chocolate coffee snack cake
February 23, 2012 After being away for the long weekend, our fridge was wiped clean of any + all vegetables. As evidenced by my cheese-only pizza. Chris needed the car this week for work + school so I didn’t get the chance to go to the store.
Good thing you don’t need vegetables to make cake.
I was also completely out of eggs.
And after the first failed attempt [photos 1+2] I had a breakfast snack cake that required no vegetables and no eggs.
Ta-daaaaaaa
The funny thing about recipe creating + photography is that you have to start taking photos before you know if something has failed. This is most typically the case with baked goods. I didn’t waste much time with the photographing and got right to the taste testing and then headed back to the kitchen. The first trial was way too dry.
The second trial was nowhere near as dense and definitely not dry.
This is a barely sweet, chocolately cake, with a hint of coffee.
Perfect for breakfast or snacking.
Dunked in coffee, dusted with powdered sugar, or slathered with almond butter.
Take your pick or try all three. It is the weekend.
Chocolate Coffee Snack Cake [vegan + gf]
- 1/2c raw buckwheat flour
- 1/2c GF oat flour
- 3/4c sweet rice flour
- 1/4c almond meal
- 2T ground flax meal
- 5T unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1.5T instant coffee
- 3/4c unsweetened almond milk
- 7T maple syrup
- 3T + 1T oil
- 1/2c + 2T pumpkin puree
- 1T vanilla extract
- 1.5t baking powder
- 1/2t salt
- 1/2t baking soda
- Preheat your oven to 350*
- In a 9x9 baking pan or 10” cast iron pan, place 1T oil in the pan and put into the oven for 5min to heat.
- In a bowl, mix together the buckwheat flour, oat flour, sweet rice flour, almond meal, flax, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
- In another bowl, whisk together the instant coffee, milk, maple syrup, 3T oil, pumpkin puree and vanilla until well combined.
- Remove pan from the oven and carefully swirl the oil around to grease all sides. [coconut oil works really well for greasing]
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. Avoid over-stirring. The batter will be thick, but not dry. It should be semi-pourable.
- Place the batter into the hot, greased pan, and carefully spread to the edges of the pan.
- Bake on the middle rack for 30-35min for the 10” cast iron pan. [if using 9x9 it may take longer]
- Toothpick test for doneness. It should be moist, but not gooey or bone dry.
- It’s important to let fully cool before cutting [or it will be crumbly] and store tightly covered once cooled + cut.
notes: You can use all buckwheat or all oat flour instead of the combination. Chocolate chips and/or nuts can be added. If adding nuts, add 1T extra milk. The pumpkin adds no flavor, but keeps the cake moist. For high altitude – set oven to 375* and use 1 1/4t baking powder. You can make almond meal by grinding raw almonds [unsalted/unroasted] into a meal like flour. Honey can be used in place of maple syrup. Well mashed banana can be used in place of pumpkin puree.
Now. I have an overflowing plate of cake to attend to. See you back here soon!
Ashley
almond meal, buckwheat flour, cocoa powder, coffee, flax meal, oat flour, pumpkin, sweet rice flour in cakes, gluten free, healthy treats, vegan
Reader Comments (61)
Definitely making some soft of coffee cake this weekend, you have inspired me! Another great recipe...I'd follow yours only I've no canned pumpkin let :(
ha ha, I know what you mean about getting the shots BEFORE you know whether or not it's failed...sometimes i feel as though 'how can it have failed when it looks so pretty!' :-)
"you have to start taking photos before you know if something has failed." = yes!
Which is why I've stopped doing most step by steps unless I am realllllly sure it's going to be a success b/c I realize that I would have just wasted all that time (and have done it, plenty) on steps of recipes that never turn out anyway.
This looks delish!
Yesssss,I'd love this as a snack. Or breakfast.
Looks great! Great recipe :)
i love that you baked this in a cast iron skillet! i need to utilize mine more than i do and i don't see any reason why that can't involve cake :)
oh oh oh I'm up for chocolate ANY time. Duh.
I think I found breaaaaakfast (and my dying container of pumpkin in the fridge is rejoicing). Last night, I made your pan bread using half corn meal and half oat flour -- the taste and texture were amazing!! Next time, I'm greasing the pan better because it didn't flip really well. I stuffed it with chickpeas, mushrooms, and peppers...yay for new favorites!
Yum -- I love the idea of almond butter on top...coffee+chocolate+almond butter...who needs veggies with that combo? Thanks for always sharing your delicious recipes...especially these cast iron skillet beauties!
I think "good thing you don't need vegetables to make cake" is my new motto. :)
Would I be able to use a blend of whole wheat pastry flour and all purpose flour instead of the flours you have listed? Also, what can I use instead of almond meal? Thanks :)
Snack cake..with coffee...and chocolate...YUM!!! Happy Friday! :)
What do you do with failed attempts of baked goods?! I'm always hesistant to try new recipes out for fear of wasting food haha. Can't wait to hear the final product though, I kind of love the idea of cake for breakfast.
The recipe I gave at the end was the 2nd trial which worked! :) Typically the baked goods are still salvagable. Like all the mandel bread and zucchini bread trials I did months ago. I just wrap them up and stick them in the freezer! The flavor with the first trial was good, and nothing a little nut butter couldn't fix [for the dryness].
