A is for Avocado: Chocolate Avocado Cake (Jennifer)

Hello readers!

This week's secret ingredient was avocado! Now, normally, I would just slice my avocado, lay the slices all out on a plate, sprinkle them with sea salt and proceed to eat them up. But, I figured I needed to do a little something more for you all. Something a little more adventurous. A little more interesting. Well, I don't believe it gets more interesting than combining chocolate and avocado in a cake. But, before you dismiss this post as too zany an idea, give me a second to explain. I just might win you over.

A few months ago, while browsing around the interwebs, I stumbled upon some vegan dessert recipes that combined ingredients like beets and tofu with chocolate. I know, right? That's what I was thinking...until I tried it. And it actually worked. So, because I had a hankering for chocolate cake, I did a little web search and whaddya' know? A recipe came up on the official California Avocado website for chocolate avocado pistachio cake. Hmm....I thought. Could I actually pull this off? I did a little more searching and came up with another recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Joy the Baker. If she could do it, why couldn't I?



Chocolate Avocado Cake
reference above link for JTB

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
6 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used almond oil)
1/2 cup soft avocado, well mashed, about 1 medium avocado
2 cups water
2 Tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and flour two 8 or 9-inch rounds.  Set aside.

 

Sift together all of the dry ingredients except the sugar.  Set that aside too.
Mix all the wet ingredients together in a bowl, including the super mashed avocado.
Add sugar into the wet mix and stir.

 

 

 This was the point where I started to worry that all of my efforts at this point had been in vane...look at that--it looks like some sort of Halloween trick!

Mix the wet with the dry all at once, and beat with a whisk (by hand) until smooth.
Pour batter into a greased cake tins. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Let cakes cool in pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto cooling racks to cool completely before frosting with avocado buttercream.

Avocado Buttercream Frosting

8 ounces of avocado meat, about 2 small to medium, very ripe avocados
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 pound powdered sugar, sifted (I used a little less than 1 pound...probably 3/4 pound)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
*1 stick of unsalted butter, softened to room temperture
**2-3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Peel and pit the soft avocados. If the avocados have brown spots, avoid those spots when you scoop the meat into the bowl. Place the avocado into the bowl of a stand mixer fit with the whisk attachment.  Add lemon juice and whisk the avocado on medium speed, until slightly lightened in color and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time and beat.  Add vanilla extract until combined. *At this point, I didn't like how sweet the frosting was, so I added 1 stick of softened unsalted butter to the mixer and beat until smooth. **At this point, I didn't care for the slimy green color of the frosting, so I added cocoa powder until desired color and chocolate taste. I believe this was about 2-3 tablespoons. If not using right away, store in refrigerator.

 

 

 

 



Review:
I was a little more than skeptical with this cake combination (avocado/chocolate) until I made it and tasted it myself. You really can't taste a strong avocado flavor anywhere, except for maybe the frosting...just a touch. The cake itself is moist and luscious. The perfect amount of chocolate. The frosting is light and fluffy, though a touch still on the sweet side. I do love that I added the cocoa to the frosting, too. Hey, if you're going to go with chocolate, why not go all the way, right?

P.S. I didn't include a picture above, but a trick for keeping your cake plate clean while frosting is to slide pieces of wax paper underneath your cake. I use four strips of wax paper--making a square shape around the cake. After you've frosted your cake, just slide them out and you are left with a clean cake plate and a well-frosted cake!

Enjoy!
Jennifer

Jessica's secret ingredient for "B" is Bacon!!