch cakes.

• 3.5 cups almond flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 6 soy free eggs
• 3 Tbsp raw local honey
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 7 Tbsp softened Olivo Coconut Spread
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 1/2 cup bluberries
• 1/2 chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine wet ingredients and add them to the sifted dry ingredients, minus the berries and walnuts. After well combined, gently stir in the berries and nuts. Cover the bottom of baking pans with parchment paper and pour in the batter. Bake for about 25 minutes, making sure to check that the center is done.

Dark Chocolate Icing

• 1/2 cup Coconut oil, melted over low heat
• 2 - 3 Tbsp raw local honey (depending on how sweet you want it)
• 1/2 cup raw Cacao powder
• 1 - 2 Tbsp So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk, Sugar-Free.
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Whisk together the melted coconut oil and honey. Slowly add the cacao powder until a thicker glaze-like consistency is made. Add the vanilla extract and the Vanilla Coconut milk to taste and consistency. If the mixture is too thin, add more cacao powder or honey. If it's too thick, add more coconut milk. Make sure the cakes are completely cooled before frosting them.

Happy Birthday blog!

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Triple-Layer Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Coconut Frosting & Raspberry Sauce

The Triple-layer Chocolate Raspberry Cake I made for Christmas this year! Gluten free, Soy free, Dairy free, Peanut free, Tree nut free. I did use soy-free eggs, but you could also use egg replacement product instead.

See recipe below:

My favorite cake recipe I've made so far:

• 2 boxes King Arthur Gluten free Chocolate Cake mix

• Follow directions on cake mix, but instead of all the water called for, use half So Delicious coconut milk (chocolate or vanilla--I use chocolate) and the rest water. I also used a few tablespoons of fresh raspberry juice instead of vanilla extract

For the Raspberry/Coconut frosting:

• 2 cups confectioner's sugar


• 3/4 cup non-dairy buttery spread or "butter of your choice. I used Olivio coconut spread, which goes nicely with the fresh raspberry sauce.


• 2-4 tablespoons of So Delicious coconut milk (sugar free)


• 2 tablespoons of fresh raspberry juice


• Mix together, add more coconut milk or raspberry juice if the frosting is too thick, add more powdered sugar if it's too thin.

Raspberry Sauce:

• 1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries


• 3-5 tablespoons cane sugar


• 1/2 cup of water


• Bring ingredients to boil over medium high heat. Heat until sugar is dissolved and mixture thickens. I crush the raspberries with a spoon in the process to get a thicker consistency, but you could also leave them whole or in pieces if desired.


• Cut the cake and drizzle the raspberry sauce over the top. Happy Holidays on a plate! <3

Happy Christmas!

Wishing you all a magical, safe, healthy and happy Christmas and holidays!

Here are some bits of my first soy-free and legume free (3rd Gluten-free) Christmas.

[caption id="attachment_501" align="aligncenter" width="468"] My Christmas grassfed beef roast with veggies and red wine sauce before the oven.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_502" align="aligncenter" width="468"] Getting pumped for the roast![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_503" align="aligncenter" width="468"] My Triple Layer Chocolate Raspberry Cake, which I will be posting about in more detail in the next upcoming post.[/caption]

^^ Stay tuned for more about my triple layer cake with homemade raspberry sauce!^^

[caption id="attachment_504" align="aligncenter" width="468"] Max, ready for his close up.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_505" align="aligncenter" width="468"] Dancing on Christmas morning[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_507" align="aligncenter" width="468"] Beautiful Christmas flowers from my sister[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_508" align="aligncenter" width="468"] Blinking red and green[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_509" align="aligncenter" width="468"] Cozy[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_510" align="aligncenter" width="468"] Decadent....and it was actually easy to make.[/caption]

 The Merriest Christmas and happy holidays to you and yours. Peace on Earth, and goodwill to your tummies =)

The Allergen free, Gluten free cake in action, plus Breast CancerAwareness, and steamed Salmon recipe.

Whoop there it is! ;)

Just checking in to share a photo my aunt took of the allergen free, gluten free wedding cake I made for my sister. I know it's small in comparison to their ginormous gluten filled cake, but hey, mine was four layers! The only downside was that my sister and I had to eat around the sugar flowers that got placed on it by the other baker when I wasn't looking =P They might have been alright to eat, but I wasn't prepared to take that chance. I was pretty surprised they topped it without asking me, as we already had other plastic cake toppers to put on. But all in all, the cake was awesome and a big hit!

I also wanted to say Happy Breast Cancer Awareness Month! 

I love the awareness campaign, as it changed my life. Resources from the campaign let me know that just because I'm a young woman, it doesn't excuse me from doing monthly self exams. Good thing I listened!  I ended up finding a tumor in my left breast about a year and half ago. It's grown a lot since then, but I've gotten multiple checks on it which say that it's benign. We are watching it since it's still growing, but I am so thankful to this campaign for enlightening women all over the world about catching potential problems early. Don't ever let a doctor tell you that you're too young to have a tumor. Thank you to the Breast Cancer Awareness movement and all of it's supporters/affiliates! Wear pink to show your support this month!

A great food that's soy free, gluten free, dairy free, and pretty much all other allergen free (expect for fish of course,) is Salmon! And guess what? It's great in supporting healthy breast tissue with Omega 3's, and....it's pink =) Here's a basic recipe of mine that is a stand by whenever I'm working with Salmon:

Recipe/Directions: ~ Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (fahrenheit). Get some foil to wrap your pieces of salmon in, and place the salmon in each piece of foil, leaving enough to close it like a packet.

Drizzle your salmon with olive oil and juice of half a lemon.  Add about 1/4 of a large onion diced, fresh dill, and fresh grape tomatoes-halved.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, a dash of cayenne pepper, dried thyme, and diced fresh garlic (1-2 cloves depending on your preferences).  Close up your packets, place them in a baking dish or baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes.  The salmon will come out steamy, flavorful and tender!

Upcoming: Wedding cake maddness!

My sister's wedding is coming up in just a few days and I've been commissioned to do the soy free, gluten free cake!  And in fact, it is a top 8 allergen-free cake! So stay tuned for some great recipes for allergen free wedding cake, rolling fondant frosting, and creamy filler frosting.  Great baking product recommendations and of course, pictures to come!

Take care, and enjoy this beautiful sweet autumn day (it is here at least!)

Sending good energies,

Bethany xoxo

Here's a photo from my sister's bridal shower this summer. I made two orange and chocolate glazed cakes. The only allergen they contained was eggs.