Baking in a slow cooker might seem odd, but for grain-free recipes (which can easily turn out dry and chalky) it’s the perfect, steamy cooking environment to keep cakes moist. The dense, but not too dense, pound cake–like gingerbread is studded with plump, juicy cranberries and soaked in a spiced wassail-like syrup.
Prep time 20 minutes
Serves 6
For the topping:
1 cup (100 g) fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons (60 g) pure maple syrup
Pinch salt
Pinch ground cloves
For the cake:
1 cup (96 g) blanched almond flour
1/4 cup (32 g) tapioca flour
1 tablespoon coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Pinch of ground cloves
3 eggs
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1/3 cup (50 g) coconut sugar
1/4 cup (60 g) unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup (113 g) molasses
2 tablespoons (28 g) melted coconut oil
Whipped Coconut Cream, for serving
1 Place the topping ingredients into a 2- or 3-quart (1.9 or 2.8 liter) slow cooker. Stir to combine.
2 In a large mixing bowl, stir together the almond, tapioca, and coconut flours, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and cloves.
3 In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, coconut sugar, applesauce, molasses, and coconut oil.
4 Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix gently until the batter no longer has dry spots. Do not overmix.
5 Pour the batter over the cranberry mixture in the slow cooker. Do not mix together. Cover and cook on low for 3 to 31/2 hours. The cake is finished when the center is firm and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
6 Turn the slow cooker off, remove the lid, and let the cake cool for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the outside edges of the cake. To further loosen the cake from the cooker, push a flexible rubber spatula down around the outside edges—the spatula should bend and go underneath the cake about an inch or so. Place a large plate upside-down on top of the slow cooker, and holding the plate firmly against the rim, flip the whole thing upside-down so that the cake turns cranberry-side up on the plate.
7 Cut the cake into sections and serve with Whipped Coconut Cream.
