whole wheat buttermilk cake with dark chocolate ganache

Feast your eyes on this sucker! No the picture isn't the greatest, but that's not what counts. It's all in the flavor, baby! I'm always in the mood for cake but I'm trying to support the hubs in his healthy eating journey. But I couldn't take it anymore, so I compromised and made a healthier (haha, right) cake.

Three ingredients I tend to bake with are whole wheat or nut flour (for health reasons), chia seeds (for added fiber), and browned butter (for the awesome nutty flavor). I swear if you implement these items you'll instantly elevate the flavor profile of whatever you're baking.

Now enough talking, here's the recipe:

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache

Makes one 9-inch cake

Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup of organic cane sugar (or succanat)

1 tbsp chia seeds (you can omit)

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp sea salt

1 egg

1/2 cup *buttermilk

1/4 cup browned butter, cooled (or softened butter)

1/2 tsp of vanilla extract

Dark Chocolate Ganache

3.5 oz 70% chocolate bar of your choosing ( I used chili flavored)

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp of espresso

For the cake

Preheat oven to 350 fahrenheit. Grease and flour baking pan (I use a cast iron skillet). Combine flour, chia seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt in a medium sized mixing bowl, set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat together sugar and butter on medium to high speed until it becomes light and fluffy. Turn off the mixer, scrape down the sides and add the egg. Beat on low until incorporated. Scrape down once more and then stir in vanilla extract.

Combine half of the dry mixture with the egg mixture. Beat on low while adding in buttermilk. Mix until just incorporated. Stop and scrape down the mixture then add in the rest of the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until just incorporated. Make sure not to over mix.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 15-18 minutes. Once it's done baking, let it rest in pan for ten minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

For the ganache

Prepare some espresso and reserve one tablespoon. Chop chocolate bar into small pieces and put into bowl. Heat heavy cream to a boil then immediately pour over chocolate. Add in espresso and stir until nice and smooth. Put ganache into the refrigerator to cool. Once it's cooled down and thickened up a bit, spread onto cake.

There you have it folks, a nice kick-ass "healthy" cake!

*if you don't have any buttermilk on hand you can mix 1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice per 1 cup of milk and let it sit for about ten minutes until it curdles. Or you can sub in greek yogurt though it might make the cake a little dense...