Need a pick-me-up? Check out this delectable gluten-free chocolate cake. 

If you’re anything like me, the events of this past year may have caused you to lose a smidge of faith in humanity. But then some things remind you that people can’t be all bad. This is why we all owe a debt of gratitude to baker, trainer, and nutritionist Sashah Handal, who’s shared her life-affirming recipe for chocolate cake in the latest episode of Alt-Baking Bootcamp.

This isn’t your average cake recipe, either—it’s gluten-free, vegan, and features a secret ingredient you may find unexpected, especially if you’re new to alt-baking. Also, it’s technically a double chocolate cake, because Handal’s got a cocoa-based frosting for it, too. And more chocolate is obviously better.

While I can’t reveal the recipe’s secret sauce (you have to watch the video for that!), I can tell you about its other nutrient-dense components. Handal mixes gluten-free flour, cocoa powder, coconut sugar, and a few other common-to-baking dry ingredients in with heart-healthy olive oil (look ma, no dairy!) to make the cake batter.

The frosting then includes our mystery additive along with cocoa powder and Handal’s homemade date water (among other things). “Dates are awesome,” she says. “If you use the entire thing—which I don’t see why you wouldn’t—there’s tons of dietary fiber.” The dates also add natural sweetness to the cake to counterbalance the intensity of the chocolate flavor.

The final product—baked batter, plus frosting—is denser than a cake containing gluten would be, but Handal says you won’t be mad at the result. “[It’s] almost a little bit brownie-esque, or truffle-esque, which I’m super excited about,” she says. You can get super excited about it, too, by pressing play on the video above.

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