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This cake is another recipe in my grand scheme of eating sinfully decadent desserts while eating healthy and losing weight.
I do eat things besides desserts. Sometimes.
The inspiration for this cake comes from Katie, one of my favorite food bloggers ever (again). I loved her cake’s secret ingredient, especially since I’m always looking for ways around using expensive flours. This cake doesn’t take any almond or coconut flours, so penny pinchers rejoice!
Shall I describe this cake for you? Well, it’s more like brownie than cake, actually. Dense and moist, this cake is very rich and chocolate in the deepest way. What makes this cake such a fantastic texture, you may ask? Well….that would be the cauliflower. I’m not kidding. Isn’t that awesome?? Some of you may be saying, “No, that is totally gross.” Well, I understand why you might say that, having never tasted a cauliflower cake before. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it, K? And if fudgily-moist chocolate cake is not your thing, well, I’m working on a drier version that’s more “normal”. (Update: click here for a more sane chocolate cake with a more cake-like texture.) Until then, you have this gorgeous confection that I personally drooled over for several days. The recipe makes a three-layer cake, and the best way to stick those layers together is with this incredible Fudgy Mocha Frosting (a trial version of which you see on the cake in these pictures; it still needed some tweaking at that point to make it what it is today). Top with some French vanilla ice cream and you have a chocolate layer cake fit for a party. Diet schmiet.
I also like this recipe baked in a greased 9×13″ pan (bake at 350 degrees F for 28 minutes, which was perfect). It’s a lot like brownies, really. Perfect for use in my Mock Chocolate Xtreme DQ Blizzard.
This cake is similar to those made with beans in that it needs to be refrigerated overnight to achieve its best flavor. Actually, two days is the real key.  The day they’re baked, they’re OK but nothing spectacular. The next day, they’re very good. Two days later, the flavors have melded together and the sweetness has developed and they are in-cred-ible. I’m serious. You might not think that one day can make that much of a difference, but it really does. Good things get better with age, ya know? Maybe there’s hope for me yet…
You can pin this recipe from my desserts board here.
You can find a much-improved version of this recipe (renamed “Fudgy Chocolate Brownie Cake”) in my cookbook, Necessary Food.
- 3 cups frozen cauliflower florets, thawed (see note below if using fresh cauliflower)
- 4 T butter, softened
- ½ + ⅓ cup unsweetened almond milk
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup oat flour (use gluten free if necessary)
- ½ cup ground golden flax
- ⅓ cup oat fiber (use gluten free if necessary)
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ¾ tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ¼ tsp. THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder (sweet tooths may want to add more; be aware that the cake does sweeten after it spends a day or two in the refrigerator, though)
- One batch of my Fudgy Mocha Frosting or 3-4 cups of another low-carb, sugar-free frosting
- Blend all wet ingredients (including the cauliflower) together in a blender until smooth.
- Whisk dry ingredients together.
- Add wet ingredients to dry, mixing until combined.
- Spray three 9-inch cake pans with cooking spray. Place a piece of parchment paper in the bottom of each pan with the corners sticking up. Spray the parchment paper as well.
- Divide the batter (it will be thick) among the three pans and spread smooth. Bake the cake layers at 350 degrees F for 21-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the tops are dry.
- Let the cake layers cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then use the parchment paper to lift the layers out onto wire racks to finish cooling completely. Once they are cool, put them on a cookie sheet, cover them with a kitchen towel, and refrigerate them overnight or longer (2 days is great if you can swing it).
- The next day assemble the cake using my Fudgy Mocha Frosting or 3-4 cups of another low-carb, sugar-free frosting that firms up well. Frost between each layer to cement them together, then frost the top and sides of cake. Allow to chill for another couple of hours to firm up the frosting before serving. Serves 14-16.
If you don't care for rich, dark chocolate desserts, you'll probably want to add a little more sweetener. I love dark chocolate so ¼ tsp. of pure stevia extract powder was perfect for me. And trust me when I say that this cake actually gets sweeter the longer it is refrigerated.
Since this is a layer cake and is a good height, it serves 14-16 people. Split among 14 servings, the oat flour in this cake comes to a little over 3 carbs per serving, which is well within S guidelines.
