Chocolate cake without butter or added sugar: apple purée recipe

The Ukrainian news portal Unian.net has published a recipe for a chocolate cake made without butter or added sugar. Apple purée is used instead, keeping the batter moist and giving it a soft texture. The cake bakes in about 20–25 minutes.

The apple purée

The flavour of the purée is barely noticeable in the finished cake. It replaces the fat usually added to chocolate cookies and cakes. Eggs provide lightness, especially the whites whipped to stiff peaks.

The recipe calls for 150 grams of purée with no added sugar. At home, it can be made from roughly 250–300 grams of apples, preferably naturally sweet varieties. Peel and core the apples, cut them into small pieces, put them in a saucepan with one or two tablespoons of water and simmer covered over low heat for 10–15 minutes, until completely soft. Then blend until smooth. If the purée is too runny, heat it briefly without the lid. It must cool completely, and no sugar, honey, cinnamon or lemon juice should be added.

Ingredients

For a cake tin 20 centimetres in diameter:

• 200 g dark chocolate with 70% cocoa;
• 150 g apple purée without added sugar;
• 3 eggs;
• 60 g wheat flour;
• 5 g baking powder;
• optionally, 1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar.

Method

Preheat the oven to 175 °C using top and bottom heating without the fan. Line the tin with baking paper. Melt the chocolate in a water bath and let it cool slightly. Mix the egg yolks with the cooled purée, then add the chocolate, flour and baking powder. Whip the whites separately to stiff peaks and fold them gently into the batter in three batches.

Pour the batter into the tin and bake for about 20 minutes for a moister, denser centre, or about 25 minutes for a slightly firmer texture. Let the cake cool completely before removing it from the tin and slicing. Storing it in the refrigerator is recommended.