Vegan Chocolate Red Wine Cake

This recipe was inspired by Mollie Katzen's "Made-In-the-Pan Chocolate Cake" recipe.  The original recipe is easy, delicious, and (surprisingly) vegan.  When I made it for the first time, I was impressed by the moist texture and thought it presented endless possibilities - vegan chocolate cupcakes, vegan chocolate layer cake (aka vegan birthday cake!), and, this time, vegan chocolate red wine cake.

I made a few "green edits" to the cake and added red wine and cinnamon for a deep cold-weather flavor combination.

Vegan Chocolate Red Wine Cake (8 servings)

1 ¼ cup unbleached white flour whole wheat pastry flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup sugar 2/3 cup turbinado sugar

3/4 teaspoon (kosher) salt

¾ teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1 cup water red wine

1/3 cup vegetable oil  unsweetened applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cider vinegar 

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Spray an 8- or 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray and line it with parchment paper. 

(Note: Jamie Oliver has the coolest trick for cutting parchment to fit a pan where you fold up the parchment first.  It looks like you're going to make some sort of crazy valentine or snowflake out of the paper.  You put the point of the folded paper in the center of the pan to measure the length of the pan's radius.  Then cut off the excess paper and unfold to have a perfect circle to fit in your pan. Video would help here, but hopefully if you look at the folds of the paper below, you get the general idea.)

1.  Sift together the flour, cocoa, salt, cinnamon and baking soda.  Add the sugar and whisk to combine.

 

2. Combine the red wine, applesauce, vanilla and vinegar.  Add to the dry ingredients.

3. Use a fork and slowly stir the mixture in small circles, breaking up lumps in the batter, until the batter is smooth.  (I do this in a separate bowl rather than in the pan because I'm using a circular metal pan rather than the glass pan that Mollie's recipe calls for).  

4. Pour the batter in the pan and smooth the surface with a spatula.  

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 325 degrees, or until a toothpick or butter knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.  

Invert the cake onto a plate or platter to serve.  

 

Dust with powdered sugar for a very pretty presentation. 

Nutrition facts for one slice of cake using the original recipe:

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 89 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 258 Calories from Fat 88

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 9.8g 15%

Saturated Fat 2.1g 11%

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 337mg 14%

Total Carbohydrates 41.9g 14%

Dietary Fiber 1.7g 7%

Sugars 25.2g

Protein 2.7g

Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 0% Calcium 1% • Iron 8%

Nutrition facts for one slice of cake using the green edits (and red wine):

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 76 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 154 Calories from Fat 7

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 0.8g 1%

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 341mg 14%

Total Carbohydrates 29.6g 10%

Dietary Fiber 3.2g 13%

Sugars 13.1g

Protein 2.6g

Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 0% Calcium 2% • Iron 7%