Rich Chocolate Kahlua Cake

Greetings from the East Coast!

I’ve been enjoying spending time with my family since I arrived in Jersey. Tonight my best friends and some of the ladies in my family are coming over for a jewelry party at my parents’ house. For the occasion, I made a few fun things to eat, including this chocolate Kahlua cake.

Let me just warn you, when I say that this blog follows my mostly healthy eats…. this cake is not one of the healthy ones! But it’s worth the splurge, and may be one of the only recipes that I don’t think I’d screw around with to make healthier. I only eat it once every year or 2 and it is just so moist and delicious!

The recipe comes from our former neighbor, Priscilla Walsh. My mom started making this cake after it was published in a local newspaper for winning a recipe contest. After we dug it up out of her recipe drawer last night, I saw that the newspaper article was from 1995, so we’ve been making this dessert for a lot of years now!

 Rich Chocolate Kahlua Cake

Makes 12-16 servings

 Ingredients:

• 1 small box of vanilla pudding 
• 1 package of chocolate cake mix
• 6 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 c vegetable oil
• 1/2 c Kahlua
• 1 pint sour cream
• Confectionary sugar

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together by hand.

Grease a bundt or 9 x 13 pan.

Pour mix into pan and spread evenly. Bake for 45 minutes.

Allow to slightly cool, then use a butter knife to loosen the cake from the pan. Flip the pan over, placing the cake on a drying rack. Let cool a bit longer, then use a sifter to sprinkle powdered sugar on top of cake.

Off to get ready for the party!

Delightful Date Truffles

After I eat dinner, I tend crave a little something sweet. Lately I’ve been having some raisins, a piece of hard candy, or a few dates to satisfy my sweet tooth. They say that fruit is nature’s candy, and dates are the epitome of a fruit full of nutrient-rich sweetness. This is obviously why I love them.

While recently browsing through one of my cookbooks, The Vegan Table, I spotted a recipe for date truffles. When I saw that they were described as a lighter treat after a meal, I knew these would be a perfect little snack for me to have around as my post-dinner sweet fix.

Delightful Date Truffles 

Makes 10

Ingredients:

•  1/2 c raw almonds
• 10 large dates (pitted)
• 1/2 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for rolling truffles in
• Zest from 1/2 orange
• 1 TBSP agave nectar
• 1/4 TSP ground cinnamon
• A pinch of ground nutmeg
• A pinch of salt

Grind almonds in a food processor until fine. Add dates, cocoa powder, orange zest, agave nectar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, and process until mixture forms a thick ball. (You can add more agave if mixture doesn’t stick together.)

Form 10 balls out of mixture, then roll each truffle in cocoa powder. I also think they’d be yummy dipped in melted chocolate, which I might have to try next time!

Nutrition stats per truffle: 65 calories, 3 g fat, 1 g protein, 9 g carbs

Random fact about dates: The fruit has been cultivated in the Middle East since 4000 B.C., but nowadays, 2/3 of the dates Americans buy come from the California and Arizona deserts.

Peach & Apple Crumble

Ever since I made and devoured chocolate peanut butter cups last week (thankfully I didn’t eat them all, since my friend happily took a few off my hands!), I’ve been wanting to try out another recipe from The Kind Diet. A peach crumble caught my eye, but when I figured out that 1 serving packed 900+ calories, I was reluctant to make it. Not to sound fanatical, but that seems like way too many calories for one serving of an oats & fruit dessert (though I think this could be a breakfast treat as well!). So, instead of passing up trying it out, I decided to halve the topping ingredient amounts, which in turn, nearly slashed the calorie (and fat) content in half. I also made a few other changes to the original recipe.

Peach & Apple Crumble

Makes 6 servings

• 2 medium peaches, sliced
• 1 medium Granny Smith apple, sliced
• 1/2 c blueberries
• 12 oz apple juice
• 1 TSP (fresh) lemon juice
• 2 TSP vanilla extract
• Pinch of sea salt

Topping:

• 1.5 c old fashioned oats
• 1 c brown rice flour
• 1/4 TSP salt
• 1/4 TSP ground cinnamon
• 1/3 c safflower oil
• 1/3 c agave nectar
• 2 TBSP maple syrup
• 1/2 c chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Combine fruit in a 9-inch baking pan (I used a pie pan).

Heat apple juice in a small saucepan. Add lemon juice, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Add vanilla extract and salt, then pour over the fruit.

To make the topping, dry-roast the oats, flour, salt, and cinnamon in a skillet over medium-low heat for around 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oil, agave, and syrup together in a separate pan, then pour over the flour mixture and mix well. Stir in the pecans.

Crumble the topping over the fruit, then cover the pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the foil, and bake until the topping is lightly browned and the fruit filling bubbles (around another 15 minutes). Cool  before serving.

This crumble turned out subtly sweet, not too heavy, and totally fine without double the amount of topping. I’m a fan, and definitely plan to make it again for a fancy breakfast or dessert. I have a feeling it’d be delicious with some vanilla fro yo!

Nutrition stats: 475 calories, 21 g fat, 6 g protein, 69 g carbs