I love a plot twist.
But I also love a recipe twist. Since before I was in culinary school, studying as a pastry chef, I’ve loved looking at a recipe and making tweaks to make it “better” in my mind. More balancing, delicious, not as heavy, more flavor forward. When I was 12, I recall trying to make all of our holiday cookie recipes gluten free with the myriad gluten-free flours found at our local co-op. These adaptations were not successful; in a surprise to no one, soy flour is not actually delicious and a cookie isn’t great when you take out all of the sugar.
But I’ve come a long way since then. I have culinary school, and a deep understanding of the science of baking, cooking and ingredients to thank. But, if I can be so bold, my knack for taking classics and turning them on their heads in a delicious, flavorful, uncompromising way that ALSO happens to result in something better for our bodies and our performance lies deeply in the the wisdom of holistic + Ayurvedic nutritional philosophies. And that’s where we find this Swirled Sweet Potato + Cacao Gingerbread.
Let me caveat this mini-rant about the virtues of this smart, dare I say “healthy” little loaf by saying that there is NOTHING wrong with conventional recipes made without adapted ingredients. I’m talking about those that include butter, eggs, sugar, chocolate — you feel me. I have a lot of these kinds of recipes in heavy rotation, especially around the holidays, and damn are they good!
But I’m a true believer that everything has it’s place. There is a place for a bread-that’s-basically a cake and has eggs, butter and loads of chocolate in it. The next weeks of the year are going to be loaded with those occasions. Celebrations, hangs with friends. Desserts, holidays, and even long ski missions in the mountains – that sort of thing. BUT – that place is not often at my 10:30am snacktime, or stuffed into my jersey pocket for a long fall bike ride. Sure, that cake will taste GOOD. Like, REAL GOOD. But will it FEEL good? Will it FUEL good?
The answer is…maybe not. In my experience, not nearly as well that’s smartly adapted. Again, welcome little sweet potato cake!
This little cake tastes good, feels good AND fuels good. And I promise, I haven’t sacrificed a thing!
Eggs, butter, sugar, chocolate and the like are all ingredients that make our baked goods taste AMAZING. They add density, flavor, an appealing texture. They create weight, too, which (from an Ayurvedic perspective) can be helpful for grounding a substance and helping it to ground us (which is particularly important during the fall and winter months when Vata dosha is highest!) When we’re fueling our days, or our big efforts, however, this extra weight isn’t always welcome. Don’t mince my words here – it’s not that the caloric density of this kind of cake is undesireable — it IS! Especially if we’re pushing ourselves!
BUT, for nearly all of us, when we’re pushing ourselves – while running, riding, skiing, hiking, merrimaking to the Nth degree for all of our extended family – we’re kind of putting our nervous systems into overdrive. And this, in turn, puts our digestive systems on high alert. We can think about this state of emergency in the digestive system like a smoldering fire. Because the body is so busy processing thoughts, actions, goals, and general stress, the amount of energy available to process and break down our foods diminishes. Our digestion is a lot more like a smoldering, dying fire than a hot furnace in these kinds of moments. And we all know, when you put a heavy, dense log on a fire that’s almost died out, the log just….sits there.
The same thing happens to that delicious, eggy, buttery, dense right cake when you eat it on your bike ride if you aren’t balancing your digestion.
SO, what I did in this recipe is
a.) helped you to balance your digestion! and
b.) made a cake that would work much more like a match than a log.
By lightening up a few of the ingredients in the recipe below, making smart, nutritionally valuable swaps and amping up flavor (literally) this cake not only boosts metabolism and digestive fire, but helps you access the nourishment you need to run your day, your marathon, your summit ski adventure.
Is such a treat! In the recipe notes below, I talk a bit more about the nitty gritty of making this one, gluten- and dairy-free and vegan, this little cake is dense without being heavy, flavorful to the hilt, and a true sensory explosion to behold. Serendipitously, each time I tested this recipe we had guests over and each time our house smelled like the divinity of ginger, cinnamon, maple and fall for hours and hours.
The technique here is E A S Y. And so too are the ingredients. If you’re like me and you have a toddler, you always have a bit of applesauce around! And, the gluten-free flours that make up the base are easy to find or easy to make, and awesome to incorporate into so many other recipes on this site.
I love this cake as a sweet breakfast alternative, and as a treat after a run or ride in the cold. And, I won’t hesitate one bit to spread slices over our holiday treat trays in a few weeks – a thoughtful, healthful option amidst all the homemade candies, cakes and cookies that also have my heart…for different reasons.
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