Mayan Cocoa Cake

I used to make Moosewood’s Vegan Chocolate Cake quite often before I started my food blog. It was an easy dessert and I did enjoy eating it. Then, something changed in me. I got totally turned off by vegan desserts because so many just substitute some oil (often canola, which I refuse to use) for butter and eggs, and that’s just not the kind of baking I wanted to do. But, recently I was being hounded for dessert and Chocolove bars were apparently NOT going to do it for the man of the house. After a hard day of skiing, there was no way in hell I was going to bake dessert (especially since I went all out and made pasta from scratch for dinner that night). Once again, Savory Spice Shop came to the rescue! I have their Mayan Cocoa, which is spiced with chili peppers, cinnamon, and vanilla powder. This was destined to be the best vegan chocolate cake ever.

Moosewood’s recipe is quite simple and takes approximately 5 minutes to prepare. Here’s my twist on their cake:

1.5 cups unbleached flour
1/3 cup Mayan Cocoa from Savory Spice Shop
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
2/3 cup evaporated cane juice (the original recipe calls for 1 cup, but I like to make maple whipped cream as a topping to make up for some of the sugar)
1/2 cup walnut oil (go out and buy some!)
1 cup chilled brewed coffee (just save some from the morning)
2 tsp pure vanilla extract (I started making this at home also)
2 TB apple cider vinegar

Sift the dry ingredients into your baking dish. Mix the wet together (except for the vinegar). Add the wet to the dry and combine until smooth. Then add the vinegar and stir gently until you see some swirls.

Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes.

Cool completely. I made maple whipped cream just to be sure my man’s sweet tooth was satisfied. It was. I also sprinkled my cake with Spiced Vanilla Bean Sugar from Savory Spice Shop. This can definitely be a crowd pleaser, especially with the complex flavors of Mayan Cocoa.

So, have I gone back to making vegan desserts? Not necessarily, but I’m going to keep this one in my arsenal for when I have nothing planned, no time, but a major craving for good chocolate cake. I just need to be sure to never run out of Mayan Cocoa.