Yummy Paleo Strawberry & Pineapple Shortcake

I am still on my trip, at my parents' house, and tonight we decided to celebrate my birthday (which is next week).  We love birthdays in our house, mainly because we get to eat delicious desserts!  Last night my Dad brought up the prospect of making angel food cake for my birthday dessert.  Unfortunately, I don't think a Paleo angel food cake would be too easy or taste close enough to the real thing.  So, instead I decided we could still do the whole whipped cream and strawberries idea, just change up the cake.  Today I started searching for Paleo sponge cakes, shortcakes, even angel food cakes and found some good prospects.  I also went out shopping with my mom to Trader Joe's (which I have desperately missed in my life), and found the crucial ingredients: almond flour, coconut oil, and coconut milk/cream.  We were now set to make a great Paleo birthday dessert!  I decided to go with this recipe for Strawberry Shortcake, but to cut it in half since there are only three of us.  Then of course I would add lots of berries and cream (and even some pineapple)!  Here is what I did:

Paleo Strawberry & Pineapple Shortcake
(makes 4)

• 1 egg
• 2 T honey
• 2 T melted coconut oil
• 1/2 t lemon juice
• 1 1/4 c almond flour
• 1/4 t sea salt
• 1/4 t baking powder

For the topping:

• container of strawberries (or however many you want), sliced
• 1/4 fresh pineapple chunks
• 1/2 T (or so) honey
• 1/2 can coconut milk/cream (must be the kind in the CAN)
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 T honey (additional)

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl (I used the KitchenAid), beat the egg.  Add honey, coconut oil, and lemon juice.  Once combined, add almond flour, salt, and baking powder.  Mix until it is all well combined.

To bake the shortcakes, you can do a few different things.  I used little silicone muffin cups, and divided the batter among 4 of those.  These were really easy to use and popped right out once done baking.  You could also use muffin tins (just 4 of the cups) greased with coconut oil or in cupcake wrappers.  Finally, you could line a baking sheet with parchment and drop 4 even blobs (nice and far apart) onto the sheet.  Either way, bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.  Serve warm or keep them for later.  They should look something like this when done (minus the old yucky pan):

To make the topping, slice up your berries and pineapple and toss them in a bowl with a bit of honey to allow them all to macerate (get sweet and gooey).  To make your cream, scoop the coconut milk/cream into a bowl (if there is liquid in the can, DON'T use it).  Add vanilla and honey and whip it with a mixer until it reaches your desired thickness.  To serve, slice the shortcakes in half and top with cream and berries.  It should look something like this:

Feel free to switch up the fruit toppings however you want.  This was delicious and we all decided that the dessert had a bit of a tropical feel to it, which was fun and tasty.  You could add spices like cinnamon and/or ginger to the shortcake batter too, or even some lemon zest for a little flavor.  Really, this is a great basic dessert, and the sky is the limit for changes and additions!   

We had a great time celebrating my birthday (a week early), and this was a great ending to a delicious Paleo meal.  I may have even convinced my parents that Paleo isn't SO crazy after all...  Maybe...