Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

My mom shared this recipe with me when I was looking for a homemade chocolate cake recipe. She gave me two. One was called something like “Best Chocolate Cake Ever” and I had to make it. It was the driest, most boxed-cake tasting thing ever. We couldn’t even finish it. A waste and I never will make it again. Mom said she never made it so I had to report back to her that it was terrible.

However, I do remember her making this sour cream chocolate cake when we were young and it was always moist and very delicious. I made this for my daughter’s 20th birthday, and we made it again about a week later so as not to waste the remaining sour cream. Plus we’d devoured the birthday cake, and we kept thinking how good it was. So why not make another!?

I don’t have any pictures but it’s just going to look like a regular chocolate cake. However, the flavor is great! Butter frosting recipe at the bottom. Enjoy!

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
2 c. flour
2 c sugar
1 c water
3/4 c sour cream
1/4 c unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
4 oz melted unsweetened chocolate, or 1/2 c powdered cocoa

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour your pan – oblong best but square is ok.

Measure all ingredients into bowl. Mix 1/2 minute on low, 3 minutes on high.

Bake 40-45 minutes (or more in square pan – test with toothpick in middle for doneness.) Oblong pan time: 30-35 minutes.

Butter Frosting
1/2 cup room temperature butter
3 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
3 to 4 tbsp milk

Cream the butter, salt and vanilla – beat until light and fluffy. Add sugar gradually and beat after each addition. Add 3 tbsp milk and beat until smooth. Add more milk until the desired consistency reached.

Naturally Healthy Fruit Crisp

I love making this fruit crisp. It’s not the fruit that makes it great it’s the topping! It’s like eating this healthiest semi-chewy semi-crunchy granola-ish type of thing. It can be made on its own and stored in an air-tight container then used on top of other foods like you’d use granola. ♥ I loves it! ♥

This desert is made with as many organic ingredients as possible. Our bodies need clean, natural foods in order to maintain health. Organic foods are best to use since they don’t tax our bodies with unnatural pesticides and preservatives. Whole grains are our friends. Sugar is not so healthy for our bodies to eat on a regular basis (or at all). Using products like rice syrups will keep your blood sugar level balanced. Using the proper healthy ingredients in your cooking will keep your body feeling great.

Fruit Crisp

Ingredients:

Fruit in season – organic berries, pears, apples. Have enough to fill a square casserole pan.

2 cups quick oats

1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour – found in your local health food store.

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or almonds

1/2 cup rice syrup – Rice syrup is easy on the body as it enters the bloodstream slowly, not causing sugar highs and lows.

1/3 cup canola oil – I use organic, expeller-pressed or cold-pressed oils. These differ from typical supermarket oils in that they are not extracted using chemical solvents.

1/2 tsp. vanilla – I use glycerin-based flavoirings, as opposed to alcohol-based. Frontier has a nice selection of popular flavorings

1/2 cup water

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Chop your fruit and fill your casserole pan. I used pears but didn’t have enough so chopped one more apple to make the dish full.

Sprinkle the top of the fruit with a little sea salt, then add your 1/2 cup of water.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl and the wet ingredients (syrup, canola oil and vanilla – mix those well!) in a smaller bowl.

Here’s a picture of some of the organic items I used.

Spectrum canola oil, 365 whole wheat pastry flour (from Whole Foods), Frontier alcohol-free vanilla extract, Lundberg organic brown rice syrup, and some quick oats. The oats are grocery store brand; I couldn’t find any organic oats but that’s ok for oats. Also Mr. Whiskie says hi to you.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix with a spoon but eventually you may want to get your hands in there and finish the job. The mixture needs to be moist, crumbly but mixed very well.

Crumble the topping on the fruit. Fill in all the gaps.

Cover with aluminum foil and Into the oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Take off the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes to brown the topping. Check. If topping is not lightly brown, put in for another 5 minutes.

All done! (Bad picture –  had to use my flash since it was evening).

I had way too much juice sitting at the bottom of the pan this time around. My pears were way too ripe which made this dish really juicy. Rather than let my fruit sit in that juice, I decided to pour it off. I will mix it with corn starch, arrowroot or kudzu (healthiest) tomorrow and use that bit of thickened pear juice to drizzle over a slice of the crisp.

Enjoy!