deep, dark & delicious
a large, dark and moist non-dairy chocolate cake, this keeps for a good week without any drying out and remains just as good as the day you baked it due to the inclusion of the (prune) baking paste. the paste can be made yourself or bought in a grocery store. believe it or not, the taste of the paste is not even noticeable in the baked cake, and when added with the chocolate, adds great depth and dimension. as a note, you can replace the paste with plain apple sauce.
one thing you do need for this cake is a bundt pan. i use one which has a more intricate design so it is important to make sure it is well-greased and floured. the flouring of the pan helps it to release better — there is nothing worse than losing half your baked cake because you didn't take this simple step. this is important in this recipe as there is so little fat content.
the finished cake can be dusted with powdered sugar or dressed up with a simple icing sugar glaze. of course, it's good just on its own.
moist and delicious chocolate cake
serves one hungry family
ingredients:
dry —
2 1/4 c all purpose flour
2 c sugar (you can reduce to 1 3/4 c)
2/3 c dark cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
wet —
3 eggs
1/4 c vegetable oil
3/4 c coffee, cooled
3/4 c orange juice
3/4 c prune paste or plain applesauce
method:
preheat the oven to 350 F. and grease and flour a large bundt cake pan (make sure it's 12 cup capacity).
mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. make sure to sift the cocoa.
mix the wet ingredients together in another bowl.
add the wet to the dry and blend to combine with a mixer. don't over beat.
carefully pour the batter into the pan and put it in the oven to bake for 1 hour or until it is no longer wet in the center.
remove from the oven and let sit for 20 minutes in the pan. you'll notice that the cake will start to pull away from the sides of the pan as it cools.
unmold, let cool completely for it to finish setting and serve.(recipe from cookbook author norene gilletz)
enjoy!
12 comments:
Hey, about that zucchini-olive oil chocolate cake - wouldn't that be great with puréed prunes in it!
Hmm, next potluck... it is zucchini season after all... (and I generally feel about zucchini the way you do about prunes - has to be in something, or at least totally cooked).
em - you know what, it probably would :) i also have a good recipe from years ago for that same cake i haven't made in ages; completely forgot about it. i'd go easy on the puree though since it has the shredded zucchini in it (moisture content).
what?? you hate raw zucchini!!?? shocking, em, just shocking. puts the italian heritage to shame ;P actually, i can't stand yellow {gag} zucchini in any form. i'll take green any day. only thing is it has to be young ... the older ones with the seeds are gross.
oh yeah - I agree, the yellow kind is worse. Why is that?? I'm sure I couldn't tell them apart on a blind taste test. Anyway, raw squash makes my teeth hurt.
The worst thing I ever ate (ok, maybe the only bad thing) in New Orleans was a vegetarian sandwich served at a meeting, made of thinly sliced, desiccated zucchini and carrots. Ack!
what are you talking about?!? of course, you could tell the difference! it tastes EXTRA awful and i think it's not even zucchini but a true (summer) squash, along with those pattypan ones, which i can't stand either (wow, i seem to have a lot of food aversions, LOL). all those sephardi dishes i would never (and still won't) touch; they always have squash or sweet potatoes or prunes in them.
actually ... years ago, i wouldn't eat cakes like carrot or zucchini cause vegs + cakes = yucko in my books but things have changed and i love 'em both today. bring on that cream cheese icing!! :)) btw, that sandwich sounded delicious, LOL LOL LOL
This chocolate cake looks so moist and wonderful. Do you do all the photography yourself? I'm just now trying to learn how to photograph food. :)
hi beenzzz - thanks :) the pictures are done by myself, mostly. LOL, i'm waiting for the day when the camera slips out of my hand and into the cake batter! basically, it's lots of natural lighting and taking more than one shot plus positioning and repositioning everything. you get better with practice but thank G-d there's digital. can you imagine doing it with film?? yikes.
Would you beleive it! such a coincidence, it was only YESTERDAY that I was reading the back of the packet of prunes my mother bought (my new hobby, reading the backs of food packets ) and it had listed there a recipe for chocolate chip cookies with 1/2 cup prune paste and I was like WEIRD PEOPLE!! lol...and here I see that bureka boy has gone 'prune weird' too....haha..
Well..since all the recipes i've tried from you are great I think that I will just try this cake out...not tonight as I would like to though, I promised my dad a lemon meringue pie already:)
LOL @ nafeesah! - i was kinda 'weird' before the prune paste showed up :o i actually only started using the puree last year; before that i wouldn't touch anything made with those things. never heard of making cookies with the paste -- wonder if it would be good or not [i'm thinking NOT! hard to tell until you try it]. it does work very well in this cake.
give it a try one of these days; at the very least, it's an interesting "experiment" making the puree and then the cake. you can also cut the recipe in half and use a smaller pan to try it out if you're skeptical. just make sure that there are no stones in the prunes before you grind them; they write "no pits" but i always find one or two.
lemon meringue sounds good :) hope you enjoy it. p.s. enjoy your new "hobby" -- i'm sure you're not alone :p
This is lovely BB. Looks so moist. Viji
viji - hi :) thanks for the nice comment -- it is very moist, making it last longer than average.
Hi,
All your recipes look too good to be true!
About the prune paste - would a paste made out of dates work as well, do you think?
Thanks,
Meera
hi meera - welcome and thanks for your comment & compliment :)
as for using dates instead of prunes, i would venture to say no, unfortunately. the dates do not have the same viscosity once pureed as do the prunes and the dates also have a much much higher sugar content.
you could use the other alternative which is plain and simple applesauce to replace the prune puree. not sure where you live but they sell the puree in the USA and Canada in major grocery stores so you don't have to go through making your own.
sorry to disappoint :(
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