Vegan Low-Fat Chocolate Cake

This is a tasty and simple cake that just happens to be vegan and low-fat. It's the sort of cake that goes well with a cup of tea and a good chat with your girlfriends. You can of course frost it, but I like it best dusted with just a bit of powdered sugar.

This cake isn't 100% guilt-free, but for a cake it comes pretty close. Go ahead and indulge in a big piece!

The recipe is from Flour by Joanne Chang

Vegan Low-Fat Chocolate Cake
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder, or 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons molasses

Position a rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat to 350F. Butter and flour a 6-inch round cake pan. (Note: I made 1 1/2 times the recipe so that I could bake it in a larger cake pan.)

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, espresso, baking soda, and salt. In another medium bowl, whisk together the water, oil, vanilla, and molasses. Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and mix together with a wooden spoon until the batter is smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, (note: this was much too much time in my oven, so check your cake earlier), or until the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Let cool in the pan on a rack for 1 hour. Then, take the cake out of the pan and let it cool completely on a rack.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature.