We recently had a couple of birthdays in the family and so I got to experiment with a bit of cake baking….this is my own creation, a whole wheat chocolate cake with chocolate chips and chocolate icing. Makes 1 nine inch cake…to make multiple layers just double, triple or even quadruple it!
1 1/4 cup very finely ground whole wheat flour ((I like to use soft white winter wheat for baked goods that are leavened without yeast, but red spring or winter wheat works just fine too. If you buy your flour already ground then use whole wheat pastry flour.))
1/2 cup of boiling water
1/2 cup of plain whole milk yogurt w/ live and active cultures
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) soft butter
2 tbsp. softened coconut oil
1 cup rapadura (whole cane sugar) or demerara sugar
2 large eggs
3/8 cup (6 tbsp.) plain unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips “treated” with about 1/2 tsp. white flour ((make sure each chip is evenly coated with flour…this fine layer of flour helps keep the chip suspended in the batter as it bakes, otherwise they’ll just all sink to the bottom of the cake))
The day BEFORE you plan to bake the cake take the flour and dump the boiling water on it and let sit till the flour has cooled to just barely warm. Then add the yogurt and mix really well. Cover and set in a warm place for at least 12 hours to let the probiotics in the yogurt do “their thing” and breakdown the whole wheat flour, making it less dense and more nutritious.
The day you plan to bake the cake preheat the oven to 375F and grease and flour a 9 inch round cake pan. After the whole wheat flour has soaked for at least 12 hours, mix in all the other ingredients…stirring in the chocolate chips last, after the batter has been mixed really really well, I like to beat it till it’s really nice and fluffy.
Bake for 23 minutes. Do not overbake! All the little chocolate chips will become gooey bits of chocolate yumminess throughout the cake, but overbaking ruins this effect. After cake is done let cool in pan for about 10 minutes and then remove from pan to cooling rack and let cool completely.
Once cake is completely cooled icing with my seriously chocolate agave sweetened chocolate icing…
1 cup of plain unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ cup of soft butter (1/2 stick)
½ cup agave nectar
2 tsp vanilla extract
Combine soft butter, agave, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Sift cocoa powder into the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix together with a fork or whisk until the icing has thickened and everything is well blended.
After icing the cake, because salt is GOOD with chocolate, I sprinkled on a bit of “course ground” Bretagna sea salt…it looks pretty too 😀
Musings Of A Mountain Mama 