Chocolate Cake to Live For
From Great Good Desserts Naturally by Fran Costigan
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Oil two 9-inch round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper
Ingredients:
1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 c. unbleached white flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon powder
1/2 c. plus 2 T. Dutch process cocoa (a/k/a "unsweetened" cocoa)
1/2 c. maple sugar (or other organic dry sugar)
1/2 c. canola oil
1 c. pure maple syrup
1 c. vanilla soymilk, ricemilk, or oatmilk (not Eighth Continent brand; any other brand
is fine)
1 c. water
2 tsp. balsamic or apple cider vinegar
1 T. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1. Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl: flours, baking powder and soda, salt, cinnamon, cocoa, and sugar. Stir with a wire whisk to mix.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients with a wire whisk until foamy: oil, maple syrup, vegetable-based milk (vanilla-flavored), water, vinegar, and extracts.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix gently but thoroughly until the batter is smooth. The batter will be thin. Pour the batter into pans, dividing evenly, and bake on center rack of the preheated oven for 25 to 30 min. or until the center of the cake springs back when lightly touched or a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
4. Cool cake layers in pans on wire cooling racks for 10 min. Use a dinner knife to release cakes from sides of pans. Turn layers out of pans directly onto racks. Cool completely. Wrap layers tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate before assembling cake.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chocolate Tofu Cream:
Ingredients:
1 lb. firm tofu, blanched and pressed (meaning to boil/simmer it for 10 min. and then
place on paper toweling with a heavy object on top to drain; a good item to use is
an aseptic container, like a ricemilk container)
2 T. canola oil
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/3 c. Dutch process cocoa
1/4 c. maple sugar
2 to 4 T. pure maple syrup
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1. Process tofu with oil and salt in a food processor. Add cocoa, maple sugar and syrup, and extracts. Process until smooth and creamy. This might take as long as 5 min. Add maple sugar or cocoa to taste. Spoon cream into a container, cover, and refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours to allow flavors to blend and cream to firm.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ultimate Chocolate Sauce
Ingredients:
3/4 c. Dutch process cocoa
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/2 c. boiling water
1/2 c. pure maple syrup
1 T. vanilla extract
1. Put cocoa, sugar, and salt into the food processor and pulse to combine. With the motor running, pour boiling water through the feed tube. Stop the processor, scrape down the sides, and add the pure maple syrup and vanilla. Process again until smooth. The sauce will be thin; it thickens upon refrigeration. Pour the sauce into a storage jar and refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to 1 week (or proceed to Ultimate Chocolate Frosting recipe).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Utimate Chocolate Frosting
Need one recipe Ultimate Chocolate Sauce
Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. Ultimate Chocolate Sauce, warm or at room temperature
2 T. kuzu or 1/4 c. arrowroot powder (in spice section), dissolved in 3 T. water
1. Pour the chocolate sauce into a medium pot and over very low heat bring the sauce to just under a boil. Add dissolved kuzu or arrowroot to hot sauce, stirring rapidly. Cook kuzu 1 to 2 min. after the boil or arrowroot just to the boil. Lift the pot on and off the heat as a precaution against scorching when the frosting starts to bubble and thicken. Pour frosting into a container, cool to room temperature, cover and refrigerate 24 hours.
*It takes a LONG time for the mixture to boil, but it won't be thick enough if you don't wait.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I make the cake, I use the Chocolate Tofu Cream in between the layers and then mix the Chocolate Frosting and Tofu Cream together for the icing around the cake. I don't measure it for the icing; I just go by the taste and thickness that I want.
Bookmarks