You can play around with substituting flours if you don't have the ones I have listed here. However, you might have to play with the liquids as well. Since this cake is so moist from the cauliflower, the batter needs to be fairly thick and not overly moist.
You can bake this cake in a greased 9x13" pan at 350 degrees F for about 28 minutes. Let it refrigerate for a day or two and you have brownies.
Suggested Products:
- Oat Fiber
- THM Oat Fiber (gluten-free)
- THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder can be purchased from the Trim Healthy Mama online store.
- 9-inch cake pans
- Ninja Blender
- There’s no need to buy oat flour; just grind up some oats in a blender or coffee grinder until fine.
Am I correct in reading that the only sweetener in the actual cake is 1/4 teaspoon of stevia?
Yes, that’s correct. 🙂 The stevia mentioned is a pure stevia extract powder that is super concentrated. That being said, this is a very old recipe and these days I would probably use a larger amount of THM Super Sweet Blend or THM Gentle Sweet for a more balanced sweetness in place of the stevia. (About 3 T Sweet Blend or 1/2 cup + 1 T Gentle Sweet according to the THM sweetener conversion chart: https://media.trimhealthymama.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/05/07222306/THM.Sweetener-Conversion-Chart.pdf)
I’ve made the one in your cookbook, the family loves it! Do you think this would work with tinned pumpkin and cinnamon instead of cauliflower? There is a cauliflower shortage in the UK at the mo’!
Yay! I’m so glad you like it! As for the pumpkin swap, I’m really not sure. Possibly? It’s a pretty big amount so I’m not sure if that would work or not. I personally would consider it a bit risky. 🙂 And I wouldn’t leave the cocoa powder out because it acts as a considerable part of the flour in this recipe.
This is gorgeous!
I love it, kids love it, and that means my fussy eater are finally eating cauliflower!
Wow! That’s great to hear!
THIS LOOKS AMAZING! WOW!:) I’m veg but could totally swap out a few ingredients and make this veg style:) I eat a low carb diet myself for the most part due to a past health issue with sugar and that it makes me feel pretty poorly, so I love finding healthy desserts like this that keep things sugar-free naturally:)
THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS!!:)
This looks great! Do you taste the cauliflower in the cake. I don’t really like it. I have tried replacing potato recipes with cauliflower and just don’t like the taste. I really wish I did!!
Personally, I cannot taste it. If you eat it before it sets a day or two in the fridge, you might be able to detect a hint of it, which is why I wrote all my disclaimers in the recipe. 😛 If you know already that you don’t like cauliflower, I would wait two days if possible. After that, I would say that no, you can’t taste it. That being said, a palate different from my own might think other wise; I really have no way of knowing.
This looks amazing! The frosting is absolutely delicious! (Yes, I made the frosting before the cake, and yes, we ate the frosting all by itself.
This looks amazing, can’t wait to try making it. Do you think it would work to reduce the recipe by half and bake in two 8″ layers fora smaller cake? And the slices in the picture look pretty big, can you really get 14-16 of that size pieces from the full size recipe?
The layers are pretty skinny. I made 4 skinny ones because I wanted lots of icing. 😉 You could halve the recipe and have two skinny layers, or you could use the full recipe and bake two thicker layers (just bake for a longer amount of time).
And yes, you can get 14-16 good-sized pieces from the recipe. The cake is so tall that a medium-sized piece becomes something quite large and filling.
So to stay within THM guidelines does it need to be cut into 14-16 servings? And one more question, is there a reason to not frost the day the cake is made if you let it cool for a few hours first? And should the frosting be done the day you eat it, or the day in between?
Excerpt from the recipe: “Since this is a layer cake and is a good height, it serves 14-16 people. Split among 14 servings, the oat flour in this cake comes to a little over 3 carbs per serving, which is well within S guidelines.”
In an S meal your carb limit is 10 g. Therefore, if you cut this cake into 14 servings, you could technically have about 3 slices and still be OK. However, that would be O for “Overindulgence.”
