AIP Black Forest Cake is an allergy friendly version of the classic – gluten free, dairy free, egg free – all the frees!
Oh, I have something reeeeeaaallly special for you, my friends. ๐ My blog started one year ago, totally by accident, but what a FUN year itโs been! I wanted to create a special recipe to share with you in celebration, because if you were here, I would slice you a piece of cake, and weโd celebrate in person. Iโve been dreaming up this recipe and trying different versions for a while now, but this is the one that won.
Now, why would a cake recipe be such a big deal? First of all, baking on the AIP is nearly impossible without wheat flour, eggs, and sugar! Second, 
sweets are treats for us – or they should be, if we intend to heal. Sugar is not our friend. Sugar is that popular girl in sixth grade who acted like your friend, then blabbed the contents of your diary to the whole school. Sugar is a big meanie, which should only be appreciated in small doses. This recipe – the whole entire (redundant, much?) cake – contains only three tablespoons of added sugar. The rest of the sweetness comes from plantains, cherries, and carob, which is slightly sweet by nature.
Many of the weirdo ingredients can be found at Whole Foods, but just in case, Iโve included links to on-line sources within the ingredient list.
Yes, it will take a long time to make. Yes, you will miss regular, sugary cake when you taste of it. And yes, after about three bites, your brain will say, โOK, we can deal with this. Because dessert.โ
Happy birthday, Wendiโs AIP Kitchen!!! ๐๐๐๐๐
THANK YOU so much for walking with me this year. I appreciate you!
๐,
Wendi
AIP Black Forest Cake
Course: DessertCuisine: AIP, PaleoDifficulty: Medium8
servings45
minutes30
minutesAIP Black Forest Cake is an allergy friendly version of the classic – gluten free, dairy free, egg free – all the frees!
Ingredients
3 C. 3 ripe plantains, peeled and sliced (about two plantains, yellow & black)
1/2 C. 1/2 coconut milk (I useAROY-D Coconut Milk)
1/4 C. 1/4 melted coconut oil
2 T. 2 real maple syrup
2 t. 2 alcohol-free vanilla
1/2 C. 1/2 cassava flour
1/2 C. 1/2 arrowroot starch/flour
1/4 C. 1/4 coconut flour
1 T. 1 gelatin (I useย Great Lakes Gelatin)
1 t. 1 sea salt
1 1/2 t. 1 1/2 baking soda
3 T. 3 carob powder
1/2 t. cream of tartar
For the cherry topping:
3 C. fresh cherries, pitted and halved
1/3 C. 1/3 + 1 T. filtered water
1 T. 1 arrowroot flour
1 T. 1 real maple syrup
Directions
- Grease a 9โcake pan WELL withย palm shortening ย . ย Dust the pan with carob powder. ย Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a food processor, process plantains, coconut milk, coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla until very, very smooth. ย Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (cassava flour, arrowroot flour, coconut flour, gelatin, salt, baking soda, carob powder and cream of tartar).
- Add the plantain mixture to the dry ingredients. ย Stir well, making sure to dig all the way to the bottom of the bowl to get all the dry ingredients incorporated.
- Pour the โbatterโ into the cake pan, and spread evenly. ย (This will not look like normal cake batter. ย It will be quite thick. ย Baking on the AIP is very different…)
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. ย When the cake is done, let it cool. Meanwhile, do this: ๐๐ผ๐๐ผ๐๐ผ
- Make the topping. ย Make certain that there are no pits in your halved cherries. ย Placeย onlyย half of the cherries in a saucepan withย 1/3 cup of water and the maple syrup. Heat over medium heat. ย While itโs heating, mash up the cherries with a spoon to release the cherry juice.
- Once the liquid is a lovely, dark red, strain out the cherry pulp with a slotted spoon, and set aside for another use. ย (I put them in my protein shake. ย ๐)
- Move quickly on this step! ย In a container with a tight lid, place the 1 tablespoonย arrowroot flour andย 1 tablespoonย of water. ย Shake vigorously to make a slurry. ย Turn the heat under the liquid up to medium high. ย When it begins to bubble, take it off the heat, and stir in the slurry. ย It will thicken immediately. ย Add the other halfย of the cherries, and incorporate it all.
- Back to the cake. ย Loosen the cake from the sides of the pan. Maybe loosen it a bit (carefully!) from the bottom, around the edges. ย Now, take a plate or a cake stand, and turn it upside down onto your cake pan. ย Holding the cake pan and serving plate firmly together, invert the whole thing. ย Very gently and carefully, lift off the cake pan. ย Tadaaaaa! ย Now you have a cake on a serving dish, bottom side up, which gives you a nice, sharp edge.
- Spoon the cherry mixture on top of the cake, and distribute evenly. If you want to get all fancy about it, arrange the cherries into a design with CLEAN hands.
- Serve! ย A reminder: the cake will be less sugary than you are used to! ย We are trying to heal, and we canโt do that with lots of sugar!
- Share this recipe with a friend who thinks that the AIP cannot be fun, or decadent. ย ๐คค
- Now that you are relieved to have finished this lovely dessert, you may feel a need for recipes that are much, much quicker to make…say, 30 minutes… ๐ ย Go get your copy of 30-Minute Meals on the Paleo AIPย .
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Can this cake be made one day in advance? Can you leave in out or does it need to be refrigerated?
Yes! And since it is a special cake, I would encourage doing it a day ahead. That way, you can take your time with it, and make it look pretty. I have left it out overnight without any trouble. You can also refrigerate it, but I recommend serving it at room temperature. I canโt explain it, but it tastes better and has a better mouth feel this way. Happy baking! ๐
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Do you have a suggestion for subbing the gelatin?
Hi! If you are on the AIP and have successfully re-introduced them, then Iโd say sub an egg. Gelatin is the only thing Iโve found which can bind it together well enough otherwise. If you try it, let me know how it works! ๐
Do you have the nutrition facts on this? How many carbs, protein, fat, etc? Thanks
Hey, Monique! ๐ Sorry, I donโt have the ability to do that. I hope you like the recipe anyway. ๐
This cake is amazing!!! So delicious and very close to the original Black Forest
Hey there! Thank you so much! I love it, too. ๐
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What an awesome cake! Thank you for this recipe. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it and I have decided it is now my go to for a cake! Easy to make and not sweet ag all. I only had frozen cherries, but it was excellent just the same. So glad I had ripe plantains to make it.
Thank you Wendy for this wonderful recipe.
I’m so very glad you liked it, Louise! I love it. I hope you have a chance to try it this summer with fresh cherries! ๐
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I react to Cassava, can I sub with coconut flour?
Hi, Any! I wish I could say yes, but that’s a big no. (Sorry!) Those two flours behave very differently in a recipe. It’s a good rule of thumb that, in an AIP baking recipes, about the only swap that works is arrowroot for tapioca. Developing an AIP baking recipe is reeeeeaaallly tricky (no gluten, eggs, or sugar!), so if you see one with cassava flour, know that the recipe developer tried umpteen different combinations of flour to get the result, and try to find one without it. It’s a bummer to react to cassava on the AIP! I’m sorry. :/
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