Arguably, any cake is a special occasion dessert but this cake is a special, special occasion dessert not only because it is THAT DELICIOUS but, I’m not going to lie, it’s also a bit of a labor of love.
Wait! Don’t leave! There are several steps but they aren’t difficult and while you may not be willing to give so much time and effort to a recipe on a normal day, it’s worth it a few times a year. After all, we love to say here at VK, “made with love is a real thing.”
See below the recipe for more notes.
ingredients
- 1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter , softened (we like Kerrygold)
- 1 Tbs coconut oil or lard from a pasture-raised pig
- 2 C coconut sugar , divided
- 6 eggs , separated (see video in recipe notes)
- 3 C all-purpose einkorn flour
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 8 oz sour cream (look for full-fat, clean brand without additives. Organic is good)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 C mini, semi-sweet chocolate chips (we like the Enjoy Life brand)
- 4 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate , grated
Garnish:
- 1/4 C mini chocolate chips for sprinkling on top of cake
- 1 C organic powdered cane sugar , sifted
- 1 to 1 1/2 Tbs milk of your choice or cream
instructions
- First, get all your ingredients out as well as your stand mixer and a bundt cake pan.
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
- Butter and flour the cake pan. Use einkorn flour. I do this by rubbing a tsp or so of butter all over the inside of the pan and then sprinkling flour in the bottom. Then, I go outside and turn it and bang on it until the flour sticks to all the butter making a barrier for the cake batter. Give it a good tap on the ground to release any lose flour and you’re all set. Set cake pan aside for later.
- Now, go ahead and separate your eggs keeping both the yolks and whites. Also, grate your 4oz of baking chocolate with a regular ol’ cheese grater. (I’ll admit, I do not like grating chocolate but it is so worth it for this recipe. Trust me.)
- Next, in the bowl of your stand mixer cream the soft butter and lard or coconut oil. Gradually, add only 1 1/2 cups of your coconut sugar and beat the fat/sugar mixture on medium speed until light and fluffy. About 1 minute once all the sugar is in.
- Add the egg yolks and the vanilla extract and turn your mixer speed up to medium high. Let it run for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine your flour, salt and baking soda in a separate bowl and give it a mix.
Now, add about 1 cup of the flour mixture your sugar and butter bowl. Mix until just combined. Then, add some sour cream and do the same. Now add another cup of flour and alternate adding sour cream and flour until you’ve added it all, mixing only to just combined.
Remove bowl from the base of your mixer and, using a sturdy spatula or wooden spoon, stir in 1 1/4 C of the mini chocolate chips and the grated chocolate. Set batter aside.
Now you want to whip your egg whites. Don’t worry. The beaters do all the work. In a medium size bowl use a hand mixer, if you have one, or transfer your batter to another bowl and clean out your mixer bowl so you can use your stand mixer.
- Beat all 6 of the egg whites on medium to medium high speed until foamy. At this point begin to add the remaining 1/2 C of coconut sugar to the egg whites about 1 Tbs at a time. Keep the mixer on while doing this. Once the sugar is all in just beat the whites until they form stiff peaks. That is, when you stop the mixer and lift up the little peaks stick up and don’t fall over. This can take about 5 minutes.
- Fold the stiff egg whites into the batter with the sturdy spatula or wooden spoon. This can seem difficult because the batter is so thick but just keep going. The whites will fully incorporate. To see me do this (both whip and fold in egg whites) watch our sweet potato soufflé video here – CLICK
- Spoon batter into your greased and floured cake pan. You will need to smooth the top a little to make sure it’s at an even level all the way around because the batter is so thick.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 25 minutes.
Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then invert it out onto a cake stand or cake plate. Lay your plate or stand over the top of the cake pan (which is actually the bottom of the cake 😉 and, using both hands and holding the cake pan flat up against the surface, flip it over. You can do it. Don’t be nervous. This should be an olympic event.
While the cake is still a bit warm combine the powdered sugar and milk, stirring with a fork or spoon until a smooth, thick syrup forms. Spoon the icing around the top of the cake and let it melt and run down the sides. Sprinkle the reserved mini chocolate chips on top and they will become soft, too. It is beautiful and delicious.
- Enjoy! (w/a crowd of people)
Recipe Notes
In the test kitchen, I not only changed the type of sugar in this recipe from cane sugar to coconut sugar, I also tried to reduce the amount of sugar. Swapping the cane sugar for coconut sugar turned out wonderfully, however, reducing the amount of sugar did not. Sugar in a cake has a direct effect on moisture. Our cake in which we reduced the sugar amount came out dry and very different from the luscious cake I know this to be.
Also, you may be tempted to just add all the sugar to the batter and forgo having to add the bit of sugar to the whipped egg whites. Don’t do this. The sugar being in the egg whites gives them the sturdiness they need to be folded into such a thick batter.
Here is our handy little video showing you how to separate eggs if you need it – CLICK
This is the einkorn flour we used for this recipe – CLICK
For more about einkorn see our FAQ section, “What in the world is einkorn?” It’s the first question on the page.
If you don’t have a bundt cake pan, I encourage you to buy one. They aren’t expensive you can find them anywhere from Walmart to online at Amazon!
