By Karla Walsh, CNN
(CNN) — Go ahead, eat chocolate cake every day. One healthy cookbook author gives us permission — and a recipe that’s protein-packed.
Rachel Riggs’ signature unfussy cake asks for just one bowl, a single whisk and 10 minutes to get the oven ready. The result is a chocolate dessert that contains 18 grams of protein per slice and tastes so amazing that Riggs ate a piece as part of lunch daily for six years straight.
No wonder she named it The Everyday Chocolate Cake.
“This is a legit dessert. I think it’s virtually indistinguishable from any mainstream chocolate cake,” said Riggs, who included it in her debut cookbook, “In Good Health: Uncomplicated, Allergen-Aware Recipes for a Nourished Life.”
“In this cake, the almond flour provides healthy fats, and the pure maple syrup, cocoa powder and unsweetened chocolate deliver antioxidants. Eggs are nutrition powerhouses, too,” Riggs explained.
Each serving of this cake has as much appetite-taming, muscle-building protein as three large eggs, which is courtesy of the almond flour, eggs and cocoa powder. (The cocoa powder alone adds about 4 grams per ¼ cup.
Each egg tacks on 6 grams, and each cup of almond flour layers on 32 grams more protein.) Keep in mind that it also has 39 grams of sugar per slice (including the ganache), courtesy of the natural sweetener maple syrup, so you can determine how often you’d like to slot this into your diet.
The inspiration for this cake came from a not-so-sweet place. Riggs has been passionate about food for as long as she can remember.
“Cheese is where my deepest passion was, so I opened a specialty food shop in 2006. Within four years, there was a substantial shift in my health, so I was forced to close my shop,” the author recalled.
The symptoms started off subtly but grew over time to the point that the profound fatigue they triggered resulted in “punishing payback for hours, days — or sometimes weeks,” she said. “Like so many people with chronic illness, I went from doctor to doctor, then started broadening my scope and traveling for medical care. It remained a mystery.”
During her mission to try anything that might ease the pain and fatigue, Riggs embarked on a doctor-approved, strict elimination diet.
“I went three months without this whole swath of ingredients,” Riggs said. “Eventually, I was able to start adding those things in, and that’s how you identify if something isn’t a good fit for your body.”
Riggs discovered she felt better eliminating her original potential triggers, including grains (not just gluten), dairy, refined sugars, legumes, peanuts, shellfish and nightshades (a class of vegetables that includes tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplants). She still finds plenty of different foods to eat, such as meat, fish, seafood, fruits, many nuts, most vegetables, seeds, herbs and spices.
Looking to cook with a limited ingredient list, Riggs found inspiring options lacking and started developing her own recipes “to feed myself and my husband food that didn’t feel punitive,” Riggs said.
The result was her first cookbook, “In Good Health.” When pulling together those recipes, the nonnegotiables, she decided, were nourishment, deliciousness and ease.
“There aren’t any adaptations or faux foods here,” Riggs said. Instead, “it’s really just whole, nutrient-dense food. These are the recipes that I’ve been relying on for years.”