I went to the Baker's Chocolate web site and found the recipe for their "Original BAKER'S GERMAN'S Sweet Chocolate Cake." No wonder I loved this cake as a kid — it's LOADED with sugar! There are 2 cups of sugar in the cake, 1 1/2 cups of sugar in the filling/frosting, and there's also sugar, undoubtedly, in the chocolate and in the coconut.
How can I make this cake without the sugar?
I decided to use applesauce made from whole organic apples along with a touch of agave syrup to sweeten the cake and whole, organic dates to sweeten the frosting. I figured the cake part would not be very sweet and taste more like chocolate, and the frosting would be more sweet, with the dates, coconut, and pecans as the stars of the show.
First, I cut the original recipe in half and chose a ten-inch round baking dish to make a single-layer cake. I decided to keep the eggs and the butter, but use whole-grain flour instead of white flour. Then, I made some applesauce.
Applesauce:
I washed and cut up 5 large apples into small dices (leaving the apple peel on). I heated up a large saucepan, added about two teaspoons of sesame oil, and then added the diced apples. They sizzled and crackled as soon as they hit the hot pan. I turned down the flame to very low, covered the pan, and let it cook for about fifteen minutes or so. Thinking I should add some water to it, I was surprised when I lifted the lid and saw the applesauce was done! The apples had become soft and puffy and when I stirred them, they transformed into the perfect sauce. Not too dry, not too watery. And no sign of the apple peels! I don't know if I'll be able to repeat this, the next time I make applesauce for a cake, but for now, I was very lucky!
Okay, here's the recipe that I ended up making for what turned out to be a delicious "German Chocolate Cake." The cake part was light and moist, and faintly sweet, and the frosting was very sweet, rich, and complex.
German Chocolate Cake, A New Upgrade
325º F preheated oven
30 minutes
greased 10" round baking dish
THE CAKE PART:
2 oz. chocolate (unsweetened, organic, Dagoba chocolate for baking)
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup butter, softened (Straus Family Creamery organic butter)
2 eggs, whole, at room temperature
1 or 2 tablespoons organic agave syrup (Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Blue Agave)
1/2 cup thick applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour (I used 1/8 cup gluten flour + 7/8 whole wheat flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt, unrefined
1/4 cup soy milk, unsweetened organic
1/4 cup water
Step 1: Melt the chocolate with the water, mix well, and set aside.
Step 2: In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter with the eggs, add agave syrup, applesauce, and vanilla, and stir thoroughly.
Step 3: Add the melted chocolate/water mixture and stir again.
Step 4: Mix the flour, soda, and sea salt in a separate dish.
Step 5: Mix the soy milk and water in a liquid measuring cup.
Step 6: Alternate adding portions of the flour mixture with the liquid mixture to the large mixing bowl and stir well.
Step 7: Evenly distribute the batter into a buttered, 10-inch-round baking dish, and bake at 325º F for 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and place baking dish on a pad or wire rack and allow cake to cool.
THE FROSTING PART:
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup chopped dates (SunRidge Farms Organic Deglet Dates)
3/4 cup (6 ounces) water
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup coconut, unsweetened, finely shredded (Edward & Sons Let's Do Organic)
3/4 cup pecans, chopped
Step 1: Under careful watch, lightly toast the coconut on a baking sheet in the oven for a couple of minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
Step 2: Melt butter in a quart-size saucepan on the stove.
Step 3: Add dates, water, and vanilla, and cook on medium-low heat for 12 minutes, stirring continually.
Step 4: Turn off heat, add coconut and pecans, and mix thoroughly.
Step 5. Spread frosting over cooled cake and eat!
Notes:
• I kept the cake in the baking dish, but could've just as easily removed it and placed the cake on a serving plate before frosting it.
• We ate a couple of pieces right away and froze the rest in a container for later. Defrosting was easy and the cake tasted just as good, if not better for having "mellowed" a few weeks.
• I shared a couple pieces of the cake with friends who were unaccustomed to eating "unsweetened" cake. I think it may have been a shock to their taste buds. But for my husband and I who have not eaten sugar in such a long time, we were able to taste all of the subtle flavors of chocolate and applesauce, and the date-frosting more than made up for the lack of sweetness in the cake. My sweet-tooth was appeased and my childhood memories of German Chocolate Cake received an excellent upgrade!
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One Week Since No More Sugar
No More Sugar (Saturday, January 1, 2011)
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