Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Whole grain, low fat, vegan chocolate cake!

Just because we're trying to live a healthy lifestyle doesn't mean we should have to miss out on all the yummy baked goods the world has to offer.  I don't know about you, but I LOVE to bake.
I bake a few times a week.  I must be lucky because none of us has suffered any real consequences, though now that I have turned 30, people keep assuring me that my metabolism is going to come to a complete halt and all those cupcakes & cookies I've been eating will come to haunt me.
So, I figured the smart thing to do would be to try to alter some of my recipes.
That way, we can enjoy our baked goods with limited amounts of guilt.

Today I altered a one-bowl vegan chocolate cake recipe that gets rave reviews.  Using the vegan recipe over another was a no-brainer. 
It already omits eggs so by leaving out the oil, it's cholesterol free.

The recipe:

Preheat oven to 350
lightly spray 8 inch round cake pan

Ingredients 

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
 
1 cup sugar
 
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
 
1 tsp baking soda
 
1/2 tsp salt
 
1 cup warm water
 
1 tsp vanilla extract
 
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
 
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
 



In large bowl, combine sugar, cocoa powder, salt & baking powder.  
Sift whole wheat flour TWICE before adding to dry ingredients (cake will be really dense if you don't do this)
Lightly stir all dry ingredients & create well. Add warm water, vanilla, applesauce & vinegar.
Combine but be careful to not over-mix- you want a little air in the batter.


Bake for aprox. 25 mins. DO NOT OVERBAKE. You know your oven, if it's a hot one, watch it.


Let cool for a couple of hours, then dust with powdered sugar or glaze.


I glazed mine but you're not getting my glaze recipe, haha. It's a secret and one of my only claims to fame.


I will tell you this though- if you accidentally over-bake your cake (it's easy if you're baking with whole grains for the first time) then pouring a glaze over it & letting the cake soak it up is a great, easy fix and no one will be any wiser.

4 comments:

  1. yum and you suck for not sharing the glaze, lol.

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  2. there is nothing I wouldn't share you you!

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  3. Hi! I just made this for my boys as a snack cake, and was looking for a whole wheat, vegan & low fat combination. I had a little left-over vanilla soy yogurt, so used that up and filled out the 1/3 cup with applesauce to top it off. I also used 1/2 turbinado sugar & 1/2 white sugar. I added chocolate chips (just 1/2 cup) thinking it might help with any potential to be dry. Well, mine took about 45 minutes to cook - maybe the yogurt & sugar texture changes were the difference? - but the boys, when asked if it needs frosting (I found a glaze recipe to try,) said, "No way! It is perfecto just the way it is!" I can't eat it, food allergies, but I'm sure it is super sweet and the texture looks nice & moist. If it dries out, I'll add the glaze later. They didn't wait for it to cool before they dug in... Thanks for sharing the recipe!

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  4. Laura, that's great to hear! I actually prefer the regular version of this recipe over the whole wheat, which can get heavy, but I love anything chocolate :)

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