This is the vegan chocolate cake I made for dessert with last night’s supper for the in-laws.  It’s perfect, simple, and surprising.  Serve it with a small dollop of vanilla ice cream.  My choice is Kim Zanni’s Vanilla Bean Gelato di Babbo.  If you haven’t found Kim’s monstrously good gelatos, go out and find it, or demand your grocer get in into their store.  Imagine this:  it’s low-fat.  On my Weight Watchers’ plan it is only three points, which offsets the hundreds of points the cake is (only kidding).  Make sure you allow the cake to cool completely in the pan before you unpan it, as it is prone to breaking apart if you unpan it too soon.  Still yummy, but you’ll be tempted to eat the broken parts (not necessarily a bad thing!).

Ingredients:

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/3 cups unbleached all purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 ½ teaspoons ground ginger

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup strong brewed coffee, room temperature

½ cup vegetable oil

¼ cup crystallized ginger, coarsely chopped (optional)

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray a square 8-inch baking pan with oil or baking spray or dust with cocoa powder.
2. Sift the cocoa, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and brown sugar into a large bowl.  Combine coffee and oil in a small bowl.  Beat the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula or whisk.  Stir in the crystallized ginger (if using), and quickly stir in vinegar.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick placed into the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool 10 minutes on a wire rack, then turn the cake out onto the rack and cool completely.  Serve, dusted with confectioners’ sugar or cocoa powder, with hot tea, cider, or mulled wine.