My friend from Iceland is an amazing cook! I look forward to parties at her house, where there’s sure to be a variety of exotic and delicious desserts. This recipe is a favorite, and comes from a holiday baking magazine that comes out once a year in Iceland. Happily, it happens to be naturally Paleo….and very delicious! The cake is made of egg whites, dates, almonds and dark chocolate. Topped with whipped coconut cream and fresh berries, it has a wonderful and unique texture that makes for the perfect light but satisfying dessert.
The recipe is written in Icelandic (a complicated language if every there was one) and needed to be translated both in terms of language and measurements. I played around a bit with it, and it’s flexible enough that fudging a little with the original didn’t make a big difference with the final product. You start by chopping dates, almonds, and dark chocolate. You can play around a bit with this, I chopped mine more coarsely than she usually chops hers…both ways are good, it’s really up to you as to how “chewy” you want your cake to be. Once you’ve got the chopping finished, whip three egg whites with a bit of coconut sugar until stiff peaks form. Then, just fold the chopped nuts, dates and chocolate into the egg whites. Bake the cake in a spring form pan for 40 minutes.
You can top the cake with whipped cream (if you’re OK with dairy) or whipped coconut cream. The cake itself is sweet enough that you really don’t need to add any sweetener to the topping! Slather on the cream, sprinkle some fresh berries on top, and it’s ready to serve. Elegant, unusual and delicious!
- 1 cup chopped dates
- 1 cup chopped blanched almonds
- 1 cup chopped dark chocolate
- 3 egg whites
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar
- Whipped cream or whipped coconut cream (for the topping)
- Fresh berries
- Preheat the oven to 320 degrees.
- Chop the dates, almonds, and dark chocolate. You'll want to chop these finely, although you can adjust this depending on what you'd like the texture of the cake to be.
- Whip the egg whites with the coconut sugar until stiff peaks form.
- Fold the chopped dates, almonds and chocolate into the egg whites, stirring until they are evenly distributed.
- Grease the sides of a spring-form pan with coconut oil. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Spread the batter into the pan, and bake for 40 minutes.
- Let the cake cool completely. Use a knife to loosen the cake from the sides of the pan before removing the sides.
- Spread or pipe the whipped cream or coconut cream over the top of the cake, and sprinkle with fresh berries.