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Ingredients

Instructions

For the cake:
1. In a large mixing bowl, sift the cacao powder. Add the clarified butter or ghee and instant espresso or coffee and whisk in the boiling water until all the powders are dissolved. Set aside to cool a bit.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt until thoroughly combined. Set aside.
3. Add the vanilla extract and eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk just enough to combine them.
4. Whisk in the flour mixture in three parts. Whisk each of the three additions until thoroughly combined. Note: You have to be careful not to "over" mix when using wheat flour. If you activate too much gluten, your cake will be tough. However, over mixing is not an issue when you use wheat-free flours. There is no gluten to over activate!
5. Let the batter rest on the counter for 30 minutes. Tip: Grain-free flours need more time to absorb the fats than wheat flour. Resting the dough gives the flours more time to soak up the ghee and for the flavors to meld.
6. While the batter is resting, Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line the bottom of three round 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper and butter and flour the sides with almond flour.
7. Divide the batter equally between the three pans. Cover each pan tightly with foil. (What!? This is not a roast! I know it seems odd but once you get used to the foreign idea, the result is shocking. The cake is fluffier because it has more time to rise. The foil holds in all of the moisture so the cake stays yummy longer. Usually it is an either/or situation but this method creates both--a light and moist cake. Who thought it was possible?)
8. Bake for 45 minutes moving the pans from the lower rack to the upper one and vice versa at the halfway point. Bake until they are well risen and the cake has come away from the sides of the pan. If you press the cake lightly with your finger, it should spring back. Tip: If you are not sure if the cake is done, leave it a little longer. It is better to "over" bake a bit than "under" bake.
9. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on cooling racks. Remove the foil. Cool the layers in the pans for 10 minutes. Then invert them to remove the pans. Remove the parchment paper. Invert them again so they finish cooling right side up. Tip: Chocolate cake is always better the second day. The flavors need to meld. I always wait until the next day to frost it.
For the whipped coconut cream:
10. Place the cans of coconut milk in the refrigerator and chill overnight.
11. Turn each can of refrigerated coconut milk upside down and open the can. There will be a white layer of coconut cream on top. Tip: I could only get Thai Kitchen brand to work but don’t really love it. For a fuller analysis, check out this post from Tasty Yummies titled How-to Make Whipped Coconut Cream.
12. Scoop out just the coconut cream into a large bowl electric mixer. Leave the water in the bottom of the can. Tip: You can save the water for drinking or smoothies.
13. Add the honey and vanilla.
14. Using the whisk attachment, whip the coconut cream at high speed for 3 to 5 minutes until soft peaks form.
To assemble:
15. Spread two or three layers of paper towels on a cookie sheet.
16. Take the raspberries out of the container and spread them in one layer on the paper towels. Leave them for a long as is convenient, even up to two hours. Tip: The longer you leave them the more raspberry juice the towels will absorb and less will bleed on your cake. I never wash raspberries when using them like this but if you do, make sure you towel them off well.
17. If you wash your blueberries, make sure you have toweled off all the water.
18. Place a dot of whipped coconut cream in the center of your serving plate and place the first cake layer on top of it.
19. Spread the top of the cake layer with 1/3 of the whipped coconut cream.
20. Dot the layer with blueberries and raspberries (almost half).

21. Repeat with the second layer.
22. For the third layer, spread the top of the cake with remaining 1/3 of the whipped coconut cream.
23. Decorate with the few remaining berries. Tip: Assemble near serving time. Keep refrigerated but leave out for one hour before serving.