I’m sure the frosting would be fine if made either on the day you are going to eat it or a day in advance. Same with when you frost the cake. I don’t see why there would be any problem in making the frosting the day you make the cake, cooking the cake for a few hours, frosting it, and popping it back in the refrigerator for a day or two. It all depends on your schedule, really. I merely wrote out the recipe as I tested it, but you’re free to play around with it to make it suit your needs. 😉
Thanks so much. I made the whole recipe and cooked it per inscructions and it didn’t spread AT ALL to fill the pans. I spread it out to about 1/4 inch from edge of pans but it cooked up exactly like I left it bumps and all. Is that normal? The layers sort of look like lumpy pancakes, didn’t rise at all either. Smell as good and I can’t wait to try it, just wondering if that’s normal and what I could do next time if it’s not.
First off, how many pans did you bake it in? Because I just realized that I told you 4 here in the comments when in reality it’s only supposed to be 3. Help the needy. Don’t listen to me; just follow the recipe. 😛 My brain is fried…
If I just caused you to mess up, please accept my most sincere apologies.
If you baked the recipe in 3 9-inch cake pans as the recipe (and not my big mouth) states, then I don’t know what could possibly be wrong unless you accidentally didn’t use enough liquid or something. Also, you mentioned the batter is lumpy. What kind of blender do you have? The batter is slightly…gritty? but it shouldn’t be lumpy. Did you mix the wet and dry ingredients completely? These layers aren’t the prettiest things (hence all the frosting), but they should at least fill the pans. They don’t rise a lot either; they’re more of a dense, brownie-like texture, so that’s normal. All I can tell you is to make a big batch of icing, put it all together, let it set in the fridge for two days, and then dig in. Let me know how it tastes. 🙂
I’m guessing this recipe would be ok for cupcakes too?
Yes, but you’ll have to adjust the baking time and they won’t rise very high. Right now I’m working on a recipe specific for cupcakes, so stay tuned. 🙂
What size round pans please, 8″ or 9″? Thank you! It looks divine!
9 inch. 🙂 You could use 8 inch as well, but you might have to bake a minute or two longer.
Hey, your recipe really does sound amazing, and I can’t wait to try it! My question is this, I’m allergic to stevia. Can you help me with substitution amounts for an alternative sweetener, perhaps honey? Thanks!
If you follow the Trim Healthy Mama plan, as do most of my followers, honey and other such sweeteners (maple syrup, agave nectar) are frowned upon because they spike the blood sugar. Here is a sweetener conversion chart that could help you find another low-glycemic sweetener option: http://www.trimhealthymama.com/main-home/sweetener-conversion-chart/
Note that sugar is not low-glycemic; it is merely used here as a base reference point.
If I don’t have oat fiber on hand, can I substitute whey protein powder or should I grind more oats?
If you’re following the Trim Healthy Mama plan, I would be very careful using more oats as they are an E fuel and can be used in very limited amounts in S dishes. Stay under 10 g of carbs/serving and you’ll be OK.
The whey protein should be a good substitute, but I’ve never used it in this so I can’t say for sure. I’d love to know how it turns out if you do decide to make it.
Made it with the protein powder. It was a good substitute, and I think the cake turned out okay. I may steam the cauliflower first though the next time I make it. The icing is amazing!
Have you waited a day or two to eat it? The cauliflower softens up inside the cake if you let it refrigerate for a day or two.
I did, but I also had only two layers instead of four.
your photography is amazing. and you’re making me hungry and I just ate like an hr ago 🙂
Thank you so much. 🙂
This cake is gorgeous!!!!!! I need to come over a grab a slice. When I read through the recipe I was stunned to see cauliflower as the first ingredient. You totally got me with that one, but it makes sense and I’m excited to try it.
Cauliflower?! Seriously? I love it! I’m making this and if my kids eat it, I will nominate you for President!
Do you measure the cauliflower frozen, or packed after thawed?
Frozen. Don’t pack it.
What is the difference between oat fiber and oat flour?
Oat fiber is a neutral ingredient; it has so much fiber that all the carbs are canceled out. Oat flour is just ground up oats, so it has carbs. I like to use oat flour because of the texture and price (grinding up old-fashioned oats is pretty cheap), but I’m limited in how many I can use because this is an S dessert for Trim Healthy Mamas.
Can I use fresh cauliflower?
You can tweak the recipe however you wish, but I can only vouch for the results as written. Experiment. 🙂 I would cook the cauliflower at least a little bit to get it halfways soft before blending it.
If you use fresh cauliflower, do you steam it before adding to blender?
I would do to it whatever is done to frozen cauliflower before it is bagged…maybe it’s blanched?