On July 4th, I took a few bites of a scrumptious cherry chocolate cake made by one of my favorite relatives. I asked for the recipe, and my heart sunk a little when I found out that her secret ingredients were a box of devil’s food cake mix and canned cherry pie filling. A month and a half later, I bought a massive bag of dark red cherries, made a couple of amazing cherry arugula salads, and wanted to make a dessert with the rest. Memories of my cousin’s cherry chocolate cake came back to me and wondered if I could make a healthier version. I was sort of buttered out after eating this entire blackberry peach galette, so I searched around for a vegan chocolate cake recipe. The first page of google results contained several references to Moosewood Restaurant’s recipe, and lots of raving reviews. The recipe has a lot going for it: it’s vegan, easy to make, and doesn’t require any unusual ingredients. I was sold. I swapped whole wheat pastry flour for the all-purpose flour, added a bit of almond extract in place of some of the vanilla extract and mixed in over a pound of cherries. Pouring in the apple cider vinegar felt like performing a chemistry experiment. The batter foams up! Once the cake cooled, I iced it with pure semi-sweet chocolate and sprinkled it with powdered sugar. I brought the cake to breakfast club and my friends loved it!
Chocolate Icing Ingredients:
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli 60% cacao dark chocolate chips but seek out dairy-free if you want the cake to be totally vegan) 1 to 2 tablespoons hot water 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Notes on the chocolate icing: Moosewood’s glaze calls for 3/4 cup water, but I found that to be way too much. Instead of using a double boiler and diluting the chocolate with so much water, I microwaved the chocolate chips in twenty second intervals, stirring after each. I thinned the chocolate with just a little bit of very hot water, and mixed in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. It’s as easy as icing gets, and the dense chocolate flavor suits the cherry chocolate cake nicely. Top with a dusting of powdered sugar for a pretty effect.
WARNING: Don’t let your dog near this cake! I stepped outside for one hot minute and came back inside to find Cookie nose deep in chocolate cake. A very nice woman in poison control told me to feed Cookie a tablespoon and a half of hydrogen peroxide. Let’s just say that this cake didn’t look so appetizing the second time around. Fortunately, Cookie was just fine. Bad dog!
