Chocolate Cake – Plant Based
I baked this plant based chocolate cake with chocolate peanut butter frosting for my hubby’s birthday. You may or may not know that he eats a whole food plant based diet. It’s always a challenge to make him a good birthday cake that doesn’t include butter, eggs and sugar (always included in my everyday baking). I found a recipe that read well and sounded like it would be a good option.
When you think about a cake being plant based/vegan and sugar-free, you might think that it will be dry and dull, but I promise that’s not the case with this chocolatey piece of heaven that made the birthday boy very happy.
It is naturally sweet, dairy-free, egg-free, loaded with healthy ingredients and is decadent and delicious. The cake ingredients include whole-wheat flour, unsweetened baking cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder, applesauce, vanilla and apple cider vinegar. Date paste adds the sweetness to the cake.
Then there’s the frosting … what’s in the frosting? The icing for this cake includes wholesome simple ingredients. The secret ingredient is sweet potato! There’s also cocoa powder, peanut or almond butter, whole dates, plant milk and vanilla. This frosting is a winner! You must try it!
Chocolate Cake – Plant Based
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup date paste
- ¾ cup apple sauce, unsweetened
- 1¼ cups plant milk
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
For the Frosting
- 1 cup sweet potato, cooked and peeled
- ½ cup almond, peanut or cashew butter
- ¾ cup dates, pitted
- ¼ cup plant milk
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
For the Date Paste
- 1 cup pitted dates and ¾ cup water blended well in a blender or food processor. Set aside to be added to the wet ingredients shortly.
For the Cake
- Place dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl and whisk together well.
- In a medium sized bowl, combine wet ingredients – apple sauce, plant milk, vanilla, vinegar, date paste and whisk together thoroughly.
- Pour wet ingredients into the large bowl with the dry ingredients and whisk them together well.
- Pour the cake batter into 2 x 8″ round cake pans that have been sprayed and lined with parchment.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the highest point. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done, otherwise place back into the oven and test again in 5 minutes. Once the cakes are done, remove them from the oven and allow to cool before frosting.
For the Frosting
- Cook the sweet potato in the microwave for about 5 minutes depending on the size of the potato. Don’t forget to poke a few holes in it with a knife. Once it’s done, allow to cool and remove the skin.
- Place all the frosting ingredients including the cooked sweet potato in a food processor and blend until smooth.
- When the cakes are cooled, frost and serve.
Notes
I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Be sure to leave a comment below if you try it.
