Friday, Yummy Friday- Spiced City Cake (Dairy Free!)

Sometimes you look at the ingredients for a recipe, and you can't believe that it will turn out right. That's how I felt when I saw the elegant Indian chef known as the Spice Goddess prepare this lovely spiced chocolate cake on Cooking Channel. The emperor has no milk, eggs or butter, folks! I could not believe how moist and tasty this confection is. I happen to have a niece and nephew with dairy allergies who I am eager to make this for, but as for my dairy loving little ones- they loved it!

Recipe Notes:
*You can make a dairy-free glaze or frosting for this with powdered sugar and some sort of liquid like lemon, orange or other citrus juice or even water and some flavoring like vanilla extract but I used a cream cheese and powdered sugar glaze for our cake
*Feel free to kick up the spices if you like, or reduce them, but I thought the given amounts were perfectly balanced
*Recipe calls for cardamom but I used cinnamon with great results
*I just used an 8 or 9-inch round pan instead of the less common 6x3-inch round pan

Spiced City Cake from the Spice Goddess

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground fennel
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom (*see Notes above)
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Oil a 6-inch by 3-inch round cake pan (* see Notes).

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, fennel, and cardamom and whisk to combine.

In another bowl, whisk together the water, vegetable oil, and vinegar and then add to the dry ingredients. Mix well and pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake for 1 hour. The cake is done when a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake. Cool on a rack and serve.

 

*If you'd like to check out the Spice Goddess whipping up more delicious Indian treats on Cooking Channel, please click here.