Vegan Barley Flour Chocolate Cake Recipe
Prep time: 15 Mins
Cook time: 30 Mins
Yields: One 8 inch cake
You would be surprised to know that this chocolate cake is vegan and made with barley flour.
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven at 350F/180C for 15 minutes. Grease the pan lightly with non-stick cooking spray and line the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment paper.
  2. Sift the barley flour and stir together rest of the dry ingredients (sugar to cocoa powder) and create a well in the center.
  3. To the well add all the wet ingredients one by one. Mix until just combined. Don't over mix. It's OK to have some lumps.
  4. Pour the batter in the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Mine was done by 27 minutes. If baking cupcakes, check around 13-15th minute.
  5. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let it cool for 15 minutes. Remove the parchment paper on the sides of the pan and slowly invert the pan on a plate and the cake comes out perfect without sticking to the pan.
  6. Cool completely before frosting.
Taste:
  1. I was crossing my fingers while the cake was baking. Though I did see a couple of recipes for chocolate cake using barley flour, I was not sure how this one will bake because I was not using eggs, unlike the other recipes. I have read that barley flour is not as glutenous as all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour. So I was absolutely surprised to see the cake because it had risen perfectly.
  2. I couldn't wait to taste the cake. Once I tasted the cake I was literally jumping in joy because it was very good. It didn't smell raw or it did not taste bitter or it did not have the grittiness of whole wheat flour. Of course, it did not replicate the taste of all-purpose flour but it was definitely good and way better than using whole wheat flour. So I think those who don't like the taste of whole wheat flour in baked goods can start experimenting with whole barley flour instead. I felt the cake was not sweet enough when I tasted it a couple of hours after baking but from the next day onwards I did not feel that. The sweetness was just right.
My Notes:
  1. I had to bake 2 layers of cake for my class. Since I was not sure if the cake would come out well using barley flour, I tried just one layer first. I simply stirred together the dry ingredients and proceeded as mentioned in the recipe. The cake rose beautifully just like the one I baked with all-purpose flour. I was able to see some unprocessed husks of the barley. So while baking the next layer I sifted the barley flour. I don't think we will be losing nutrition because of this since the residue on the sieve was very less.
Recipe by Madhuram's Eggless Cooking at https://www.egglesscooking.com/vegan-barley-flour-chocolate-cake/