Paleo Chocolate Avocado Cake

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line 3 9-inch cake pans with parchment paper on the bottom, rubbing the sides generously with coconut oil.

Place avocado and coconut milk into a food processor (I used a small, 3-cup one) and blend until very smooth. Place into a large bowl. Add coconut sugar, egg yolks (make sure the whites are in a separate bowl) and vanilla and beat, using an electric hand mixer, until well combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk coconut flour, tapioca starch, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and blend on low speed until combined. Fold in chopped chocolate.

Clean the beaters off very well and beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, about 5–6 minutes. Fold into the batter a little bit at a time, very gently. You want no white streaks to remain.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25–30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:
While cake bakes, pour coconut milk and honey in a large pot and set it on medium heat. When milk looks like it is just about to boil (do not let it boil), remove from heat and add chocolate morsels. Let stand for 30 seconds, without stirring the chocolate.

After 30 seconds are up, gently whisk chocolate into milk until smooth and well combined. Pour into a bowl, cover the top with plastic wrap (allowing the plastic wrap to stick right to the chocolate so it doesn’t develop a skin in the refrigerator) and refrigerate until cool to the touc, but still a little bit liquid, about 1–2 hours.

Once frosting is cooled, use an electric hand mixer to whip it until it just begins to lighten in color and just holds its shape, only 30 seconds or so. It thickens up quickly! If it thickens too much, you can always pop it in the microwave for a few seconds.

To assemble, place cake bottom-side up on a pedestal. Spread a lightly heaping 1/2 cup of the ganache on top and repeat with a second layer (using an offset spatula will help a lot!). Place the final layer on top and spread a thin coat of ganache all over the cake—this is the crumb coat. Refrigerate until crumb coat feels set, about 30 minutes.

Spread remaining ganache all over the cake. Slice and devour!