As I’ve said before Donna Hay’s Fresh and Light is my new favourite cookbook so Lady AB and I have been working our way through many of the recipes.
Our latest trial was for a healthier version of a chocolate fudge cake. I’m of the view that chocolate is not necessarily a ‘bad’ food – everything in moderation. And this recipe uses buttermilk and oil instead of butter. As usual I have experimented with reducing the suggested amount of sugar by 2/3 and I think they still taste great particularly as I have used good quality chocolate. If you think that more sugar is needed perhaps dust the tops with icing sugar instead of adding more sugar to the mix.
Finally, cooking mini cakes from whole cake recipes is a favourite trick of mine – it’s much faster to bake of course, is already portioned controlled and easier for transporting into school lunchboxes. My guideline for baking times is normally half the time specified for the whole cake.
Chocolate Fudge Cake by Donna HayÂ
- 80g plain wholemeal flour, sifted
- 35g plain white flour, sifted
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 75g cocoa or Loving Earth raw organic cocoa, sifted
- 175g brown sugar or Loving Earth organic coconut sugar
- 3 eggs
- 180ml buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 80ml vegetable oil
- optional – icing sugar for dusting
1. Preheat oven to 160 C.
2. Mix the flour, baking powder, cocoa and sugar in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, buttermilk, oil, vanilla until combined.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined – don’t overmix.
5. Spoon the mixture into 12 1/2 cup capacity muffin tins lined with paper or silicon cases. The mixture is delicious to lick off the beaters!
6. Bake for 15 minutes if you want to leave the insides a bit wet and fudgey or completely cook through for 20 minutes.
