Chocolate Dessert Cake

HAPPY   MOTHER'S   DAY!

I had a hankering for something chocolate and didn't have anything homemade in the house.  I am not big on store bought bakery items unless I am in a hurry.  I had an old recipe for a chocolate snack cake but wanted to dress it up and give it a punch.  I added strong coffee to the batter instead of water, you can certainly use water,  I like the coffee because it brings out the richness of the chocolate.  I doubled the recipe for the snack cake and added some toppings to make it richer and sweeter.  This is how I made it, recipe below. 

A big bowl and some of the ingredients.  You do not need a mixer for this, a whisk and a spatula will do the job.

Start pouring the measured ingredients into the bowl and whisk them together.

 

Get all the lumps out and it should look like the bowl on the right.

Then pour in the liquid measurements and it will foam a little, that's the vinegar and the baking soda reacting.  Spray your pan with Baker's Joy this stuff is great for baking and no mess, if you don't have that use butter and flour.

 I used walnuts and mini chocolate chips dusted with some sugar to make them sweet and crunchy.

 Baked and ready to be served.  Some like it plain.......

 I like mine with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate sauce or syrup, it's so good!  The cake is moist, crunchy, chocolaty and sweet, it's a party in a pan and is easy to make, bake and take.  This recipe is keeper!

Chocolate Dessert Cake

Ingredients for the cake

Bakers Joy or 1 tablespoon of vegan butter and flour for dusting the pan

2 1/4 cups of unbleached four

1 1/2 cups of granulated cane sugar

1/3 cup of Hershey's unsweetened baking cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 1/2 cups of strong coffee, cooled (can replace coffee with water if you like)

1/2 cup canola oil

4 1/2 teaspoons of white vinegar

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Ingredients for the crunchy topping

1 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans

1 cup Enjoy Life mini vegan chocolate chips

1/3 cup of cane sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with Baker's Joy or butter and flour set aside.  In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk together until all the lumps are gone.  With a a spatula, stir in the coffee, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Scrape bowl from the bottom up to make sure everything is combined.  Pour the batter into the baking dish.  Mix together the crunchy topping ingredients and sprinkle it over the top of the cake batter, making sure to cover the whole cake.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted, comes out clean.  Cool the cake for about 1/2 hour. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and warm chocolate fudge sauce or Ben and Jerry's Vegan Ice Cream and Hershey's chocolate syrup. Can also be served cold.  Makes 12 - 14 servings.