This is an easy to make cake for Valentine’s Day, and you can modify it to please everyone, well, except for those rare folks who do not like chocolate!

There are some flavor combinations that are always a hit: chocolate with orange, chocolate with mint, and chocolate with raspberry!

This cake takes just one bowl, one liquid measuring cup, and a few minutes to put together, and tastes like a million, deep on chocolate flavor, with the fresh notes of raspberry.

A quick, “go-to” cake

It is my “go-to” chocolate cake, so moist and delicious, you don’t need announce it is gluten-free – no one will ever guess! I made it this past weekend, and, as always, I was asked for the recipe. That is a good gauge to judge a recipe! The coffee is the secret ingredient here, and the raspberry enhances the chocolate in a lovely way.

If you are not crazy about raspberries, you can substitute orange liquor in the recipe, and top with thinned down marmalade, and fresh orange segments. Or, just serve it up without additional flavoring, you don’t need to alter anything else!

In addition to being gluten-free, it is easy to make dairy-free as well, which I did this weekend since I knew I had people with both restrictions coming to the event.

3/4 cup garbanzo bean (chick pea) flour

1 cup gluten-free baking flour (such as King Arthur or Bob’s Red Mill)

½  cup sugar

¾  cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder 

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

¾  cups skim milk 

¾  cup sour cream, or yoghurt

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup canola or grape seed oil

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup raspberry liquor, divided

1 cup hot, black coffee, I use decaffeinated French roast

Preheat over to 350 degrees.  Spray a non-stick bundt pan with cooking spray, preferably the kind with flour added, or butter the pan well and lightly flour. Set aside.

Into a large bowl, sift flours, sugars, cocoa, baking powder, soda, and salt.

In a two-cup measuring cup, combine milk, sour cream, eggs, oil, vanilla, and 1/4 cup of the raspberry liquor, saving the rest for later. Blend well.

Add the liquid to the dry mixture. Stir for two minutes, until smooth and add coffee. The batter will be thin, almost runny. Don’t worry, it is supposed to look like this, have faith here.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes and check. A toothpick inserted in the top will come out with a few sticky crumbs attached, but it won’t be coated with liquid. Do not overcook or cake will be dry. If not ready, put back in oven for five to seven minutes, and check again.

Place on a wire rack and cool for ten minutes. With a skewer, poke holes in the top of the cake, and drizzle the remaining raspberry liquor over. It should soak right in.  Let cool completely and place on a cake plate to garnish.

To frost:

Take 1/2 cup raspberry jam and thin it out with a little more raspberry liquor. Drizzle this over the top. Top with fresh raspberries.

You can also frost it with a little chocolate ganache, or leave it plain and serve with whipped cream.

This makes 12 greedy portions, or 16 sensible servings of 114 calories, 3 grams of fat, and a modest 18 grams of cholesterol and 18 carbs,  just don’t tell anyone it isn’t all devilish. Believe me, they won’t want to know the truth.

Dairy-Free:

To make this dairy free, substitute the milk and sour cream with 1 1/2 cups light coconut milk or soy milk to which you add a tablespoon of white vinegar.

© Copyright 2019 – or current year, Dorothy Grover-Read, The New Vintage Kitchen