Ginger & Lemon

With third-year going great, a semester nearing completion, and holiday season in full swing, here at Navigating Naturopathy, we think it's a great time to celebrate!

What better way to celebrate than with a gluten-free, vegan, refined-sugar free, cake! This cake is inspired by a Ginger Lemon cupcake I devoured at the restaurant Fresh over a year ago. I've had that flavor combination stuck in my head since then and today I finally got around to reproduce it. I don't know about you, but this cake just screams a warm and fuzzy Fall to me. ;)

Ginger Lemon Cake with Chestnut Frosting  

Inspired by this recipe and Fresh restaurants.

Cake: 

1.5 cups buckwheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

0.5 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 inch chunk of fresh ginger*

1.5 teaspoons fresh lemon zest

Pinch of sea salt

0.5 cup coconut oil

0.3 cup molasses

0.5 cup honey

0.25 cup fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons apple sauce

Frosting:

2 cups un-shelled chestnuts

3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions: 

Place all the wet ingredients into a blender along with the fresh ginger. Blend until smooth and the ginger has been pulverized. *Alternatively, replace the fresh ginger with dried, about 3 teaspoons. Pour the wet ingredients into a bowl and add the dry ingredients. Pour into a lined cake pan and bake at 350F for 40 minutes. Let cool completely, then spread with frosting. This makes a one-layer cake; feel free to double the ingredients (including the frosting ones) and and stack them with a layer of frosting in between. For the frosting: add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.