Exotic Chocolate and Cherry Cake with Sauce

Is it a cake or a pudding?  It's exotic, chocolate and cherry!

Exotic Chocolate and Cherry Cake with Sauce

Well, it's Valentine's Day, and I got to thinking about my 'emotional' cake, based on a novel.  (Listed earlier this week.)  Something about Valentine's Day makes me think of my childhood, and I suddenly remembered a cake, or perhaps it was a pudding, that was very common when I was a child.  It was usually chocolate, but sometimes it was butterscotch or lemon.  The top part was cake, but there was a pudding sauce down at the bottom of the dish. My recipe is based on that childhood favourite, but in keeping with my Indian and healthy theme, I’m using these ingredients:

Cake

½ cup whole wheat flour

½ cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons coco powder

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

½ teaspoon coarse salt

½ cup raw sugar cane crystals

¼ cup skim milk powder

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 slightly beaten egg

2 tablespoons Amaretto or other almond liqueur

1 teaspoon rosewater

milk up to the ½ cup mark 

2 cups pitted cherries 

Sauce

2/3 cup raw sugar cane crystals

2 tablespoons coco powder

1 ½ cups boiling water

Grease a deep oven proof baking dish.  Mix the first eight dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Melt the butter in the microwave in a smaller bowl, then pour the liqueur and rosewater into a measuring cup.  Fill the cup with milk up to the ½ cup mark, and pour into the melted butter.  This should cool the butter enough that you can add the beaten egg at this point.  Stir well, then slowly add to dry ingredients, stirring the batter which will be quite thick. 

Put the cherries into the baking dish and spoon the batter over them.  Smooth the batter carefully once it’s all in.  To start the sauce, simply sprinkle the coco powder and sugar cane crystals over the batter.  Very gently pour the boiling water over the coco, sugar and batter.  This may feel weird, and you may wonder if this will work, but take a deep breath and trust in the goddess. 

 Bake for an hour at 350 F.  You’ll know it’s done when it springs back if pressed in the centre.  This recipe is healthy and simple to make, and the sauce that makes itself is downright magical!