...in celebration of my sister's 30th birthday. I am a devotee of butter-sugar-eggs-flour, but her diet restricts her from eating refined grains and sugars. Agave Nectar and Spelt flour it would be! Never having baked with substitutes before, I was a little wary of how the final cake would taste, but eager to experiment.
After trolling the Internet for a recipe with can't-really-go-wrong ingredients as well as those that would be healthy for her, I found one at epicurious.com for Chocolate Espresso Spelt Cake that included dates soaked in a fragrant blend of vanilla and espresso meant to lend an "unbelievable unctuous texture." Though unctuous was never a word I would want said about one of my cakes—look up the definition if you don't know it and you'll see what I mean—I decided to give it a shot.
And I am so glad that I did. The cake was moist yet light and richly chocolaty, but not overly sweet thanks in part to the spelt flour. The taste of espresso was notably absent, but not really missed. We served it with fresh whipped cream and a raspberry sauce (both made faintly sweet with Agave) to a dinner table of other butter-sugar-eggs-flour devotees, all of whom were truly amazed at how good the cake was. Most importantly my sister, who usually has to pass on birthday desserts, finally got to have a big, luscious, chocolaty piece of cake—and eat it too.
Chocolate Espresso Spelt Cake
Adapted from epicurious.com
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened (plus additional for pan)
3/4 c. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (plus additional for dusting pan and cake)
1 c. boiling water
1 1/2 tbsp. instant-espresso powder
1 1/2 tsp. good vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 lb. Medjool dates (12 to 14), pitted and coarsely chopped
2 c. spelt flour (spoon into the measuring cup and level off to avoid packing down)
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
2/3 c. Agave Nectar
2 large eggs
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper, then butter and dust the whole lot with cocoa, tapping out excess.
In a small bowl, stir together the boiling water, espresso powder, vanilla and baking soda. Add the chopped dates, mash them up a bit with the back of a fork, and let them soak until the mixture cools to room temperature.
While that's cooling, grab another small bowl and whisk together the cocoa, spelt flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Realize that this is a not a dishwasher-friendly recipe and grab yet another bowl, but a larger one this time as it will all come together here...but first you must beat together the butter and the sugar. Agave Nectar is a liquid sweetener, so the nice, fluffy, creamy concoction that you're used to won't really happen. If you're like me you may be thinking of what else you've got to cook and end up with a curdled looking mess from over-mixing. But as I was running out of time, I decided to anger the baking gods and keep going. Honestly, it came out fine, but let's just pretend it didn't for recipe-sake.
Right, so make sure the butter is at that really good soft-but-not-too-soft stage. Mix in the Agave Nectar like you would wash your delicates—gently, but thoroughly. Once you have something that looks nice and smooth, add the eggs one at a time until just combined, then add the date mixture (here's where you can expect it to look a little curdled). Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
Your batter will be thick and smell wonderful. Spoon it into the cocoa-buttered pan, smooth the top, and pop it in the oven for 40-50 minutes (time adjusted from the original recipe due to the Agave Nectar), or until your tester comes out clean but not dry. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove the ring and let cool completely.
Indulge. Share if you so desire.
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