And the lockdown continues. The first few weeks I did not feel any different and I was enjoying having the full family at home. Since I worked from home, I did not miss going outside. In fact, I felt I was becoming more productive because I didn’t have to step out for bringing my daughter to and back from her various lessons. But it has been a whole month now and slowly I am beginning to feel the social impacts of it. The lack of physical social contact feels strange and I miss meeting people!
But I am thankful for social media and the internet more than ever! Video calls have become more frequent now. Especially when you have a special day to celebrate. Like earlier this year, there was the Indian New Year per the lunar calendar and we celebrate it as Vishu. Normally I prepare an elaborate Kerala meal called as Sadya with at least 7-8 dishes and serve it on a banana leaf. This year we couldn’t get the banana leaf and I didn’t have a lot of vegetables that are required to make the sadya but I still made whatever I could. And then this week was my husband’s birthday. I like to bake a different cake every year for his birthday. I made an AIP Strawberry banana cake one year and a Berry ‘Cheese Cake’ before that. This year I decided to make an AIP cake again since my husband is also almost AIP except for rice and eggs.
I was looking through various cake recipes on pinterest to get inspo and finally found a dulce de leche cake that blew me away. I instantly thought of coconut milk and caramel and so ended up making this ‘caramel cake’ where I baked an AIP cake using cassava flour and then made a caramel sauce as a topping! Turned out pretty darned good and we had a great day having a virtual birthday party with our friends using Houseparty. If you haven’t downloaded the app yet, do it now! It is really a great way to still have virtual parties even now during the shutdown and stay sane! My friends and I even ‘dress up’ sometimes to go to the party 🙂 
- 1 cup cassava flour
- 2 tbsp arrow root flour
- 1 1 /2 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp gelatin
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup coconut oil
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup plus 2 tbsp coconut milk
- 1 tsp coconut oil
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar
- pinch sea salt
- 2 tbsp coconut cream
- 1 tbsp coconut butter (or shredded coconut - see notes)
- 2 tbsp coconut cream
- toasted coconut chips/flakes for decoration
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 8 by 8 inch square pan or a 9 inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Measure and place all the dry ingredients (cassava flour, arrowroot flour, salt and baking soda) in a sheet of parchment paper. Then using a sieve, sift them 3 -4 times to mix them as well as aerate them. Keep aside.
- In a small bowl, add the lemon juice and the water. Sprinkle the gelatin over it and then mix using a fork to wet it completely. Keep aside to bloom.
- In a small sauce pan, heat the water and when it starts to boil, add the gelatin mixture to it and then stir using a spoon to dissolve the gelatin completely. turn heat off.
- Pour the gelatin mixture in a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, whip this until frothy. Then add the coconut sugar and continue to beat it for another couple mins. Then add the coconut oil and the maple syrup and continue stirring it until you get a creamy mixture. Now add the vanilla and then add the flour mixture in parts as well as the coconut milk stirring continuously to incorporate the flours completely into the mix. Mix till you get a smooth batter (it will be thick)
- Pour batter into the lined baking pan and Bake at 350 F for 25-28 mins or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool for 15 mins before frosting.
- In a small bowl add the coconut butter and the coconut cream and stir using a thick to make it creamy. Spread this over the top of the cake.
- In a sauce pan, heat the coconut oil. Then add the coconut sugar and heat on low and stir continuously till the sugar turns a bit dark (about 1 minute). turn heat off and add the coconut cream and stir to get a caramel colored sauce. Drizzle this sauce over the cake slowly.
- Keep the cake aside for a few minutes to soak up the caramel sauce before serving.
This cake does not rise a lot. So if you want a thicker slice, you should use a loaf pan to bake this or double this recipe to bake in a 8 by 8 inch square pan.
