German Chocolate Cake for Gary’s birthday has been a family tradition for years … so I set about experimenting with the original recipe, substituting in whole wheat pastry flour, Wax Orchards Fruit Sweet, unsweetened dark chocolate and rice milk. The cake turned out really moist and chocolate-y and not too sweet … perfect with a tall glass of milk.

For the frosting, we steered away from the traditional recipe with its canned milk and sugar. We made a cocoa cream cheese topping, and then crowned the entire creation with fresh raspberries and grain-sweetened chocolate chips.

When we first tasted this cake, we both said it needed more raspberries. So we found a Wax Orchards product – Raspberry Spread – and plan to use it in between cake layers the next we bake this dressy cake (we’ll be sure to update this recipe as soon as we get a chance to experiment further!).

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray two 9” round cake pans with olive oil cooking spray and line bottoms with aluminum foil.

2. In ½ cup boiling water, melt:

4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate

3. In large bowl, cream together:

1 cup Earth Balance Buttery sticks (2 sticks), softened at room temperature

1 1/3 cups Wax Orchards Fruit Sweet

4. Beat in slowly:

¾ cup egg whites (Egg Beaters or Egg Starts)

1 tsp almond extract

5. In medium bowl, combine:

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

6. In small bowl, combine:

¾ cup rice milk

2 tsp lemon juice

(This mixture will look curdly … is that a word?!) 

7. Alternately add flour mixture and rice milk, beating after each addition until smooth.   

8. Pour into cake pans and bake for 30 minutes. Let cool.  

9. When cakes have cooled, turn one upside down on plate, remove aluminum foil and invert onto a cake plate. Cover with half the Cocoa Cream Cheese Topping.  

10. Sprinkle on top:

½ cup grain-sweetened chocolate chips 

11. Invert second cake layer and place right side up on top of first cake layer. Frost with remaining Cocoa Cream Cheese Topping.  

12. Arrange on top:

1 cup fresh raspberries

Additional grain-sweetened chocolate chips

 Cocoa Cream Cheese Topping:

1. In a medium bowl, let soften:

8 oz cream cheese

2. Using an electric hand-held mixer, blend into the softened cream cheese:

8 oz Suzanne's Ricemellow Crème

3 Tbsp cocoa