Healthy Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
You’re gonna enjoy every chocolatey and moist bite of this easy-to-make vegan chocolate peanut butter cake! Actually, I’m sure you can see how moist it is through the photo..
First off, let me introduce you to a couple more healthy cake recipes here on the blog. The first one is this healthy lemon snack cake. And the runner-up is this super delish vegan vanilla mug cake recipe.
Being A Recipe Creator
If you’ve looked through this blog at some of my other recipes, you will notice that I have included quite a few recipes so far that contain chocolate.
I say ‘so far’ because I just started this blog less than a year ago. It is my hope to continually add more recipes – as I enjoy being a recipe creator thus far.
Though it’s challenging most of the time, I love being in the kitchen creating a healthy recipe that someone out there could enjoy making. And honestly, it’s so fulfilling and a joy to see a recipe that I planned in my mind come to fruition.
What About Chocolate Chips?
Now back to talking about chocolate. Indeed not every recipe that contains chocolate is unhealthy. There’s honestly nothing (in my opinion) wrong with adding a few chocolate chips to your oatmeal or desserts occasionally.
Now, when I create a recipe using chocolate chips; I usually don’t add much. This is because this form of chocolate is indeed unhealthy in large amounts (think high fat, cholesterol, etc.) So I keep the amount to a strict minimum.
That is not to say that someone can’t add a few more if they’d like to. I would just advise to use the amount in the recipe, to help keep this vegan chocolate peanut butter cake recipe healthy.
Cocoa Powder – A Healthy Form of Chocolate
Thank God not all chocolate is unhealthy. I’m talking specifically about cocoa powder. I use cocoa powder in most of my chocolate dessert and/or breakfast recipes.
With cocoa powder, you don’t have to worry about high levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, etc.
I did a little research on it on Google (who doesn’t?). And I was astounded at what other health benefits cocoa powder provides!
Did you know that consuming cocoa powder can help protect you from heart disease, cancer, and diabetes? This is because it contains theobromine, a naturally occurring compound found in chocolate. Didn’t know that, did ya?
Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake Ingredients:
You only need the most basic of ingredients in order to make this cake. And I’m sure you have most, if not all ingredients on hand already.
- Milk (feel free to use dairy-free or regular milk).
- Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV): If you want your cake to be light, fluffy, and moist, this helps to achieve that.
- All-Purpose Flour: I’m sure that spelt flour would be amazing in this recipe as well.
- Whole-Wheat Flour: I believe in combining this with all-purpose flour to give the cake a balanced texture. Not too dense and not too light.
- Cocoa Powder: Imparts a rich chocolatey flavor to the cake.
- Salt: Of course, just a little salt helps to bring all the flavor in this cake together.
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda: A cake is not usually a cake without this team. They work together (along with the ACV) to help the cake rise.
- Coconut Sugar: You can use regular sugar if you prefer. I feel that the caramel-like flavor of this sugar goes perfectly with the chocolate flavor of this cake.
- Ground Flaxseed: I can’t begin to tell you how beneficial it is to add this in the cake! First of all, it contains Omega3s which is great for heart health. And secondly, it’s odorless and flavorless – which means it’s presence undetectable in the cake.
- Unsweetened Applesauce: I love adding this to my cake recipes! You can cut back on the amount of butter/oil in a recipe by replacing some of it with this. Or you can replace all of the oil or butter with it. The texture and taste will be somewhat different though..
- Vanilla Extract: The cake would be more bland in flavor without this, believe it!
- Creamy Peanut Butter: You can’t go wrong when combining chocolate and peanut butter, can you?
- Oil (organic canola, vegetable, etc.): There’s only a 1/2 tbsp of oil in this cake. As this is a healthy cake recipe, it’s the perfect amount. And yet the cake is still perfectly moist.
Even More Easy Dessert Recipes For You to Try
If you’ve tried out this vegan chocolate peanut butter cake recipe, I really appreciate it. Also, I’d love to hear from you if you have any feedback or comments on this cake. Thank you so much!
Healthy Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup milk (dairy-free or regular)
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (also try using spelt flour)
- 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup and an extra tbsp coconut sugar (or just use regular sugar if you prefer).
- 1/2 tbsp ground flaxseed (optional but highly recommended)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 – 2 tbsp creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 tbsp oil (organic canola, vegetable oil, etc).
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In small bowl combine the milk and the vinegar. Set aside..
- In large mixing bowl thoroughly combine all the dry ingredients (flour – ground flaxseed).
- Add in the milk/vinegar mixture, and the remaining wet ingredients (applesauce – oil). Combine (easier with a fork) all ingredients just until the batter is mostly smooth. *Some smallish lumps are very normal*
- Add batter to greased 8 inch round baking pan. Swirl in some peanut butter on top if desired – and sprinkle a small handful of chocolate chips over it as well.
- Bake from 30 – 33 minutes until fully baked. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving (if you can).