CAKE
1 c Water
1 c Honey
1/2 c Applesauce
1 ts Vanilla
1 ts Vinegar
2 c Wholewheat pastry flour or
— unbleached white flour
3/4 c Cocoa powder
1 tb Baking powder
1 ts Baking soda
-SYRUP-
1/2 c Water
1/4 c Honey
2 ea Thin lemon or orange slices
1/3 c Kirsch
-ICING-
3/4 c Raw cashews
3/4 c Water
2 ts Vanilla
1/2 c Honey
10 oz Firm tofu
3 oz Semi-sweet chocolate, melted
16 oz Jar pitted cherries, drained
CAKE: Preheat oven to 350F. Combine liquid ingredients in a large
bowl & whisk well. Sift dry ingredients together & whisk into liquid
mixture. Pour into greased & floured 9″ cake tin & bake for 35
minutes or until springy. Cool cake completely & remove from pan.
With a serrated knife, cut cake horizontally to make 3 thin layers.
SYRUP: Combine first 3 ingredients in a small pot & boil for 3
minutes. Let cool & then add kirsch. ICING: In a blender, combine
cashews, water & vanilla. Blend till smooth & creamy. Add honey &
tofu & blend again. Set aside 2 c for the vanilla icing to go on top
& sides of cake. To the rest of the mixture, add melted chocolate & 3
tb of syrup. Blend till smooth. Chill both icings before using. TO
ASSEMBLE: Carefully remove the top two layers of cake. Brush some
syrup onto bottom layer & spread half of chocolate icing over it.
Place the middle cake layer on top & brush with syrup & icing. Put
down a layer of cherries & dot with a little vanilla icing to help
the top layer stick. Place the top layer on the cherries & brush
again with syrup. Frost top & sides with vanilla icing. Decorate with
cherries & pipe rosettes if desired. Chill several hours before
serving. The cake can be kept covered if not being served till the
following day. However, the frosting may discolour after about
3 days.
Yields
12 Servings
