When the holidays come around, I am always in the mood for something chocolatey. It must be the coldness of winter, or maybe the familiarity of having chocolate at family holiday events… But I love it!
Over the summer, when I worked at a dairy free bakery, I was inspired to give other milk alternatives a try. I’ve settled on coconut milk as my favorite substitute; it’s creamy, rich, and loaded with all these vitamins.
I came across this recipe for a whole wheat chocolate cake, and wondered if I could make it dairy free. I did, and it tastes just like a regular chocolate cake. Maybe even better, since coconut milk adds so much moisture and creaminess. Here’s what I did:
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup coconut milk (with 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice to make it into a “buttermilk”)
- 3 tablespoons coconut milk (for chocolate sauce)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup hot coffee
- 3 tablespoons dark chocolate chips (for chocolate sauce)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, add all the dry ingredients. Mix together. In a separate bowl, add the coconut milk, the egg (beaten), vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Pour into the bowl with dry ingredients. Mix all together, and then add to dry ingredients. Add the cup of hot coffee, and mix. Oil a 9 inch circular cake pan and then dust it lightly but thoroughly with flour. Pour the cake mix into the pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.
I also made a chocolate sauce for this cake. I added equal parts dark chocolate chips and coconut milk in a mug and microwaved it for one minute. After letting it cool for five minutes, I put it on my cake. You can serve it immediately with the sauce, or let it cool on your cake so it becomes a chocolate ganache.
You may have noticed the addition of coffee in this cake. Weird right? It actually helps bring out the chocolate flavor, and it must do something to add moisture because this cake was very soft and light. The coconut milk works great too. Because I wanted the cake to be very fluffy, I only used white sugar.
I would make this cake again. Next time, I would use this as the base for a chocolate layer cake I want to make one day. It’s been my dream to make my own layer cake for quite some time. This recipe certainly inspired me to make one in the very distant future. I hope you liked it too! Cheers!
HungryLambos 