Vegan in Cleveland

This is the richest, most decadent and wonderful cake I have ever had. I made it in my vegetarian days with this Scharffen Berger recipe and I always got requests to make it again. Now, of course, I wanted to make it with alternatives to the heavy cream and the eggs and I think it turned out just beautifully.

Luckily there were only two things that needed to be substituted. I used silken tofu instead of eggs and I used coconut milk in place of the heavy cream. I know coconut milk is not the healthiest option, but good god, this is sinful chocolate cake, right? I’ve tried soy creamer in some recipes as a substitute for dairy cream, but I wanted something really, really rich so the choice just had to be coconut milk. I’m sure my arteries will get over it since I eat this kind of thing as a treat and I eat meals low in saturated fat the other 99% of the time.

I made two different versions as I was experimenting because I had some things I wanted to tweak after the first one. The first time I used half coconut milk and half coconut oil as a substitute for the heavy cream because I was nervous that the coconut flavor would be too strong if I only used coconut milk. The coconut oil melted into the chocolate but then after cooking it solidified in drops and it just looked odd to have little white speckles in a deep, dark chocolate cake. Since I couldn’t taste even a hint of coconut in that version, I just went for full coconut milk the second time.

I used to make this with Scharffen Berger chocolate but lately I’ve been in love with Chocolove 70% so I wanted to use that. And it’s Valentines Day so of course I had to use chocolate called Chocolove, right? I’m sure this would be good with Scharffen Berger’s 70% which I’m pretty sure is vegan as well but I’ve been too busy eating Chocolove to look at any other brands. You can find it at Whole Foods or Earth Fare or you can get it online if you think you can handle a whole case in the house.

I did a half batch since I wasn’t making this for an event. I got a cute little 7″ cake pan from Jo-Ann’s that’s intended for the top layer of a tiered cake. You can certainly double it if you want to make it for more than 4-6 people. Keep in mind that when I say it’s a tiny cake pan and it’s for 4-6 people, that’s because with such a rich cake, you only need a tiny slice.

Covered with raspberries ready for serving

Cake Ingredients (serves 4-6)

• 3 bars of 70% Chocolove chocolate, 9.6 oz total
• 1/2 c canned unsweetened coconut milk (do not use light and do not look at the label of the non-light version)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 c strong coffee, warm but not hot
• 4 tbsp silken tofu – soft
• 1/4 c sugar

Raspberry Coulis Ingredients:

• 1 small container of organic raspberries or half raspberries and half blackberries
• 1 tbsp of agave nectar
• 1 tsp cornstarch or arrowroot powder
• 1/4 c water

How to:

1. Make the coffee and set it aside so it can cool down to warm from hot.
2. Get out your tiny little cake pan and grease it with a little bit of canola oil. Use the bottom of the pan as a stencil to draw out a circle in parchment paper and cut it out. Place this parchment paper circle in the bottom of the greased pan.
3. Have a slightly larger pan available that the cake pan can fit into as a water bath. This will help to cook the cake more evenly.
4. Break the chocolate into the handy little squares that it comes in and put them into a double boiler. If you’ve never done this before, this is a good introduction. I use a glass bowl on top of a saucepan.
5. While the chocolate is slowly, slowly melting and you’re stirring it every once in a while, get started on the other ingredients.
6. In a food processor or blender, blend the coconut milk with 1 tbps of sugar. Let it just go for at least a minute or two to let it fluff a little. We want some air bubbles in there.
7. Add the tofu and the remaining sugar and let blend again for a minute or two. It should be very smooth and the sugar should be dissolved.
8. Preheat your oven to 325.
9. Leave the heat on low on the stove top through these next steps. When the chocolate is melted, start adding the warm (not hot) coffee with one hand as you stir with the other. Start with literally a few drips. Chocolate is VERY sensitive and it can seize up which changes the flavor of everything. Be patient. It should take at least a minute or two to add the 1/4 c of coffee.
10. Still stirring, grab your blender container or food processor and slowly, slowly add the coconut milk/tofu/sugar mixture. Start with large drops of no more than a tablespoon at a time and KEEP stirring.
11. As soon as it’s all combined, pour it into the cake pan. Make sure to dry the bottom of the bowl before you hold it over the cake pan so you don’t get drips of water in the pan. Scrape the bowl with a spatula and smooth the batter in the pan so it’s level.
12. Place this small cake pan into the larger pan. Fill the larger pan with enough water to reach halfway up the outside of the smaller pan.
13. Place this contraption into the oven and set your timer for just 20 minutes. The nice thing about this is that since there’s no egg, this version doesn’t need to cook for as long as the non-vegan version.
14. When it’s done, let it cool in the pan for a while. This cake is actually better after it can sit for a little while and it is best served cool.
15. At some point create the raspberry coulis. Blend all coulis ingredients at the highest blender setting until it’s smooth. If you still have seeds, you may need to strain out the seeds. Pour into a saucepan on the stove top at medium low heat and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool.
16. When the cake is cool, cut the outside rim with a knife and flip it carefully upside down onto a lovely serving platter and serve with the raspberry coulis and some fresh raspberries. The cake is so rich that it absolutely needs the tartness to balance it out.

Let me know how it turns out!