Vegan Mexican Chocolate Cake - Get Ready For Valentines Day!

Bake in an 8 inch pan for 25 to 30 minutes.

Carefully remove the wax paper from the bottom of the cake.

Cool the cake on a rack with top side facing up.

February Makes Me Think of Chocolate

With less than 2 weeks until Valentines day, I started thinking about healthy chocolate desserts. Last year I posted one of my favorites - Raw Tropical Chocolate Truffles. Today I experimented with an old favorite, Vegan Mexican Chocolate Cake. What's fun about this recipe is that it mixes cinnamon and cayenne pepper with the chocolate and vanilla flavors for a very interesting taste. It rises beautifully without eggs or egg replacer from just the baking soda and the vinegar. To make it a bit more healthy, I use my favorite White Whole Wheat flour for extra fiber, I cut down on the amount of sugar and instead of making a high calorie icing, I just dust the cake with a bit of powdered sugar. It's quick and easy and delicious! Serve it with strawberries or raspberries and for an extra treat, top it with a small scoop of vanilla soy ice cream.

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Vegan Mexican Chocolate Cake [serves 8]

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (or all purpose flour)

1/2 cup organic Sucanot or cane sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup cold water

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 to 2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut wax paper to fit the bottom of an 8 inch pie pan and place in the bottom of the pan. Grease the sides of the pie pan with a vegan margarine or olive oil.

Combine flour, Sucanat, cocoa powder, baking soda, cayenne pepper and cinnamon in a large bowl and mix well. Stir in the water, vanilla, vinegar and oil until combined.

Pour mixture into the cake pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until you can insert a tooth pick in the middle and it comes out clean.

Remove from oven and cool in the pan, on a rack, for 15 minutes. Turn the cake pan over on rack, remove the cake onto the rack and gently peel off the wax paper from the bottom of the cake. Turn the cake back over so it is cooling on the rack with the top facing up and cool another 15 minutes. Dust cake with powdered (confectioner's sugar), slice and serve with berries and/or soy ice cream.

Per serving: 185.3 calories, 7.6 g fat, 1.3 g saturated fat, 1.3 mg cholesterol, 3.5 g protein, 26.5 g carbohydrates and 3 g of fiber.