19/03/2010

Raspberry, rhubarb and dark chocolate cake

I made this cake a bit last minute in response to a family members request for stress relief cake after a grotty day at work. It's therefore unofficially called 'Ofsted cake' but as that doesn't really describe the cake itself I've  gone with a slightly more useful title above. The finished product was yum, really raspberry-y and slightly dessert cakey. The rhubarb however wasn't really discernable and so next time I'm gonna experiment with using more and preferably fresh in season rhubarb. Cooking time was also pretty long (1 hr) as the mixture was initially quite wet so I might also see what a different wet fruit to flour ratio cooks like. So, if you fancy giving this a go and making it your own there's some suggestions for you :)


Ingredients:
  • 245g rhubarb (This was a tinned lot and not v. flavourful, try fresh/frozen and perhaps up the quantity)
  • 2 large handfuls of raspberries (Mine were frozen from last years garden crop, fresh when in season would be good too)
  • 100g vegan dark chocolate
  • 200g sugar
  • 300g flour (I used half wholemeal: half white - you could try all white to see if the lovely pink mixture colour stays a bit more?)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 100 ml vegetable oil
  • 2 *eggs*
    • Any egg replacer you like would be good, I didn't have tofu this time so I went with 1tsp oil, 2 tbsp water, 2tsp baking powder = 1egg. (perhaps though if you've used a lot of wet fruit, omit the water part)

1.  Defrost the frozen fruit (if using frozen) so they dont separate out from the mixture when cooking.


2. Sieve the flour in to a bowl and mix in the baking powder, baking soda and sugar.

3. Stir the raspberries and rhubarb in to the flour mix and add the oil to bring it together.

4. Whisk up the *egg* mix or whatever egg replacer you've gone for and stir this in too.

5. Bash up some lovely vegan dark chocolate and gently stir in the chips.


6. Spoon the lovely pink mixture into a lightly greased tin and cook at 180C for 1hr. (I covered the top with foil after about 40 mins to prevent burning)


7. When cooked cool the cake completely on a wire rack before adding any topping.


8. I started a raspberry glaze for the top but it went rather jammy and did not look good, so I abandoned it...


Comments on how to perfect a nice vegan raspberry/other glaze much appreciated! I was going for a sort of thick but still thin enough to soak in raspberry sauce to pour on top that would moisten and add extra flavour to the top of the cake but ended up with, rather tasty, raspberry jam. As it turned out the cake was really moist and raspberry-y anyway but added oompf is always good.

9. Instead of glaze I then opted for whole raspberries and grated chocolate sprinkled on top. A layer of chocolate frosting with rasperries loaded on would also be goooood (I was again baking for the strangely icing averse so left it out on mine this time). Luckily there was a small bit of chocolate left for grating (literally one square) and some more raspberries in the freezer although I then had to wait for them to defrost *again*...


The finished article,

1 comment:

  1. Oh yum!! I love raspberry and dark chocolate together....AND rhubarb! I think this cake is for me :) Can't help with the glaze too much, I usually heat up seedless raspberry jam but that's what you ended up with! Looks very good :)

    ReplyDelete