Depression-Era Chocolate Cake Recipe

3 cups flour (Either spelt or unbleached all-purpose or a combination of both)
2 cups organic cane sugar
1 tsp sea salt
6 Tbs cocoa powder
2 tsp aluminum-free baking soda
1/2 tsp ground ginger
12 Tbs (3/4 cup) coconut oil, melted and cooled
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 Tbs coffee (freshly brewed or leftover)
2 cups room temperature water
2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
* The powdered ginger and coffee are optional. I like to add them just because they give the chocolate a little more “depth of flavor” as professional bakers like to say. You can’t taste either the ginger or coffee, but they enhance the chocolate flavor. And if you’ve ever tried making your own homemade vinegar, you could use that in place of the store bought apple cider vinegar too.

How to make it :

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans or one 13 x 9 inch pan.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda, and ginger, stirring to mix well.
Add melted and cooled coconut oil, vanilla, and lukewarm water. Stir well to combine.
Add coffee and apple cider vinegar, stirring well to make sure there are no lumps in the batter. The batter will foam up a bit as the baking soda reacts with the acid in the vinegar and the coffee.
Pour batter into cake pans and bake at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (If you use a 13 x 9 pan rather than two cake pans, the cake might take a bit longer to bake through.)
Note: Because this cake calls for apple cider vinegar and water, it would probably work well if you wanted to use the soaked-grain method and use whole wheat flour soaked in the acidic water. I haven’t tried this yet because I didn’t want to wait for the batter to soak overnight before baking my cake, but if I were to try this, I would mix the apple cider vinegar and water together and mix it with 2 1/2 cups of flour (I think the full 3 cups would make the batter a bit too thick for soaking.) Then, I would cover the bowl and let it soak for 12-24 hours, and then add the rest of the ingredients as directed above.

Rich Chocolate Icing

3 1/2 cups organic powdered cane sugar *
1 1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup butter, ghee, or coconut oil (I decided to use ghee for my frosting this time, and it gave it a nice, slightly caramel flavor.)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup water
pinch sea salt (unless using salted butter)
* If you don’t want to use refined sugar, you could make your own homemade powdered sugar using a whole cane sugar. For times when I don’t want to go through the extra work of making my own, though, I just buy regular confectioner’s sugar. (Balance is key, and a little bit of white, refined sugar once in a while isn’t the end of the world. ) I make sure I get cane sugar, though, because if the bag just says “sugar” there’s a good chance that it’s made from genetically modified sugar beets rather than cane sugar. Buying organic is your best bet of finding non-GMO sugar.

hOW TO MAKE IT /

Combine powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl.
Add vanilla extract and butter, ghee, or coconut oil.
Gradually add water, stirring well to combine until icing reaches the right consistency for spreading. (I just stirred mine by hand because I was too lazy to dig out my mixer and I didn’t want to have to wash the beaters afterward, but using a mixer is the best way to get a smooth icing without any little clumps of cocoa powder.)
Enjoy your pure chocolate heaven