MY CHOC-CAROB BIRTHDAY LOVE CAKE
With Aquarian birthdays happening all around me — in a virtual sense — including my own and maybe even the birth of my baby, I made a 2021 birthday cake in the early hours one morning when I couldn't sleep (is this nesting?!). Not to mention Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and this cake could make the perfect treat for your romantic day.
Wired and overtired from a last minute push to finish work commitments so that I could take some maternity leave, I knew my love for chocolate cake needed to be toned down a touch — the high caffeine content of chocolate is NOT a Vata-aggravated person’s friend.
So in comes carob — a year or so ago I made these delicious caroby nut and seed bars. Carob powder looks like cacao, but without the caffeine or the bitterness. Used in the right way, carob is not only delicious in its own right but is a wonderful way to enjoy something that hints at chocolate even if it’s not the real thing. For this reason it’s great for children or for an evening “something sweet.” In this recipe I’ve combined the best of both — using a small amount of cocoa in this recipe and then topping up the quota with carob to enhance the existing cocoa while enjoying less caffeine.
Note that different brands of carob (the dried and ground flour of carob pods) taste quite different. I find Cotswolds carob (available at Holland and Barrett) which I used on this occasion quite strong and coffee-like, because it’s been toasted, and very dark in colour — with this kind I find you can use much less. WholeFood Earth carob (available online) is more malty and sweeter and much lighter in colour, which will affect the colour of your cake, but don’t worry — either way it will look chocolatey! Word of caution: in the event of not having carob, do not sub in cocoa for the carob in this recipe unless you massively adjust the sweetener as you’ll end up with something quite bitter!
Nick and I, as well as my Aquarian friends who are close enough to get one through the letterbox (jokes, it doesn't fit but I do leave it on the doorstep), have really enjoyed the complex or shall we say grown up flavours of this cake: carob (chocolatey coffee), molasses sugar (sweet and malty) and sesame oil (nutty and bitter) and a good pinch of salt to take it into that salted chocolate territory. For kids, you can always reduce the amount of both carob and coffee used. Lots of kids I know are happy with chocolate cake that looks the right colour and has a bit of a taste of chocolate — and after that, well it’s cake, right? For the little ones, swap the molasses sugar for coconut sugar or jaggery which is much sweeter (not honey! Don’t cook with honey please!) and the sesame oil with a more neutral oil like sunflower or ghee or butter and reduce the salt. If this choc-carob cake becomes a firm favourite, you might even consider reducing the cocoa content bit by bit until you don’t even know the difference. I’ve given two measurements for the sweetener — I prefer my cakes only just sweet (and with a cup of tea!) or I feel the crash later, but I’ve given a slightly larger measurement which might be better for others.
INGREDIENTS
For the cake
285 gluten-free flour (I used Doves Farm gluten-free plain flour)
180g (approx. 1 cup tightly packed) molasses sugar (I used Billington’s) or jaggery, crumbled
½ cup (60g) carob powder
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1½ tsp baking powder
1½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1½ tsp vanilla extract
4 medium eggs
½ cup (125ml) unrefined sesame oil (or butter, coconut oil, avocado oil, extra virgin olive oil)
1 cup (250ml) boiling water (to activate the cocoa and help melt the molasses sugar/jaggery), plus ¼ cup room temp water
For the frosting
1½ tbsp carob powder
1½ tbsp cocoa
¾ cup (170g) organic butter or coconut oil
⅓ cup (55g) molasses sugar or jaggery
⅓ cup water
1½ tsp vanilla extract
⅛ tsp sea salt (NB: omit if butter is salted!)
For the colourful sprinkles
⅓ cup of desiccated coconut x 2
For yellow: ½ tsp turmeric plus 2 tbsp water
For pink: ¾ tsp beetroot plus 2 tbsp water (or 2 tbsp beetroot juice)
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180°C or 160°C fan. Position a rack towards the centre top of the oven and one towards the centre bottom. Grease two 8-inch round cake tins* with some oil or butter (I used a 7-inch pan and an 8-inch tin) and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, carob, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Transfer to a food processor (or use mixer or handheld blender) and add the molasses sugar or jaggery, eggs, oil, and vanilla. Blend for 2 minutes.
Add the boiling water and blend. Add a 1/4 cup of room temperature water and blend again, scraping down the sides as you go - the batter will be quite thin.
Distribute the batter evenly into the cake tins (if the tins are different sizes fill to the same level rather than volume or you’ll end up with a really tall layer). Bake for 30 minutes (place the larger tin if using at the top of the oven where it is hotter), or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out fairly clean (oven temperatures vary but it’s better to under cook than overcook this cake!).
Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from the tins and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
For the frosting:
Meanwhile, add all the ingredients for the frosting, except the vanilla extract, into a small saucepan.
Stir on a high heat to melt the butter or oil and mix the ingredients well, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
Stir in the vanilla extract and allow to cool completely. Then use a handheld blender to emulsify the mixture into a thick, spreadable frosting.
For the colourful sprinkles:
To make the yellow sprinkles, mix the turmeric with water in a small pot, then mix into ⅓ cup of dessicated coconut until evenly distributed.
Repeat for the pink sprinkles.
Spread each mix out onto a plate and dehydrate in the oven at the end of baking or at 50°C for 10 minutes or so until dry.
Allow to cool before using/storing.
To assemble:
If your cakes are slightly domed, use a bread knife to sliver off the dome of the bottom layer to make it more stable. Assemble the bottom layer onto a plate or cake stand and use a spatula to spread over half of the frosting. Add the top layer and smooth over the remaining frosting. Use the sprinkles to decorate — get creative!
East by West tip: *I use cake liners (like giant cupcake liners) for this cake as the batter is quite runny but I’ve gone without too and it’s been fine — watch for any gaps in your cake tins between the base and the walls where leakage could occur.
You can also decorate using plain white desiccated coconut, freeze-dried raspberry sprinkles or rose petals from the supermarket, chopped pistachios, edible flowers, dried fruit peel or lemon, lime, orange zest, nut butter or turmeric honey drizzle from East by West page 79!
If you like this celebration cake then try the peanut butter banana bread cake, blackberry apple ginger buckwheat cake or chocolate raspberry muffin volcanoes!