Mexican Chocolate Cake

So like I mentioned yesterday, Saturday was "Coincidental Cinco-de-Mayo-ish Food Day," and the icing on the cake of Mexican-food night (quite literally) was the Mexican Chocolate Cake recipe I stumbled across on vegcooking.com.

Holy crap.

Seriously, folks. I mean, I know I'm a sucker for chocolate with cayenne pepper in it (it's delectable), but regardless, this was hand's down the best cake I've ever baked.

It was wonderfully moist. It was delightfully chocolatey. It was raunchily spicy. And the chocolate-drizzle you can pour on top--fan-fricking-tastic (though I *did* just end up using semi-sweet baking chocolate instead of dark chocolate, but it was nonetheless gloriously yummy).

Now, I know the cayenne pepper probably scares off some of you, but jesus, peeps! Be daring! You only live once! If it scares you that badly, just use 1/4 t. (I used only 1/2 myself, and it set my mouth ablaze, so be forewarned)--or you can just omit it entirely and still have a wonderfully moist chocolate cake, but what fun would THAT be?

And if you haven't ever *HAD* the pleasure of TRYING chocolate with cayenne pepper, get ye to an oven, because you must. There is some sort of wonderful chemistry that goes on when the two meet--couple that with the cinnamon (which also lends an added richness to the chocolate) and you have a crazy-ass sexy motherfucking threesome going on--all batting eyelashes and garter belts and thigh-high pleather boots. How can you pass THAT up?

The Cake Itself

INGREDIENTS:

• 1.5 c. flour, sifted


• 1 cup sugar


• 4 T. cocoa powder


• 1 t. baking soda


• 1 t. cinnamon


• 1/2-3/4 t. cayenne pepper (I used 1/2 and it was pretty damn spicy)


• 1 t. vanilla extract


• 1 T. distilled white vinegar


• 5 T. vegetable oil


• 1 c. cold water


• Confectioners' sugar for garnish

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9-inch cake pan.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and baking soda. Stir in the cinnamon, cayenne, vanilla, vinegar, oil, and water. Mix until just combined.

Pour into the prepared cake pan and cook for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool.

Dust with the confectioners' sugar before serving. Or drizzle with the following spicy chocolate sauce.

(Makes 8 to 10 servings )

Spicy Chocolate Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 squares dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate


• 1/4 c. soy milk


• 1/2 c. sugar


• 3 T. vegan margarine


• 1/2 t. vanilla


• Dash or two of cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS

Melt 2 squares of dark or semi-sweet chocolate with 1/4 cup water or soy milk. Stir constantly until the chocolate is melted. Stir in 1/2 cup sugar and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in 3 Tbsp. vegan margarine, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, and cayenne pepper, to taste.

(from VegCooking)