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Healthier Chocolate Cake with Raspberry White Chocolate (pink!) Frosting

You know I couldn't leave well enough alone and make a straightforward, traditional birthday cake, right?  Come on, white flour NEVER finds it's way into this house, nor does artificial food colouring.  So the cake is pretty healthy for cake (no refined flour, no refined sugar) and the icing is...naturally coloured.  It IS a birthday cake after all, so the icing is full-on, over-the-top decadent and delicious.  Both are dairy free (for my hubby), and you could probably veganize the cake by replacing the eggs with flax eggs.
This was the perfect sized recipe for my daisy pan, which is probably equivalent to a 9x12 pan.  You could also probably make about 4 8-inch round layer cakes or a lot (?) of cupcakes.

Healthier Chocolate Cake

2 eggs
1.5 cups xylitol (or other sweetener)
1/2 cup agave syrup (or honey)
1 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup canola or safflower oil
1 cup non-dairy milk (I used unsweetened, plain soy)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp vinegar

3 cups whole grain kamut flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease and lightly flour your pans.  Whisk together wet ingredients in a large bowl.  In a smaller bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.  Whisk dry ingredients into wet until well mixed.  Scrape batter into your pans and bake for 30-45 minutes (depending on what shape size pans you use), or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cupcakes will probably take less time.  Be careful not to overbake.  Let cool slightly, before removing from pans.  Cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Raspberry White Chocolate Frosting

1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1/2 cup + more non-dairy milk (plain or vanilla unsweetened)
1 cup good quality dairy-free white chocolate chips, melted
4+ cups icing sugar

Place raspberries in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil and turn down heat, cooking until berries fall apart completely.  Remove from heat and whisk in 1/2 cup milk.  Push mixture through fine sieve into a medium sized bowl.  Beat together with chocolate and icing sugar.  Adjust amount of milk versus sugar until desired consistency is reached*.  Icing will harden somewhat as it cools.  If it hardens too much before icing the cake, beat in a bit more milk or microwave for about 15+ seconds until spreadable. 

*Personally, I like a really stiff icing, almost like fondant, but that's just me...

Little A insisted on helping me decorate, but I can't really blame her - cake decorating isn't my forte.  Nevertheless, Little A was thrilled with it.  Besides, I really don't care much about looks, I'm all about the taste and nutrition and this cake has both.  Regardless of it's 'healthier" status, it was a HUGE hit with both the adults and kids.

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