Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Glaze

I couldn’t be happier with this chocolate cake recipe.  Even my dad, who’s not raw or vegan or vegetarian, asked for seconds.  Raw cake is so challenging for textural reasons.  Baked cake is moist but not sticky or wet, crumbly but not falling apart.  These are hard things to mimic without butter and baking powder.  This chocolate cake doesn’t suffer from the curse of dry texture and dull taste that often comes with dehydration. The key is to make the dough a bit too moist to start with and only dehydrate briefly so the inside is barely affected.

Raw, low-fat frosting can be a challenge too.  When in doubt, turn to bananas.  Sometimes I wonder if I overdo the banana thing, but then I remember that that is impossible, bananas should be in everything. And if you wanted it to be fat free you could leave out the coconut oil and use a frozen banana.

Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Glaze

Makes one 6″ cake

Chocolate Cake

2 cups raw buckwheat groats

1/2 cup agave nectar

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp almond milk

1/2 cup cacao powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp vanilla powder

Vanilla Glaze

1 large banana

1 tsp vanilla powder

2 tbsp coconut sugar (or sweetener of choice)

2 tbsp coconut oil warmed to a liquid

1. To make the glaze, combine everything in a blender, and blend till smooth. Refrigerate while you make the cake. The longer you refrigerate it, the thicker it will be. I only refrigerated mine for an hour.
2. To make the cake, grind the buckwheat groats to a flour in the blender. About 10 seconds on medium high should do it.
3. Pour the flour into a bowl. Add the salt, vanilla, and cacao powder, and stir to combine the dry ingredients.
4. Add the almond milk and agave. Mix with your hands until it forms a moist dough and is thoroughly combined. If it is crumbly, add more almond milk one tablespoon at a time. It should be moist and a bit sticky.
5. Press into a cake pan lined with plastic wrap to shape or use your hands. Flip your cake out onto a lined dehydrator tray. Dehydrate at 115 degrees for 1 hour.
6. Top with the glaze and enjoy. Store in the refrigerator.