If you follow Primally Inspired on facebook, you may have seen that I was trying to create a birthday cake for my husband this past weekend. I was throwing him a little party and being the procrastinator that I am, started making the cake the morning of the party.

The night before the party, I saw some great recipes on the web for grain free cakes that got good reviews and I thought one of them would be nice to make. But I woke up in the morning and decided that I didn’t want to try those recipes – I wanted to create my own birthday cake for him.

This is where the logical side of my brain kicked in and said, “No, Kelly. Don’t do it. You never want to experiment with recipes the day you are throwing a party and have a million other things to do. It’s a bad idea.” But I didn’t listen and the creative side of my brain dove right in and started experimenting with a birthday cake.

And the story goes downhill from there. Not only did I almost catch my whole house on fire from spilling coconut oil all over my oven (if that ever happens to you, throw baking soda all over the fire and close the oven door – learned that while frantically searching google on what to do if you have a fire), but the cake was a horrific mess. The consistencies were all wrong, the icing was too thin, and there was no way I would be caught dead serving something like that to my husband and our guests.

I was about to throw in the towel, when I thought, “I have no time for plan B. Now’s the time to put on your thinking cap.” I honestly felt like I was in some sort of reality cooking show – time was ticking and I had to produce a birthday cake.

So this is how the strawberry ice cream chocolate roll was born. At the time, I had no idea if it would work, but it was the best thing that I could come up with to somehow salvage what was left from my mess of a cake.

Thankfully there is a good ending to this whole story and the original version for the party turned out beautiful and it was edible and good. But I couldn’t wait to tweak it a bit and perfect it and make it taste really amazing. It looked so pretty from the outside and I wanted it to taste as fabulous as it looked. So this recipe is the final version and it’s such a yummy and beautiful treat (and perfect timing for Valentine’s Day, right?!) As someone on my facebook post said, “sometimes messes really do turn into masterpieces!”

Oh! One more thing – The ice cream by itself is really wonderful, too!

Strawberry Ice Cream Chocolate Roll (Grain, Dairy, Nut Free)

Serves 10-12

Ingredients:

For the chocolate roll:

4 eggs

1/2 cup coconut flour (do NOT substitute another flour – it will not work. This is a wonderful place to buy it if you cannot find any)

1/3 cup coconut oil or butter

1 cup liquid* (use the leftover coconut water from the coconut milk for the strawberry ice cream + enough milk of choice to total 1 cup)

1/3 cup + 1 T cocoa powder

¼ cup pure raw honey

1 T pure vanilla extract

1 heaping tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

For the Strawberry Ice Cream:

1 can of full fat coconut milk, refrigerated for at least a day and then separate the coconut cream and coconut water

2 lb strawberries, hulled and diced (reserve 3 or 4 strawberries for garnish and decorating)

3 T honey

2 T fresh lemon juice (from about 1/2 lemon)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

pinch salt

For the chocolate glaze topping:

1/3 cup all natural dark chocolate chips or pieces

2 tsp coconut oil

Optional ingredients for topping and decorating: fresh whipped cream, unsweetened coconut flakes, additional chopped chocolate chips or shavings, strawberries cut into hearts ( cut a small V shape into the top of the reserved fresh strawberries and then slice vertically)

DIRECTIONS:

Begin by making the strawberry ice cream:

Preheat your oven to 325.

Place your diced strawberries on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Roast for 20 minutes. Allow the strawberries cool completely.

Separate the coconut cream and the coconut water from your coconut milk can. Set the water aside to use for the chocolate roll.

Whip the coconut cream with a mixer for about 5 minutes or until peaks form. Add your honey, lemon, vanilla and salt and mix 1-2 more minutes.

Take about 2/3 of your cooled roasted strawberries and blend them in with your whipped coconut until they are pureed. Now fold in the rest of the roasted strawberries and stir gently. We want to keep those strawberries in whole pieces.

Place the mixture in the freezer and freeze for about 45 minutes. Take out and stir. Place back in the freezer and freeze until it’s the consistency of a milkshake (about 20 – 45 more minutes).

While that is freezing, we’ll make our chocolate roll:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

*Put the leftover coconut water from our coconut milk can in a one cup measuring cup. Pour some milk in the measuring cup until it reaches one cup. (Usually you have about ½ cup of coconut water so we add ½ cup milk to get 1 cup total liquid. If you have any questions about that, comment down below)

Mix all the chocolate roll ingredients together in a bowl. Pour the batter onto a 15×10 raised edge baking sheet that is lined with parchment paper. Bake for 20 minutes.

Let cool for a few minutes, but don’t let it completely cool because then it will be really hard to roll up. Starting with the smaller end (the 10 inch end) and using the parchment paper, roll up the chocolate rectangle and the parchment paper nice and tight.

Once the ice cream is at a spreadable consistency (like a milkshake), unroll the chocolate roll and spread the ice cream all over.

Don’t worry if your roll cracked. Mine completely cracked all the way through a few places before and it was fine and no one could tell.

Now, using your parchment paper to help you guide, roll it back up. Do not roll it up with the parchment paper this time, though. When it’s rolled up, wrap it nice and tight with plastic wrap or alluminum foil.

Place in the freezer while we make the chocolate topping:

In a double boiler (or use a skillet filled with water and a small pot in the water to melt the chocolate) over medium low heat, melt the chocolate and coconut oil until smooth and melted. Pour the chocolate glaze all over the top of the chocolate roll. Add the rest of your toppings and place back in the freezer uncovered until the chocolate topping is hardened (will only take a few minutes).

Once the top is hardened, we can take it out of the freezer and wrap it back up to freeze until serving time.

To serve: Make sure to take it out of the freezer and thaw for about 15-20 minutes before cutting it into one inch slices to serve. Enjoy!

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