CHOCOLATE LAYER CAKE WITH RASPBERRIES (...not healthy!)

Here's another recipe that doesn't belong on a healthy eating website.  However, moderation is good, & if you are going to eat sweets, it may as well be homemade so you can control the quality of your ingredients.  

I'm having a get together for my husband's birthday tomorrow, & he requested chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream for dessert.  He specified that he would prefer that I don't make any "weird" substitutions to the cake, so my spelt & oat flour chocolate cake will be made another day.  I could not bring myself to buy a boxed cake, (or worse yet, frosting) so I turned to Epicurious for a chocolate cake recipe.  I don't make many desserts, & aside from occasional muffins or quick breads, I don't bake.  A homemade cake has always intimidated me, but tonight I learned that it's actually quite easy. 

I made a few modifications from this highly rated recipe from Bon Appetit:

For the cake:

3 oz light olive oil & 3 oz applesauce instead of 3/4cup oil

I added 1 tsp vanilla extract to the cake batter 

1 cup of brewed coffee for the water

1/4 tsp salt

I used turbinado sugar

I omitted the raspberry jam & powdered sugar dusting

I used skim milk which sat with lemon juice (1/4 lemon, juiced) for 2 min instead of buttermilk

For the ganache & raspberry topping:

I used 8 oz unsweetened 100% cacao

1 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp turbinado sugar

1 cup heavy whipping cream

I added 1 tsp vanilla extract
1 6oz container of raspberries,  stuffed with bittersweet chocolate chips

As prepared above, the cake was amazing.  It was moist, not too sweet, & possibly the best chocolate cake I've ever had.  Of course, the calorie is count is HUGE for this cake.  I cut out some (668 cal) by using applesauce for half of the oil  & reducing the frosting from 18oz chocolate to 8oz.  I think that 8oz was still too much; maybe 6oz with 6oz cream would be perfect.  You could cut more calories by using only egg whites, & using all applesauce for oil (that would reduce the calories count by another 833).  

Total calories as prepared: 6,783 cal
22 slices: 308 cal per slice



Tip: If this isn't consumed quickly, keep an eye on the raspberries.  Unless you treat them with a diluted vinegar rinse first (which I didn't), they may mold & ruin your cake!  I removed all of them tonight as a precaution (prepared Saturday night, removed raspberries Monday night).  Store in the refrigerator. 


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