Dreena Burton
Dreena Burton has written six cookbooks charting her journey as a plant-powered cook and at-home mother of three. Always passionate about creating nutritious recipes, she is an advocate of using the “vegan basics” (beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables) to create dishes that are healthy but also very satisfying and delicious! For more on her plant-powered recipes and newest cookbook, Dreena’s Kind Kitchen: 100+ Whole-Foods Vegan Recipes to Enjoy Every Day, visit dreenaburton.com, and follow her on Instagram and Facebook.
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Comments (32)
So good! I subbed millet flour for spelt and it worked great. This is now my go-to birthday cake recipe. Yum!!
Wow this cake is delicious I’ve made it twice and it’s a hit with my husband and friends.
Amazing! Perfect for a crazy PMS craving for chocolate. It’s my Grandmother’s in law heavenly birthday too so a good day for cake.
This is the best cake I’ve ever tasted! Love the sweet potato moisture- consistency of brownies- -baked it in cupcake pan 2nd time around. Easy to find ingredients at Whole Foods . Really chocolate-y not too seeet!
I’ve made this cake multiple times. Definitely a favorite. I’ve done it in silicone cupcake liners as well. Worked great. I just double the recipe to make it a layer cake. For Christmas, I added some peppermint essential oil to the frosting and crushed a few little candy canes to sprinkle on the top.
I baked it 22 minutes but the inside is still completely raw and runny!
Would you be able to supply the nutritional breakdown?
I made this today using regular flour and granulated sugar. It is super moist and delicious.
Can I sub date sugar for coconut sugar?
Hi JCB, yes, you can substitute date sugar for the coconut sugar.
Thank you,
Courtney
Editor, Forks Over Knives
Could I sub date paste for the coconut sugar??
Hi LouAnn,
In general, it’s always good to substitute dry sweetener for dry sweetener. Date sugar would probably make a better substitute here than date paste, since date paste would add moisture. If you do try using date paste, please let us know how it goes!
Thank you,
Courtney
Editor, Forks Over Knives
This cake is AMAZING!!! So moist and delicious!
Great texture, but has an odd taste. Not quite sweet enough for me. I had to add way more liquid to the frosting to get it to blend.
The cake is moist and somewhat heavy. It has a nice chocolatey flavor. Next time I may add a little cinnamon and a few grains of cayenne. The frosting was somewhat disappointing. I used almond butter and almond milk. The consistency was glossy and thick, but the taste was off-putting. Perhaps the combo of almond and sweet potato? At any rate, I will not use the frosting, and will enjoy the cake with a sprinkling of powdered sugar and raspberries.
1/2 cup of water. Not mentioned in the ingredients list.
I used walnut butter and chocolate almond malk for the frosting…it is delicious!
This cake is incredible. I used Robin Hood gluten free flour, and lowered the sugar a tiny bit in the cake and frosting by a tablespoon each.
Delicious. I skipped the 2 tblsp of almond milk in the frosting, and it turned out like ganache in the food processor. The frosting alone would make a great pudding dessert for two. Sooo good. Really rich and luxurious cake. Don’t overmix the cake batter not to get rid of the air in the sifted flour.
Is there a diabetic version of this recipe? Suggestions? Thanks
Can whole wheat pastry flour be used instead of spelt flour? Also is there any liquid in the making of the cake? Thank you.
There is water in the recipe .5 cup in the instructions but was left off of the ingredient list
Hi Gladys,
We checked with Dreena Burton, the chef behind this recipe, for her advice on substituting whole wheat pastry flour for spelt. She says that her general substitution for spelt to whole wheat pastry is to use slightly less. So for a 1 cup measure of spelt, she’d use 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour minus about 1 to 1.5 Tbsp. A scant 1 cup measure also works.
Regarding whether there’s liquid in the recipe, the cooked sweet potato, maple syrup, and balsamic vinegar provide enough moisture.
Hope this is helpful.
Thank you,
Courtney Davison
Editor, Forks Over Knives
This recipe is delicious! Very moist. Almost like a brownie. I have already made it twice!
Os it possible to use butternut instead of sweet potato?
This was too good! I subbed Japanese sweet potatoes because I already had some baked & ready to go.
The directions have 1/2 cup of water for the batter, but it’s not listed in the ingredients. Just FYI.
Will definitely make again & again.
I will add. I didn’t have the flour so used regular flour. But not eating GF.
Made the cake as cupcakes. It doesn’t need frosting. Very good.
I made this as it was written. An absolutely gorgeous chocolate cake that everyone loved! I grated dark chocolate over the top so it looked even fancier. Definitely a make again, I think I will have fun and experiment with throwing a shot of espresso in the batter and/or some cinnamon or even better, cayenne in the icing. What a brilliant dessert, thank-you!
How long did you bake the cupcakes? Regular or mini size?
Is there a gluten free flour you’d recommend instead of spelt flour?
Used a scant cup of rice flour iso spelt flour and doubled the amount of water to rinse the blender in step 4 – turned out just perfect!! Thx for this great recipe for a fluffy chocolate cake!!!
Hi Silvia,
We recommend Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Baking Flour. While it’s not perfectly whole grain, it’s pretty close, and will give you a nice texture. Let us know how it goes!
I was going to ask the same thing. Yes, a GF flour needed please.