Pocono Pabulum for Mind & Body: Almond Butter Birthday Cake with Nutella Frosting

Almond Butter Birthday Cake
with Nutella Frosting

It's hard to believe that a little over a week ago my baby boy turned 10. Since it was a school day and a busy one at that, with soccer practices in the evening, I figured I had better make a cake that was nutritious enough to have for breakfast (although on your birthday I think eating any kind of cake at whatever time is perfectly acceptable). My son is not the biggest fan of chocolate (that gene must have skipped a generation) but he does love rich, dense desserts, and is particularly fond of almond flavoring. So after a summer spent making numerous batches of high protein chocolate brownies with both peanut and almond butters, I decided to tweak the recipe a bit and substitute the cocoa powder with a little bit of organic whole wheat pastry flour, the dark chocolate with white chocolate, use all almond butter and add in some pure almond extract for flavor. Like a lot of my baking experiments, I had no idea how it would turn out and hoped that it would not only taste good, but hold it's shape as a cake and cook evenly in two round cake pans. And let me tell you, it came out even better than I could have expected.

Please be advised that this recipe is still a dessert, so of course it shouldn't be eaten everyday as part of a healthy diet, but as far as a cake goes, it is much better than average. If cut into 12 or 16 slices, each piece will contain about 20g of mostly heart healthy fats, only about 15g of sugar, a couple of grams of fiber and about 10g of protein. Not too shabby for a birthday cake, and since you make it yourself it doesn't have anything artificial or processed in it. Of course I did ruin all that when I added in some colored sprinkles and frosted it with Nutella, but you only turn 10 once (double digits!), so I had to add a little something extra. You could definitely make a regular buttercream frosting for this cake, but I love Nutella and sometimes getting something straight from a jar when you have a billion other things to do in a day is the best option. I know my son loved this cake and we all enjoyed it (for breakfast) a couple of times last week.

Almond Butter Birthday Cake with Nutella Frosting

1 (16 ounce) jar almond butter
4 organic eggs

ingredients

1 C. pure maple syrup
1 tsp. pure almond extract
1/3 C. organic whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
4 ounces white chocolate, melted
1 T. organic virgin coconut oil
rainbow sprinkles, if desired
Nutella

In a large stand mixer, combine the almond butter and the eggs for a minute or two, then add in the maple syrup and almond extract. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and add to the mixer. In a small saucepan or in a microwave safe dish, slowly melt the white chocolate together with the coconut oil and immediately add to the mixer and beat for another minute. Add in the rainbow sprinkles, if desired. Grease and line with waxed paper the bottom of two 9-inch round cake pans and bake in the oven at 325F for about 35 minutes or until set. Let cool for a few minutes before removing carefully from the pans. Let cool completely before assembling and adding frosting. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week.