Hi Jacki - Sorry, I'm really not sure how to sub out all of the flours. It's even harder when baking GF and Vegan because you want the batter to be much thicker than a normal cake batter. There isn't really a good sub for almond meal, except to make the meal with another type of nut. With changing all the flours, I would have no idea how much milk to use. Sorry!
Mine too!
I'm obsessed with the cast iron lately!
That makes my morning to hear! Great flour combo, too. :)
I am loving that pan lately. SO versatile!
You can sub banana, but it will obviously keep some of the banana flavor. You could also try unsweetened applesauce, but I would only use 1/2c, not 1/2+2T.
Yay for cast iron skillets! I just started using mine a little more. Love it :) I want to try making a pizza in mine also, I've heard it makes a beautiful crust :) Do you try all of the substitutions in your recipes?
i really love how you made this in a cast iron. i love mine, and don't use it enough! time to change that..
I don't, but I only say something will work if I've tried it in the past. Like I've successfully subbed buckwheat and oat flour for one another and banana and pumpkin. Sometimes I will say that I'm guessing or this "may" work, in which case I'm giving it my best guess. The subs I cannot guess on are things like using whole wheat flour, etc. Sometimes though, I have played around with trying different varieties, like with the 5-minute pan bread and mandel bread [from months ago].
That's like the only downfall of baked goods...getting everything set up and ready for pictures only to taste it and realize it's an epic fail. PS-I'm in love with your blue/teal plate. Your baked stuff always looks so good on it!
This looks so delicious! And thank you for adding the "notes" section at the end of your recipes; I'm always nervous to tweak recipes and I learn a lot from your techniques and substitutions.
That last photo is gorgeous. Who needs icing when you've got nut butter!
tapioca flour ;) tapioca flour ;)
The cake looks absolutely delicious! And love that cast iron skillet!
I need to use my cast-iron more often! I have a lovely griddle and wok that get pretty good workouts, but I really neglect my skillets (not to mention the crepe pan... yup). In fact, I think the last time I used one was when I made your pumpkin cornbread a few days after you posted it. So thanks for the subtle reminder :) Anyway, this looks gorgeous! I've been on the lookout for veg-friendly treats lately, and this fits the bill perfectly!
Your note about the photography really made me think - it must be SO frustrating to bake something that looks wonderful but misses the mark elsewhere. I'm not sure that we non-bloggers really understand the work and effort you put into your posts, so I'd just like to recognize it: thank you, Ashley, for doing what you do! We all appreciate it so much. And I have a quick question: when you develop recipes, what do you do with the failed trials? Are you and Chris going to be eating chocolate snack cake for a couple weeks? :P
Ah, that last picture captured exactly what I was going to ask ("Would it be overkill to slather it in almond butter AND cover it with powdered sugar??") Glad to see it's not :)
I also baked a chocolate cake, I am on a chocolate kick lately, yours looks really delicious!
This cake for breakfast or snack?!? How about this cake for breakfast AND snack? I think that's what I'm going to do. ;)
Hey, I have one of those pans! :)
I have got to start using my cast iron skillet more often. As in making this cake. Nowish.
Can I omit the cocoa fora plain coffee cake or should I replace it with something? Recipe sounds great, I'm just not a big chocolate person, but I am a big coffee person!
This snack cake looks fantastic! I love that it's just barely sweet. I have a big container of pumpkin puree that needs to be used, and now I know what to do with it! I just wish I had a cast iron skillet. After seeing your last few recipes, I really want to get one!
I like the almond butter recommendation. YUM!
Yummy! Putting almond butter or any nut butter on something chocolate it dangerously delicious!
This kind of reminds me of this recipe that I've made a few times from Whole Foods website, which is fabulous: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipeId=2865
I also slathered this with almond butter!
I have to admit though- yours looks prettier. :)
That's so funny that they call it snack cake too! Yum.
I definitely recommend one! It takes a little time to get the hang of cleaning it [because you don't scrub it or use soap] but I absolutely love it! And I think it only cost $20!
Hey Casey! I'm not sure how it would taste without the cocoa. Possibly a bit bland. I also know you wouldn't need as much milk, but I'm not sure how much to cut it back by. This would be my *guess* - use well mashed banana instead of pumpkin puree, eliminate the cocoa powder, use 2T instant coffee, add 2t cinnamon -> reduce amount of banana [pumpkin in the recipe] by 2T, reduce milk by 1T.
Yes you do! I am loving it lately!
Hahaha, yes you do...now use it! ;)
I like the way you think!
Definitely not overkill!!!
I want a griddle pan!! :) I love that pumpkin cornbread. Hope you did too! -- Thank you so much for your kind words as well. That really means a lot. I don't typically have too many failed recipes that are totally inedible. Once in awhile that happens, so something may get ditched, but it's rare. I'm planning on making bread pudding with the first trial, but I definitely still ate half of it by myself. :) I also like heating up that type of bread/cake in a skillet and then topping it with banana and nut butter for breakfast. That will save almost anything.
Thanks for letting me know the notes are useful!
That is my favorite plate ever and guess where I found it? GOODWILL :)
Always a sucker for chocolate... Love the use of buckwheat flour, oat and rice flours. A great recipe was well thought out. Can't wait to try it..