Chocolate cake reminds me of my mother, who in my humble opinion, baked the best chocolate cake on earth. It was coated in a creamy, buttery frosting that wasn’t too awfully sweet. This cake is a single-layer, dim tribute to her shining, multi-tiered one – but it is rich, moist, and bursting with warm, complex flavors from the orange and spices. The sweet potato replaces butter/oil and the frosting couldn’t be easier: melted chocolate chips sprinkled with chopped nuts (toasted coconut would be nice, too).
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Chocolate Sweet Potato Spice Cake
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 50
- Total Time: 80
- Yield: 1 1x
Description
Soft and moist without oil or refined sugar, this chocolatey cake gets flavor complexity from orange, cinnamon, cardamom, and allspice.
Ingredients
Scale
- 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 2 Tbsp. Cafix or Dandy Blend (herbal coffee substitute)
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. cardamom
- pinch allspice
- 2 tsp. powdered stevia
- zest of one orange
- 1 1/2 cups non-dairy milk
- 1 cup fresh orange juice
- 1 cup roasted sweet potato
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup xylitol (or equivalent amount of sugar)
- 1 cup walnuts, divided
- 1 1/4 cups stevia-sweetened semi-sweet vegan chocolate chips, divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350-degrees F and lightly spray a 10-inch springform pan with oil.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, herbal coffee substitute, cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, stevia and orange zest. Set aside.
- In a food processor, combine the non-dairy milk, orange juice, sweet potato, vanilla extract, applesauce, and xylitol. Process until smooth. Pour mixture into dry ingredients and stir until well-combined. Stir in 1/2 cup of the walnuts and 1/4 cup of the chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Put the pan on a cooling rack and sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips over the top of the hot cake. Let sit for a few minutes to melt and then spread the chocolate evenly over the cake. Sprinkle on the walnuts and gently press them into the melted chocolate. After about 15 minutes, remove the outer ring of the pan and let the cake cool completely before slicing.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 8
- Calories: 522
- Sugar: 33
- Sodium: 366
- Fat: 18
- Saturated Fat: 7
- Unsaturated Fat: 10
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 86
- Protein: 9
- Cholesterol: 0
Few things beat a really good chocolate cake. I like the sound of the spices in this and it looks beautiful with the nuts on top.
I agree with you, Lorna. Chocolate cake = comfort!
This cake is gorgeous in it’s simplicity Annie! Single tier cakes are so much easier to eat anyway right? I love the simple decoration with the nuts too- let’s get in some omega-3s with all that dessert 😉
I cannot handle 2-layer cakes! And forget about frosting them!
This looks so good – and we can call it healthy, right? 🙂
Oh, totally!
That cake looks so lovely! It looks really dense and chocolatey, and I can almost taste the fall flavors of cinnamon & cardamom.
The spices just add that little sumthin-sumthin.
Simply gorgeous!
Thanks, Sarah!
What a wonderful way to use pumpkin. I’ll eat anything that is this filled with yummy chocolate!
This time of hear we all have copious amounts of squash hanging about ;-)!
This sounds so good Annie! Have you attempted a cake with a GF flour? I have some Bob’s Red Mill which is predominantly fava bean flour…. and I simply have to make this cake, but would love my husband to be able to eat some as well. Just wondered if you think a GF would be able to replace WW pastry?
I’ve made this with a GF flour blend and it comes out a little denser, but delicious. FYI the mix I used comes from Fork & Beans: http://www.forkandbeans.com/2013/02/13/caras-gluten-free-flour-blend/ It’s the closest I’ve tasted to the “real” thing.
Wonderful! I’ll check out the Fork & Beans mix and can not wait to try this cake. Thanks so much!
I could have done with a large wedge of this gorgeousness yesterday. We spent 5 hours finishing off a HUGE fully enclosed veggie garden and a slab of heaven like this would have given me back a bit of energy. Pinning it right now so that any other penniless student hippies in need of something gorgeous in their lives can home in on it with impunity 🙂
Oh wow! Good for you!! How exciting. You definitely deserve at least half of this cake :-)!
Cheers Annie, I will tell Steve that I have permission to eat half when I make it…I am SURE he will agree 😉
Oh yea, and you just had an awful time eating that piece after the pics, didn’t you?
My Mom’s specialty was German Chocolate cake but I prefer to spice the cake, like your’s, and have my icing too 😉 Looks awfully good to me!
The sacrifices we make, you know?! It’s horrible work, really.
Chocolate cake was never really my thing. I’m more of a vanilla girl. But this cake looks so much better than the chocolate cakes I’ve had- I bet the orange juice, sweet potato, spices and nuts make for a lovely complex flavour.
I’ve come to appreciate vanilla. When I was a kid I scoffed at vanilla ice cream – I mean, please!! But vanilla stands tall in its own right.
Aw, I think your cake looks lovely! My Nani Dorothy used to make a great chocolate cake, and I wish I knew where the recipe was now. I do remember that her secret ingredient was mayonnaise, which disgusted me as a kid but didn’t stop me from asking for seconds.
Thanks, Becky. I remember when mayo was the rage in cakes and I’ve no doubt it makes for incredible moistness – but it sure does sound unappetizing! Hmmm, Vegenaise…??
This looks amazing! I love the idea of sweet potatoes in cake – genius!
Thanks :-). I’ve been sneaking it into all kinds of things!
Gorgeous! I’ve been looking at a few things which put chocolate and pumpkin together. I think this is the one!
A brilliant cake my friend, simply perfection 😀
Cheers
CCU
Hey there, CCU!!
Do you taste the orange juice or is it in there as an acid/sweetner/liquid?
The orange flavor comes through just slightly – but feel free to omit it if you don’t like the taste. Use more non-dairy milk or water as a substitute.
Great! I make pumpkin chocolate cherry cupcakes a lot and this made me think of doing a whole one in a more Mexican chocolate cake style with cinnamon and maybe a dash of chile with cherry juice instead of the whole cherries I put in the cupcake center. I will send you a link when I make it! Thanks!
Yum! Go with it, I say :-)! Definitely share the recipe – it sounds scrumptious.
I can never say no to chocolate cake – sometimes even when it’s not vegan 🙁
I love the walnuts on this – that’s a great combo!!
Chocolate cake is just one of those desserts…Guess it has a lot of emotional connections for me! Maybe for you, too ;-)?
the cake looks so moist and delicious!
Yesterday, I made this divine sweet potato spice cake & used coconut sugar instead of what you used. It was divine!
I had my parents over for dinner & we ate this as a nice & lovely special dessert & we all loved it immensely, dear Anne! xxx 🙂
That makes me so happy to hear, Sophie!
Yum! I adore all things sweet potato, and the chocolate sure doesn’t hurt either 😉 It looks so fluffy and delicious!
Thanks, Maggie! It tastes pretty durn good going down!
Is this a good call for Thanksgiving dessert?
Absolutely – it’s got a little hint of cinnamon to it – and if you have chocolate lovers in the house, they’ll be very happy. But I’ve got a recipe coming up on the 21st which would make a really good Thanksgiving Day dessert 🙂 – also with sweet potato.
Cool…I will check back. 🙂
Hi!!
Looks sooooooooo delicious. I was wondering how much of coconut sugar I can use instead and what if I also skip the Cafix. Can I use instant coffee? Thanks much in advance!!!
Thank you :-)! Instant coffee should work just fine and as for the coconut sugar, I’d use the same amount as the xylitol – I believe the sweetness is about the same. You might want to taste the batter to make sure.
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great healthy idea!
Less guilt, more chocolate ;-)!
Now that’s my kind of cake……..
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