My sister requested a 6 layer cake with strawberry jam and chocolate frosting for her birthday. Oh and it couldn’t be made with sugar or dairy or flour. The first cake I made was a disaster.

A HUGE disaster. As you can clearly see. I discovered at this point, that I needed to replenish my stock of parchment paper, which I did immediately. This helped the baking process go much more smoothly. So here’s what you need:

• 1/2 cup of coconut oil
• 12 eggs
• 1/2 cup of light coconut milk
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup coconut flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• scant 1 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Melt the coconut oil. You can do this in the microwave (easy) or in the oven that’s preheating (pain in the butt). Combine the eggs, coconut milk, honey and vanilla together in a large bowl. Combine the coconut flour, baking powder and salt in another bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until combined. I used my KitchenAid for this since I found that coconut flour sort of clumps up when it hits the wet ingredients. Once combined, add the coconut oil that you melted.

You can use any size cake pan. This will make 4 thin 9-inch round cakes or 2 regular sized 9-inch round cakes or 1 really large 9X13 rectangle cake. It’s up to you. Just cut parchment paper to fit the bottom of whatever sized pan you’re using. This is a MUST. No amount of oil will keep this cake from sticking. Bake for 20 – 40 minutes (depending on cake size – less time for thin cake, more time for thicker cake).

Cool on wire racks. Once cooled entirely, spread a thin layer of strawberry jam in the middle. I found an awesome jam at Whole Foods that contained strawberries and apple juice only (not sweetened with sugar, I did my research). To make the frosting you’ll need:

• 1 cup of dark chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup of coconut oil
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate and the coconut oil together. Stir in the vanilla extract. Pop into the fridge for 15 – 30 minutes until it firms up, then using a hand mixer, whip it. This does come together like frosting, so please be aware that if it’s soupy, just pop it back into the fridge for another  5 – 10 minutes. Have patience.