Recipe is paleo, gluten-free, dairy-free, grain-free, nut-free, seed-free, peanut-free, soy-free, coconut-free, refined sugar free, but chocolate-full!
I like working out at night, as the last thing that I am doing during the day, as a separation between work and rest, somehow encompassing both and working to relax me and ease me into sleep (maybe). The research supporting working out in the morning versus the evening is mixed. Proponents of working out in the morning say it boosts metabolism, increases energy throughout the day, improves sleep and reduces blood pressure. On the flip-side, proponents of working out in the evening, indicate that glucose doesn’t drop as much and our metabolism adapts better in evening workouts. Well than…
Just as in everything to do with our health, we are individuals and as individuals we need to determine what works best for our own body and our own health. This sentiment always leads me back to “biohacking” and constantly changing my life, diet and exercise to create the absolute best life and health for ME. I use research to guide me to try new experiments, on myself. I am a scientist.
And so… This morning… I woke-up at 5:15am (alarm was actually set for 5:30am—Woo me!) instead of 6:30am and headed-out to do some cardio, weight lifting and a bit of yoga. And although I had an energy droop earlier, four hours post-workout I am happily typing away at this, focused and eager to continue my day. We shall see, how I sleep tonight and if I have the energy to get up early again tomorrow morning for a more restorative yoga practice, but so far so good! It’s too early to say which schedule is best for my body, but it’s an intriguing proposition nonetheless and a great experiment too.
I find myself eager to biohack my life as I garner such incredible inspiration from my mom who is 73 years old and last year and the year before that, walked across Spain, 500 miles, in a month each time, all while carrying a 20-30# backpack and getting awful sleep in crowded hostels. All of this after recovering from chronic fatigue syndrome after beating herself into the ground through stress.
Say whaaat? Yes, she is a badass.
She is constantly working to improve herself and her relationship to life. I know that I want to have her vigor for life when I’m in my 70s and beyond which means starting now (not then) to create my most healthy, happy self.
And so biohacking I shall do…
On Mother’s Day, I made my badass mom this nut-free, coconut-free chocolate cake while she was on a short 
phone conversation with my siblings. Yes… You read that right…. SHORT. This cake is twenty minutes, start to finish! This is by far the quickest, easiest cake you can make and it makes for an awesome post-workout treat, regardless of when you do your workout. My mom has a food sensitivity to coconut and is trying to decrease her nut intake (they are pretty darn high in omega 6 essential fatty acids which can result in inflammation if we don’t have enough omega 3 EFAs). This is a variation of the low FODMAPs, low histamine, nut-free, sugar-free cake I’ve been working on perfecting this last month and is super close to being ready to post—only two more trial runs to go, I think. So if you can consume sugars (although it’s comparatively low to most and uses healthier sweeteners) and chocolate—this cake is the way to go!
Enjoy and I cheers you with my chocolate-encrusted fork to your mom and to mine—role models all. Whether good or bad, we can learn from everyone in our life, especially ourselves, and make little changes constantly to improve ourselves whether it is changing our diet to be less inflammatory or changing the time or type of our workouts.
Now go forth, enjoy your chocolate, enjoy your life, move your body and biohack on!
Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse Frosting (paleo, gluten-free, dairy-free, grain-free, nut-free, seed-free, peanut-free, soy-free, coconut-free, refined sugar free, chocolate-full)
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 green plantain
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup arrowroot powder
½ cup honey or maple syrup
½ cup cacao (or unsweetened cocoa) powder
2/3 cup avocado oil (or other fat of your choice)
1 teaspoon baking soda
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Layer parchment paper on the bottom of a cake pan and grease the sides of the pan.
Add to the blender your eggs and blend on low, with the small lid off your blender to whip air into your eggs. Once frothy (a minute or so blending on low depending on your blender), add all of the remaining ingredients except for the baking soda and blend until smooth. Once your oven is to heat, add the baking soda and blend one last time until smooth.
The batter will be thick. Quickly scoop into your parchment-lined cake pan and smooth the top. Put in the center of your oven and bake for 15 minutes.
During this short baking time, prepare your frosting. And if your eggs were local and pastured, go ahead and make the frosting in the same blender without washing it first!
Chocolate Frosting
3 medium sized, ripe avocados
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup honey or maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon sunflower seed butter (optional for depth of flavor)
1 squirt of lemon
Blend all ingredients in food processor or blender and lick the bowl! Frost your cake… If you are going to double the recipe and make a double layer cake and frost the middle as well as the top, make sure to flip the bottom layer so that the cake is flat instead of curved, like in the picture above. Get yourself some.
If you are interested in learning to cook without recipes and honing your creativity in the kitchen, please join me in Denver for one or more of my cooking classes.