Recipe: Chocolate Whiskey Cake with Raspberries

Photo by sonicwalker @ flickr

From Denny: Here's an interesting one for all you vegans from the blog, Vegalicious! I found the awesome photo on flickr and below it was a recipe link, wow, yum! Practice this cake now for gift giving during any special holiday!

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

For the cake:

1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup whisky

3/4 cup chilled coffee

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

For the raspberry filling:

1/2 - 3/4 cup raspberry preserves or jam

For the chocolate-whisky glaze:

6 - 8 ounces dark vegan chocolate, melted in a bain marie (double boiler)

4 & 1/2 ounces vegan margarine

2 tablespoons whiskey

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Generously oil an 8-inch s round baking pan or spring form and dust with a little sifted cocoa, or line the bottom with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and sugar.

In another bowl, combine the oil, whisky, coffee and vanilla.
Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until well blended and smooth.

Add the vinegar and stir briefly.

The baking soda will begin to react with the vinegar right away, leaving pale swirls in the batter.

Quickly pour the batter into the baking pan.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.

Allow to cool.

Meanwhile, prepare the raspberry filing:

Make sure the raspberry filling is a spreadable mass.

If it is too thick or solid, either warm it in a saucepan, or add a bit of water and mix well.

You don’t want it too thin or it will soak into the cake, but if it is too thick, it might “tear” the cake as you spread it.

To assemble the cake:

Remove from the cake from the pan.

Carefully slice the cake in half.

Place the bottom half of the cake on a serving plate and put the raspberry filling on top.

Place the top half of the cake back on the cake.

For the chocolate glaze:

Melt the chocolate with the vegan margarine in a bain marie (double boiler over water).

Stir well to mix, remove from the bain marie and add the whisky and powdered sugar.

Add glaze the top of the cake, it’s fine if some of the glaze drizzles down the sides.

Garnish with a few pretty raspberries

Notes:

The basic recipe for the cake can be found all over the net, on
http://www.post-gazette.com, or http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com to name just a couple, however all are based on the Mossewood Cookbook recipe.