Chocolate-Orange Birthday Cake

One of our favorites! Unlike so many chocolate cakes, this one isn't dry and crumbly!

2 cups of spring white wheat berries (pastry grade)
1 cup of raw buttermilk
1/4 cup of butter
1/4 cup of coconut oil
2 cups of sucanat
3 eggs
pinch of sea salt
3/4 cup of unsweetened extra-dark cocoa powder
3/4 cup of pure water
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
orange zest from one orange
5-10 drops of orange essence

1) Grind the wheat berries finely, then sift them. measure 2 cups of sifted flour into your mixing bowl.

(You'll have a lot of bran and germ left -- make sure you refrigerate that and add it to your next batch of flour -- it would be a shame to waste the good stuff -- but this *is* a birthday cake.)

2) Stir in the buttermilk until the flour is evenly moist.

3) Let it rest for 4-12 hours.

The longer the better, but I don't always think ahead.

4) Cream the succanat with the butter and coconut oil until silky smooth. Set aside.

5) Bring the water to a boil

6) add the cocoa powder and the salt to the boiling water.

7) Stir until very smooth and shiny.

8) Add the orange essence.

9) Add the eggs and the zest to the sugar mixture.

10) Add all the mixtures together.

You can stir the sugar and chocolate together easily. Then stir the flour sponge in until it's somewhat broken up. Next, you'll need a whisk to get the rest of the sponge distributed properly.

11) Stir the baking soda in until it's well blended.

12) Pour into cake pans and bake for approximately 40 minutes, depending on the size of the pans.


YUM! I'll add a photo when Rod's cake is done. Pity I'm not a better baker. It tastes really good, but I can never get it to look pretty!