Last week The Sugar Breakup turned One (hip, hip, hooray!) To celebrate our 1st birthday I whipped up a batch of Paleo inspired Chocolate Mud Cakes using a bunch of ingredients from our competition partners. The mud cakes are dairy and gluten/grain free (not to mention super delicious) but the fudgy ganache topping was a revelation of what you can do with Equagold Dutch Cocoa Powder. We just had to share this recipe!

Makes: 8 mini mud cakes
Oven temp: 160C
Cook time: 20 minutes
Pan: Cupcake pans

Ingredients:

¼ cup Equagold Dutch Cocoa Powder
¼ cup The Sugar Breakup Golden Rice Malt Syrup
¼ cup coconut flour
¼ cup macadamia nut oil or melted coconut oil (we used Brookfarm Macadamia Oil)
1 ½ tsp gluten free baking powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of sea salt
4 eggs
1 tsp Equagold Pure Vanilla Extract

To Do:

1. Preheat oven to 160C. Place cupcake pans in a cupcake tray.
2. Place all the ingredients in one bowl and combine using a hand whisk or spatula until smooth.
3. Spoon into cupcake pans.
4. Bake for 20–25 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and leave to cool.

Dairy Free Chocolate Fudge Ganache

One of the differences between Dutch cocoa and normal cocoa or raw cacao is that Dutch cocoa is more soluble (that is it dissolves better in liquids). We often hear kitchen stories where cooks have been trying to make raw chocolate with normal cocoa or cacao, coconut oil and rice malt syrup and it separates leaving oil patches & sweet patches. To stop this you have to emulsify (that is whisk or blend really quickly) the coconut oil, cacao & RMS together and get the mixture into the freezer quickly to prevent separation. But when you use Equagold Dutch Cocoa powder with coconut oil & Golden Rice Malt Syrup they combine to form a delicious fudge at room temperature. No separation, just gooey deliciousness.

Ingredients:

4 tbs Coconut Oil (we used J’adore Raw Extra Virgin Coconut Oil)
4 tbs The Sugar Breakup Golden Rice Malt Syrup
3 tbs Equagold Dutch Cocoa Powder

To Do:

1. Whilst cupcakes are in the oven place coconut oil and golden rice malt syrup in a small pot over a low heat, whisk to combine until just melted.
2. Remove from heat, add Dutch cocoa powder and whisk together. As you whisk the consistency of the mix will change to become a gooey fudge.
3. Once cupcakes have cooled spoon fudge on top and enjoyed!

Notes:

Warm weather – If it’s warm where you live and your ganache isn’t thickening as much as you would like, pop it in the fridge for 5 to 10 minutes then remove and stir. Repeat until you have a desired spreading consistency.

In cool weather these cupcakes will keep in an airtight container on the kitchen bench for a couple of days but if the weather is warm store in the fridge as coconut oil will melt in warm weather.

The recipe for the cupcakes is inspired by Teresa Cutter, The Healthy Chef, Naked Chocolate Cake. Teresa has a lot of delicious recipes using honey or maple syrup that can easily be replicated using Golden Rice Malt Syrup.