chocolate cake anyone?

Who doesn't love some chocolate cake now and then? Really. I for one, am almost always up for a piece of cake. Last night I came home from work and was getting set to make some brownies to bring to the office holiday party, and suddenly had a thought that maybe my new cookbook would have a brownie recipe that I could try. Well, there were no brownies, but there was an intriguing sounding recipe for "Lower-fat deep chocolate bundt cake." I hadn't made a bundt cake since I went on a blueberry pound cake binge a few summers ago. I had all the ingredients (with one small substitution), so I figured I'd give it a go. Plus, I finally got to use my cake carrier that I bought at a yard sale for $1.50 last summer (and Jared said I'd never use it...ha!)

I think it turned out pretty darn delicious. You should all try it.

Plus, it's pretty good for breakfast the next morning too. With a little organic vanilla yogurt (okay, sometimes I feel like eating vegan food with non-vegan food is sort of sacrilegious, but it kind of needed something. I'm sure soy yogurt would work just fine too), yummy.

Lower-fat Deep Chocolate Bundt Cake
(from Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook)

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups freshly brewed coffee
2/3 unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup applesauce
1/4 cup cornstarch (I used potato starch because that's what I had- you could probably substitute arrowroot powder or kudzu or something else if you're anti-cornstarch, but I'm not sure what the ratio would be).
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose white flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp confectioners' sugar

Directions: Preheat the oven to 325 and grease an 8" or 10" bundt pan. Bring the coffee to a simmer over medium heat. Once it is simmering, turn down the heat and whisk in cocoa powder until it's dissolved. Remove from heat and bring to room temperature.

Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, oil. applesauce, and cornstarch until the sugar and cornstarch have dissolved. Add in the extracts. Once the chocolate is cool, add that too.

Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat until relatively smooth. Pour batter into the bundt pan and bake 45-55 minutes (until a toothpick or knife comes out clean).

Remove from the oven and let cool for approximately 20 minutes. Invert onto a serving plate and allow to cool completely. Once cool, sift confectioners' sugar over the top and enjoy. Yum.