This is a recipe that has stood the test of time. It is one of the earliest cake recipes in our archives. I discovered this recipe while in high school and quickly penned it into my trusty spiral bound notebook which at the time was the keeper of all my culinary dreams. The fact that I still have that ratty old notebook and have never transcribed any of the knowledge within its pages is a testament to two things. Number one is that I’ve been into healthy cooking since 1991 and the hustle to figure out how to make desserts free from refined sugar was so intense that I still treasure and hold tight to that early, foundational knowledge. Number two is that the pace of motherhood and farm life over the last 16 years has been very intense!
This is one of the most decadent cakes that we make here in the Farmhouse Kitchen. It’s reserved for special occasions and days when you just need to honor the journey. Back in the days before Humble Hill I used to sell a version of this cake to a local café in Woodstock. One day I packed up my cake and apple pie for delivery as usual and went into town to make the exchange, they got their desserts and I got cash. When I arrived the employee who greeted me shared that there was no payment on hand today and I could just leave the desserts and get paid next week. The promise of payment was not enough to convince me to leave my consumable products in a fledging coffee shop, so I stacked up my boxes and left. I wasn’t really sure what my next move was going to be, but awkward boxes and all I decided to make one quick stop at a bead shop. I was quite a sight walking in there with a big carob cake and an apple pie, so naturally the manager asked me what was up with the boxes and I told him my story. After he grilled me about what types of ingredients were in my desserts he offered to buy some of each. I thought it was a bit strange, until he explained that he’d been working down there for while and had grown tired of all his lunch options. Since I had no other plan and needed gas money to get home I agreed to sell him some slices off of each one. Over time we developed a relationship centered around our love of food and eventually the manager of the bead shop became my husband.
Carob Celebration Cake!
Wet ingredients:
1 cup of water
1 cup of honey (see variations below)
1/2 cup of oil (canola, safflower or olive)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp vinegar
Dry ingredients:
2 cups of organic unbleached white flour
3/4 cup of carob powder
2 Tablespoons Dani~Blend (herbal coffee substitute)
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking soda
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl combine the liquid ingredients and whip with a whisk until well mixed. Sift the dry ingredient mixture into the liquid mixture and mix everything together into a smooth batter. Pour into a greased cake pan or cupcake tins. Cupcakes baking time is 16-20 minutes depending on their size. The cake bakes for about 25-30 min depending on the size of the pan. Cool cake completely before removing it from the pan. Let cupcakes cool for a few minutes and then remove them from the tins so they cool completely.
Recipe Variations:
Substitute the oil:
Substitute 1/2 of oil with a 1/2 cup of applesauce or you can do half oil half apple sauce totaling 1/2 cup of liquid.
Cut the honey!
Reduce the amount of honey to 1/2 cup and add a 1/2 cup of milk or other liquid to total 1 cup.
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